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People expressed optimism yesterday over the PA manifesto saying that it would bring an era of peace and prosperity to the country.

Most of the people the Daily News interviewed yesterday said they were confident that the PA will continue its services despite constraints at local and global level. Jayantha Weerasinghe, a retired teacher said the PA has presented a manifesto which incorporates a continuous social and economic development plan for the country. The manifesto gives an insight to the second phase of development the PA plans to implement.

According to him, no other administration other than the PA has given ear to the problems faced by the government servants.

This is apparent especially with regard to the measures taken by the PA to improve the country's education system and the conditions and salaries of teachers.

The President has been genuine in her commitments to resolve the North-East problem and she has made certain statements in the best interest of the country.

But, bringing a ruthless terrorist organisation like the LTTE to the democratic process has not been an easy task." The President is genuinely committed to resolve this conflict and to ensure the rights of the minority communities," he pointed out.

He was also of the view that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was the only leader in this country who has kept her slate clean. Nobody has been able to point a finger at her when it comes to corruption. The only fingers that are now being pointed belong to those who face mass scale corruption charges, he said.

W. Susil Pemsiri, a farmer and father of two children said that the PA manifesto has given due place to developing the agricultural sector.

He said the move made by the PA to write off agricultural loans was extremely commendable given the financial and other constraints the majority of farmers faced.

Fernando was optimistic that agricultural development will be further expanded under a PA regime.

Percy Dabrera, a fisherman from Puttalam and a former Principal said that he and the majority of fishermen in the area would stand by the PA, despite the problems the community faced. Under the PA government a large number of measures were taken to improve the conditions of the fishing community in the Puttalam district. This include the provision of housing facilities and the upgrading of schools and other education institutions for the children of the fishing community.

However, the rise in kerosine prices was a major problem for the fishing community, he said.

Dabrera also said that he had witnessed first hand the atrocities that Tamil people and Tamil parties face under the LTTE.

"They are a ruthless organisation that believes in terrorising the Tamil people if they don't fall in line. The PA has to negotiate and work with the Tamil parties under these extremely risky and volatile conditions. We are confident that the PA is the only government capable of resolving this issue. We have no faith in any other government given their past records. ," he reiterated. Attorney-at-Law Chandima Weerakkody said the PA manifesto has laid key emphasis on all key sectors that affect the day today life of the people. Special attention has been focused on the problems faced by nearly 60 percent of youth in the country, he said.

He also said the UNP manifesto has not mentioned even a single word about the education and health sectors, one of the two most important sectors in the country. Compared with the UNP manifesto, PA has presented a more people-oriented manifesto. Meanwhile the PA is the only political party which has given a representation for youth at its National List. The national lists of other parties are based on various petty differences, he added.

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