|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 28 March 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) exposed Press Statement of Movement for Democracy & Foundation for Expression The oft repeated claims of impartiality and neutrality of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and especially its Executive Director, Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu stands exposed as a mask of gross deceit, with the publication by the "Daily News" yesterday (March 27) of the actual findings of the Opinion Survey conducted by "Social Indicator" - the polling unit of the CPA. Dr. Saravanamuttu has in statements to the Media and in interviews on television repeatedly stated that the findings of the CPA survey as published in the "Daily News" on March 20, was wrong and misleading, and even accused the "Daily News" of fabricating information regarding its survey findings under several headings. This is indeed a very serious charge to be made against any newspaper. Yesterday's publication in the Daily News of the actual survey findings that it received from the CPA, which were not included in the Executive Summary of its report or in the charts and statistics, gives the lie to all of Dr. Saravanamuttu's charges against it. Far from fabricating survey information, it is now revealed that Dr. Saravanamuttu and others in the CPA or its "Social Indicator" have in fact been concealing from the public actual information it received from its survey, which were not favourable to the UNP and its leader Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, and possibly the donor/s that funded the survey. The CPA's hidden figures that have now been revealed clearly shows that questions Dr. Saravanamuttu said were never asked in this survey have in fact been asked, results obtained, tabulated and final tallies made about them. Just to give two examples of what Dr, Saravanamuttu said was fabricated information, questions had in fact been asked about the comparative honesty of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The survey results reveal that the President scored higher islandwide with a rating of 52 on honesty compared to Mr. Wickremesinhge's rating of 33. Similarly, the question whether the UPFA or the UNP had more chances of coming to power [in the coming election] was asked, with the islandwide tally being 61 for the UPFA and 29 for the UNP. The findings that were concealed as alleged as fabrications by the Daily News included the following important aspects too: * There is a general feeling that Sinhala Buddhists are under threat from the church and donor nations - 65% * There is a feeling that some external powers are diluting the culture of the Sinhalese - 69% * The chances of donor nations pushing their culture is very high - 64% With all these figures emerging from this survey, it is nothing but an attempt to mislead the public of this country as not to include them in the survey report. It is even worse that these findings were said to be fabrications of the Daily News. Dr. Saravanamuttu and the CPA stands exposed of having manipulated the findings of a survey, ostensibly to cause the least harm to the UNP, which definitely shows a clear bias in favour of the UNP and its present leader by the CPA and its Executive Director. By concealing these findings they have fraudulently misrepresented facts as to suit their political favourites and possibly the foreign countries or organizations that fund the CPA and the conduct of these surveys. The United States Embassy that has also issued an adverse statement about the reportage of survey findings in the "Daily News" should also take serious note of how these high-profile organizations of civil society, and their key personnel, who put on a mask or neutrality and impartiality, actually behave. It is not wrong to say the Dr. Saravanamuttu has in this case, by concealing important information obtained from a survey report carried out by his organization, has now been exposed as highly partisan to the extent of carrying calculated manipulative fraud in the release of survey findings to the public, in a manner to influence the voters in the coming general election. With such a blatant attempt at influencing the voters at the coming election, it is indeed strange that this same CPA has requested the Chief Justice not to communicate the opinion of the Supreme Court on the Tax Amnesty Law to the President, until after the April 2 polls to avoid any hint of political involvement by the Court. We make no comment on this as it is a matter before the Courts, except to state it is a matter best left to the judgment of the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court. The behaviour of a social imposter, such as Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, who poses off as a neutral or independent voice of civil society should now be considered as "contemptible and unpardonable", the same words used by him to describe the genuine report by the Daily News. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
