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| Sunday, 4 May 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Crime not adequately dealt with : Social scientists not consulted on public policy By Jayanthi Liyanage The contribution made by social sciences to the national development is often underplayed, says Prof. (Mrs.) G.I.C. Gunawardena, Chairperson, Social Science Research Committee (SSRC) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). She elaborates, "Sri Lanka, absorbed in the critical social issues of relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation of internally displaced people and children deprived of education, requires the expertise of social sciences to fully achieve its objectives of rebuilding."
The symposium on "The Potential Role of Social Sciences in National Development : Challenges and Opportunities", organized by the SSRC of the NSF and the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) and held at the SLFI, sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, was an attempt to identify where there are gaps in the present local social science research. It picked four core areas which it identified as crucially requiring the support of social sciences surveys and research, in the current Sri Lankan context. The areas were poverty analysis; crime, law and order; peace building and conflict resolution; and the triple 'R' process. "At its sessions, we felt that social science research in Sri Lanka is mainly macro studies, commissioned by donor agencies," observes Prof. Gunawardena. "A greater need exists for locally-driven micro studies." Prof. Ramasamy too feels that there is a tremendous dearth of local research which could be employed in the triple 'R' process. "The peace process is viewed in different perspectives from the North and the South, where the views tend to be stereotypical. The social scientists could estimate whether what the LTTE say is correct, or whether the ground situation of the people up North is improved or not," he says, adding that the social science research community could study such problematic situations objectively and point out issues on a factual basis, for society and the authorities to take remedial conflict-transformation action. Prof. Wijaya Jayathilake, Director, SLFI, emphasised the need to improve local research methodology, pointing out that the triple 'R' called for methodology different to the normal procedure as it involved eliciting sensitive information through tacitly designed interviewing. NSF, as the national body founded by the Parliament to support research, found that the proposals submitted by the recipients of its research grants did not reach the required standards and held training for young researchers encouraging them to venture into areas where research has not gone in before. For example, the Law Faculty was perceived as not having a comprehensive postgraduate research programme. "It surfaced that in universities research is done in only three instances," says Prof. Gunawardena. "That is, for postgraduate studies, when commissioned on consultancy, and when requested by donor agencies. The government research grants are not high and the academics are not motivated to research on their own." The symposium spoke of the need to convert local universities into producers and disseminators of new knowledge instead of being mere recylers and distributors of knowledge. Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head, Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo, while regretting that the social scientific community is not consulted in the process of public policy-making except when advice is sought from individual academics, noted the lack of social-scientific rigour in most of the donor-driven research in Sri Lanka. "Actually, they treat surveys as research," he said. "They collect valuable date but in most cases, they hardly link survey findings to social scientific knowledge concerning social and political change. The local research staff are seldom trained in social scientific research but in the empiricist exercise of collecting field data and presenting descriptive narratives." Prof. Jayadeva also noted that the need for social science understanding of the conflict-transformation process in Sri Lanka has become starkly evident today in the context of negotiations, negotiation setbacks and political resistance to the peace process. He spoke of the rarity of a social scientific manner of understanding the dynamics of the politics of the Northern and Eastern provinces and the politics of the LTTE, to bring them to the broader context of the multiple process of transformation from war and violence. Dr. (Ms.) Deepika Udugama, Head, Department of Law, University of Colombo, clarifying that in current local policy-making, complexities of a social problem is not understood to deal with it in a multi-disciplinary manner, cited crime, or the weakening law and order in the country, as a social science which has not been dealt with adequately in that frame. In reply, Senior DIG Chandra Fernando spoke of weakening the crime market by increasing the security of the high risk victim sector made up of aged folk, women and non-schooling children who stay at home during the day. "Police statistics indicate that there is no marked increase of crime in Sri Lanka in spite of the high media reportage, but we notice a pattern of violence, which is crimes against the human body." The pattern of violent crimes has changed today, from the traditional knives and clubs to fire-arms, the Police has observed. "We found that in many cases of violent crimes, such as vehicle, motorcycle and bank robberies, deserters from the Armed Forces are involved in some way. It is a new phenomena, including the dimension of contract killings, commissioned by the underworld and influential groups." More than half of the crimes committed in the country come from the Western Province while the highest numbers of rapes are reported from Anuradhapura. Somewhat using the tools of social scientific inquiry, "the Inspection and Review Division of the Police Head Quarters, which is like the internal audit of Police, is now carrying surveys and studies on the status of police station activities islandwide, such as the number of suspects evading arrest in each Police division," said DIG Fernando. "In addition, The forensics, the judiciary, Attorney General's Department, Government Analyst Department and the Police have got together to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach in scientific investigation. When the policemen become professional investigators, there will be no need to violate fundamental human rights of suspects," he said referring to the Organised Crimes Bill which has stirred trepidation as to whether the longer periods of detainment it facilitates will result in the torture of the suspects. In a bid to bring back the traditional policeman who goes to the courts, prosecutes cases and executes warrants, the Police will be reverted to normal and proactive policing, strictly enforcing the law, DGI Fernando said. "All these days, village thuggery and urban crimes were possible because they were diverted to security matters. Now with high visibility of Police, the criminals are on the run and gradually, citizens will feel the change of environment." While all the objectives of the Police could be much enhanced by deeper social-scientific research, the Chairman, NSF, spoke of taking the recommendations of the symposium to the appropriate government authorities. The findings of the symposium will be published in the Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences of NSF for wider publicity and NSF hopes there would be more funding from the Government on research, as currently, the social science research grants could only average around Rs.200,000, according to Dr. Ramasamy. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Members of this Committee, who come from social science disciplines
fundamental to the national development, such as sociology, economics and
law, believe that there is a need to sensitize the Government's new
process of planning, reconstructing, the Regaining Sri Lanka initiative,
the Triple 'R' and the peace process, about the potential role of the
social science research community, says Prof. Ranjan Ramasamy, Chairman,
NSF, adding, "They could serve as a 'think tank' to the Government
and provide a feed- back of the effectiveness of these processes."
