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| Sunday, 15 May 2005 |
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Majority for negotiated peace - survey by Ranga Jayasuriya A majority of Sri Lankans believe that the government and the LTTE should go for a permanent solution through negotiations and that peace negotiations should have an all inclusive representation, according to a survey conducted by the Social Indicator. According to the eighteenth wave of the Peace Confidence Index, a survey which has been studying the changing public opinion on the peace process since May 2001, a majority (72.4%) believe that the no-peace, no war situation is bad and that the government and the LTTE should go for a permanent solution (Sinhala-69.3%, Tamil-81.6% and Muslim- 85.8% and Up-Country Tamils 87.1%). A majority (30.5%) wants the peace process to have the widest range of participation which includes the government, LTTE, other Tamil and Muslim political parties and an international third party. Only 19.5 per cent believe that only the Government and the LTTE should be involved. The Sinhalese community is divided in opinion - 28 per cent support the widest participation while 21 per cent believe that only the government and the LTTE should be involved. A majority of Muslims (59.1%) and Up country Tamils (51.4%) support the widest political participation, while a majority of Tamils (35.5%) believe only the government, LTTE and an International third party to be involved in the peace negotiations A majority (53.4%) believe that the government is committed to a negotiated settlement, which is an increase since February 2004 (43.5%). A majority of Sinhalese(57.7%) and Muslims (54.8%) believe that the government is committed to find peace through talks, while a majority of Tamils (54.4%) do not believe in the government's commitment. A majority (50.1%) however, do not believe in the LTTE's commitment to a negotiated solution, marking a significant increase since November 2003 (37.8%). From an ethnic perspective, a majority of Sinhalese (59.8%) distrust the LTTE's sincerity in the peace process, while a majority of Tamils (82.5%), Up-country Tamils (65.2%) and Muslims(50.4%) believe that the LTTE is committed to a negotiated solution. A sizable portion of Muslims (31.5%), however distrust the LTTE's commitment to find peace through talks. A majority of all communities (65%) agree that they have benefitted from the Ceasefire (Tamil-73.8%, Muslim-84%, Up country Tamil -73.6% and Sinhala 61.9%). But a majority (43.3%) feel that the Scandinavian truce monitors are not impartial, underlining a gradually eroding trust on the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. During May, 2002 only 15.7% questioned the neutrality of the SLMM. From an ethnic perspective, a majority of Sinhalese (50.6%) disagree with the statement that the SLMM is impartial in its monitoring of the CFA, while 74.4% Tamils, 82.6% Up-country Tamils and 49.5% Muslims agree with the statement. The survey had been conducted by the Social Indicator, a subsidiary of the Colombo based think tank, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) from March 16 to April 2. The survey is carried out using structured questionnaire administered through face-to-face interviews amongst a 1803 randomly selected sample in 22 administrative districts. The results are subjected to a 3% margin of error, according to the CPA. |
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