Cocos Islands Mutiny - Consequences

Consequences

The three mutineers were the only British Commonwealth troops to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. The CDF detachment in Cocos Islands returned just before Christmas 1942, these veterans had their promotions suspended and denied the campaign medals for active war service. No Ceylonese combat regiment was deployed by the British in a combat situation after the Cocos Islands Mutiny, however support units were deployed most notably in North Africa. The defences of Ceylon were increased to three British army divisions because the island was strategically important, holding almost all the British Empire's resources of rubber that remained after the fall of Malaya. Rationing was instituted so that the Ceylonese were comparatively better fed than their Indian neighbours, in order to prevent disaffection among the natives.

The LSSP's anti-colonial agitation now included references to the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Public disgust at British colonial rule continued to grow. Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, the Civil Defence Commissioner complained that the British commander of Ceylon, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton called him a 'black bastard'.

Ceylonese in Singapore and Malaya formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army, directly under Subhas Chandra Bose. A plan was made to transport them to Sri Lanka by submarine, to lead a liberation struggle there, but this was aborted.

The LSSP played a significant role in the post-independence politics of Ceylon, most notably by being a major coalition partner of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party government in 1970. Ironically their spell in power was marked by a Marxist youth uprising against the government. This was followed by the decline of the party in the 1980s.