Knight defender of Lanka’s press freedom
Sepala Gunasena was a man with two sides to his character. On the one hand he was blessed with a kind heart and a humorous spirit. On the other, he was embedded with a tough and unbending stance and willing to sacrifice all to uphold his principles. He was a gentleman with gentlemen but, if the need arose, could be a thug with thugs.
Malagalage Don Sepala Gunasena was born on 22nd September 1923, the eldest son of Lanka’s Sinhala pioneer book publisher M. D. Gunasena.
He had his early education at St. Sebastian College, Moratuwa when at the age of 9 he was packed off to study at Trinity College, Kandy. After his father passed away in 1959, he succeeded him as the Chairman of M. D. Gunasena and Company.
But though he was in the book publishing and the printing business, a passion that had possessed him since his college days, still burnt within him: To start a newspaper that reflected public opinion, that gave voice to the voiceless millions in the villages, that was non partisan, that was truly independent whose motto would be ‘publish and be damned’.
In 1960, Sepala Gunasena began turning his dream into reality. He founded Independent Newspapers Ltd and was fortunate to attract the doyen of Lanka’s journalism D. B. Dhanapala who became the founding editor of the company’s flagship the DAVASA. The company went on to publish three national dailies, namely, the Sinhalese daily the DAVASA, the English daily the SUN and the Tamil daily the THINAPATHI. It also published the Sunday newspapers, the Sinhalese RIVIRASA, the English WEEKEND and the Tamil CHINTHAMANI. At one point till 1974 when the company was sealed, it even published three evening newspapers, the Sinhala SAVASA, the English STAR and the Tamil THANTHI. It also published a host of weeklies.
Though a Buddhist himself, and though his Sinhala newspapers mainly catered to a Sinhala Buddhist grassroot readership, he himself was one who embraced all religions and was liberal in his thinking. In 2016, the Catholic newspaper the Gnanartha Preedeepaya celebrated its 160th year. As the Catholic Messenger published on 12 June 2013 as its lead story, with the headline ‘ His Grace explains magnanimous gesture of Buddhist publisher during crisis time at CCP’, the former Archbishop His Grace Oswald Gomes in his speech as chief guest, said: “It was the time when the catholic schools were being taken over. It was crisis time for us at the Catholic press. The then government controlled newsprint and had severely restricted our quota. It was at this time Sepala Gunasena came forward to give a helping hand at a time of crisis. From the stocks he had to publish his own newspapers, he released 25 percent of it to us. Mr. Gunasena’s gesture at great personal risk was indeed magnanimous and a great blessing for us.”
Sepala Gunasena was very much a hands-on publisher. In 1970 after bringing the SLFPleftist coalition to power with a massive majority in the House, Gunasena’s newspapers gave voice to the people’s hardships caused by the economic policies of the leftist influenced Sirimavo Government. Sepala Gunasena’s newspapers strongly campaigned against the takeover of the Lake House group of newspapers. But it was to no avail. And soon the bells would toll for his newspapers, too.
On 17th April 1974, the presses of Independent Newspapers were sealed under emergency law. In that same year the Commonwealth Press Union presented Sepala Gunasena the prestigious Astor Award ‘for his notable contribution to the freedom of information’. Since the Sri Lanka Editors Guild was launched in 1999, it annually presents an award titled ‘Sepala Gunasena Award for the defence of press freedom in Sri Lanka’ but only if there is a recipient who merits it that respective year.
After the Davasa Group was sealed, entreaties were made by the SLFP leadership that the presses would be unsealed and free to publish again if an undertaking was given to be pro government. Sepala Gunasena’s reply was tacit. He said; “If I am not free to publish my newspapers on my own terms, I do not wish to publish them at all. In early 1977 the government dissolved Parliament and announced the holding of elections. With the need to ratify the emergency laws -- under which the newspapers were sealed -- every month, the emergency laws lapsed automatically for want of ratification and, as a result, the newspapers, too, were automatically unsealed. The company started publishing again on 31st March 1977 and, of course, backed the UNP which won with a record five sixth majority.
But the bonhomie was not to last for long. In 1977 the newly elected Prime Minister J. R. Jayewardene presented a bill in Parliament to abolish the existing one and to replace it with a new constitution that would create an Executive Presidential form of Government. Queen’s Counsel S. Nadesan, known as the Fox of Hulftsdorp, submitted to the Sun a series of articles critical of the proposed constitutional bill, highlighting the dangers inherent in it -- of vesting in one man so much power.
After the Sun had published the first installment, Sepala Gunasena was summoned to meet Prime Minister JR who asked him to stop the publication of the articles forthwith. This was the Prime Minister who had just won power with over a five sixth majority and was now in the process of introducing a new constitution that would make him executive president of the country with almost absolute power except the power, as JR once boasted, ‘to make a man a woman and a woman a man.’ Sepala Gunasena’s reply to JR’s demand was to simply say: “Sir, if I have trespassed upon the laws of my country, take me to court, but I cannot stop the articles from being published.”
The Government did not take the company to court. However it charged Mr. Nadesan for breach of parliamentary privilege. Mr. Nadesan appeared for himself in court and won his case even as Sepala Gunasena won the lasting displeasure of President Jayewardene.
In the late 1980s, threatening clouds were hovering over Independent Newspapers. In 1990 the Government institutions began withdrawing their advertising, the state banks suddenly recalled the loans that had been given to the company. And on August 14 the banks published an ex parate notice in the government newspapers to sell the properties mortgaged as collateral for the loans immediately by public auction. The hour had come to pay the supreme price for his determination to maintain an independent free press in the country, unbeholden to any politician. And on December 26th 1990, the presses that printed the DAVASA, SUN and a whole host of others finally ceased to roll.
Sepala Gunasena passed away at the age of 69 on Thursday June 10th 1993. On June 13, the day after his funeral, the Sunday Times editorial stated: “As twilight fell over Kanatte yesterday, the mastheads of all newspapers were dipped in tribute as thousands ranging from proof boys to editors and publishers gathered to take Sepala Gunasena through his last sunset. The spirit of Sepala Gunasena, the spirit that on many occasions inspired him to speak out at heavy personal cost, will form a glorious page in the history of journalism in Sri Lanka.”