The Suriya-Mal Movement was formed in the British colony of Ceylon to sell Suriya flowers on Poppy Day for the benefit of Sri Lankan ex-servicemen.
In 1933, a British schoolteacher, Doreen Young wrote an article called The Battle of the Flowers, which was published in the Ceylon Daily News and detailed what Young thought was the absurdity of forcing Sri Lankan schoolchildren to purchase poppies to help British ex-servicemen at the expense of those from Sri Lanka, which led her to be vilified by her compatriots.
Annually, until the Second World War, young men and women sold Suriya flowers on the streets on Armistice Day in competition with the poppy sellers.
An attempt was made by the British colonial government to curb the movement's effectiveness, by means of legislation, in the form the 'Street Collection Regulation Ordinance'.
Doreen Young was elected as first President of the Suriya Mal Movement at a meeting held at the residence of Wilmot Perera in Horana.