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by Karel Roberts Ratnaweera

'The peace process will take a long time because as in countries like Sri Lanka which has divisions that run deep, such processes do take long before they become realities', Prof. K.M. De Silva told the 'Daily News' in a telephone interview from Kandy. The peace process has been going for a long period of time, the first in 1989-1990 lasting 14 months, from 1994-1994 over six months and the third current process lasting so far for six months.

He said that the LTTE has been regarded as a terrorist organisation in the past few years, and reconciliation and integration would be a long drawn-out process as for guerilla groups to become part of civil society and public life is a lengthy process. The JVP, Prof. De Silva said, says it is violently opposed to the LTTE, but that does not mean that the majority of the Sinhala people would identify with the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, citing the party's recent poor showings at elections as proof that they do not have the support of the majority of the people. He said that the international atmosphere has changed and today the community had little support for separatist parties and terrorist groups.

Answering a question, the professor said that US pressure on Iraq would only strengthen President Saddam Hussein more.

Prof. K.M. De Silva recently became the first Sri Lankan to win the most prestigious Academic Prize offered by the Thirteenth Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prize 2002 organised by the Fukuoka City and the Yokotopia Foundation of Japan.

Prof de Silva has made a significant contribution to Sri Lankan writing on history, most notably on the international administrations of Portugal, the Netherlands and Great Britain which ruled the island, then known as Ceylon, from the 14th to the 20th century, with the British period as his special area of study.

Prof. de Silva has taught and written about the history of both Sri Lanka and the period of colonial rule in the country, choosing the British era for his research. He edited two volumes of documents from the Colonial Office in London dealing with the granting of Independence to Ceylon in the last century.

In answer to a question, he said that the administration of Great Britain could be regarded as having been the most benign of the three European eras in the country. The contribution of Great Britain to the culture of the then Ceylon could also be regarded as the most significant as it came through language and education, however, the influence of the Portuguese was also of great significance because of the Roman Catholic religion they left behind, agreeing, however, that the brutal manner in which they imposed the religion on people was regrettable, adding that the violence that was employed by the Portuguese was 'the pattern of the period'. Prof. De Silva said that no one wants colonies today because it is possible to have what you want through the political process. A look at the Asian region will reveal that it has gone through much colonisation. The Philippines was under the Spanish and later the United States which still has interests in that country. The French colonised Indo China and even India was colonised by the Portuguese and the British. Prof. De Silva sees Spain's role in the Americas and the Caribbean as having been much more brutal than Portuguese-administered colonies in centuries past.

Prof. De Silva said that in awarding the Fukuoka Culture Prize, Japan was protecting Asian culture. He said this in answer to a question from this writer whether in the present climate of globalisation, Asian culture was being hawked in the marketplace. He said that the Japanese consider themselves to be very much a part of Asia and not, as some would have it, disclaiming their Oriental culture when it came to business and commercial concerns. He said that the Japanese are conscious of their superiority. Japan's imperial record was different, with the worst being its rule in Korea.

Author of several books, lecturer and historian, Prof. K.M. De Silva is the Director of the International Society for Ethnic Studies, Kandy. He will hold a Press conference in Colombo on tomorrow (16), in connection with being awarded the prestigious Japanese prize.

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