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Jaffna town : a preference for equality

A research project "Analysis of the Peace Making Process" was conducted from April through August 2002 by Prof. Y. Ashiwa, of Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo in collaboration with the National Peace Council and the University of Colombo, and funded by the Toyota Foundation. The purpose of the research was to promote understanding of the current situation, highlight issues and generate recommendations. Therefore, this is a public notice that summarizes key project findings and our suggestions for preventing further conflict and promoting peace. This public notice will also be published in Sinhala and Tamil.

The project had two complementary components. One was intensive interviews with such local leaders as teachers, politicians, businesspersons, and prominent personages in North, East, and South cities and districts, such as Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Akkaraipattu, Kalmunai, Kilinochchi, Matara, Badulla, Pussellawa, Hakmana and Ullala. The other component was a social survey of 450 randomly selected respondents in three areas, Bandarawela in Badulla District, Kamburupitiya in Matara District, and Trincomalee City. In Bandarawela all respondents were Up-country Tamil, the Kamburupitiya respondents were all Sinhalese, and Trincomalee respondents were evenly divided between Muslims, Sinhalese, and Sri Lanka Tamils.

Project findings

The survey was conducted in mid-June with support by faculty and students of Ruhunu University and Eastern University, and collaborators in Bandarawela. It was a structured questionnaire with about 60 questions administered through face-to-face interviews. Each interview lasted two hours with interviewers being of the same ethnic group as respondents.

The survey in each area was accompanied by detailed contextual study of the social and cultural background of the communities. There were three major categories of questions. First was the knowledge, images, and expectations of the other ethnic groups. Secondly was the experiences of the war and conflicts over the last two decades. Third were attitudes towards the peace making process. The survey results were discussed and interpreted by Dr. Jehan Perera, Prof. Sarath Amarasinghe, Prof. Thangamuthu Jayasingham, Mr. Siripala Weerakoon and other participants in the research project.

War experiences: living with fear

The vast majority of respondents felt that their lives have been affected by the ethnic war. Those surveyed in all three areas said that living with fear was the number one effect of the war on their lives. In Bandarawela 84% of Up-country Tamils gave this response while in Trincomalee 94% of Sinhalese respondents, 95% of Sri Lanka Tamils, and 94% of Muslims said so, as did even 74% of Sinhalese respondents in Matara. Also, all survey respondents listed rising costs of daily necessities and human rights violations as the second and third biggest effects. But there were also some noteworthy differences among respondents. While few in Bandarawela mentioned the death of family members, relatives, and friends because of the war, in Matara 22% of Sinhalese respondents reported this while in Trincomalee 19% of Sinhalese, 19% of Sri Lanka Tamils and 15% of Muslims reported such deaths. Also, respondents in Bandarawela and Trincomalee were more likely to mention property damage as an effect of the war on their lives.

Interim administration for north and east

A significant majority of Sinhalese respondents felt that an interim administration would lead to further problems rather than to a permanent solution. Of Sinhalese respondents, 60% in Matara and 82% in Trincomalee anticipated that the establishment of an interim administration would create further problems. However, a majority of Tamil respondents favoured an interim administration, with 57% of Up-country Tamils in Bandarawela and 65% of Sri Lanka Tamils in Trincomalee saying that it would lead to a permanent solution.

Muslim opinion in Trincomalee was ambiguous with 36% saying that an interim administration would lead to a permanent solution, 23% believing it would lead to further problems, and 31% predicting its establishment would be opposed by Sinhalese.

Faith in negotiations People's general commitment to negotiations was high even in the face of possible setbacks to the peace process. About two thirds respondents said that peace talks should be re-started if they broke down. However, 53% of Sinhalese respondents in Matara favoured going back to war if peace talks failed while 71% of Sinhalese surveyed in Trincomalee opted for a return to peace talks. This finding suggests that those who are closer to the theatre of war are less likely to see war as a means of conflict resolution. Equal or asymmetrical devolution

Another major finding concerns the form of the state. Significantly, 70% of Sri Lanka Tamils in Trincomalee favoured equal devolution with only 23% supporting special devolution for the North and East and only 5% in favour of two separate states. Also, among Up-country Tamils in Bandarawela, 68% supported equal devolution and only 21% advocated special devolution to the North and East.

This finding is at odds with the widespread view that a key aspiration of Tamils' is asymmetric devolution for the North and East. The present finding corroborates an earlier public opinion survey undertaken by the National Peace Council in December, 1998. In that survey 72% of Jaffna respondents favoured equal devolution of power to all provinces. The figures from these two surveys suggest that for Tamils being treated equally is of paramount importance and overrides the desire to be treated specially. It also suggests that people are apprehensive about the longer term sustainability of any solution that treats regions differently.

Legitimacy of the LTTE

A large majority of Sri Lanka Tamils in Trincomalee (72%) and Up-country Tamils in Bandarawela (83%) believed that the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people. Overall approximately two thirds of those polled favoured recognizing the LTTE as a political party in future elections.

It is noteworthy that among Sinhalese respondents 58% in Trincomalee and almost half in Matara (47%) accepted that the LTTE can be recognized as a future political party.

Intermarriage with other ethnic groups

Intermarriage in Bandarawela and Trincomalee is considerably high. The percentage of interethnic marriage by relatives and immediate family among Up-country Tamil in Bandarawela was 66%, while in Trincomalee it was 47% among Sinhalese, 53% among Muslims, and 25% among Sri Lankan Tamils. Also a majority of respondents felt that more intermarriages among ethnic groups should take place.

Work Experience with Members of Other Ethnic Groups

The experiences of working together with persons from other ethnic communities is very low among Sinhalese in Matara. Although 86% of Up-country Tamils frequently worked with Sinhalese, 73% have never worked with Muslims, a situation that is understandable to a certain extent given their social context and working conditions. Even in multi-ethnic Trincomalee 68% of Sinhalese and 47% of Sri Lanka Tamils never worked with Muslims, while 39% of Sri Lanka Tamils have never worked with Sinhalese.

From this, it can be concluded that the images that people hold about other ethnic groups is not well grounded in daily experience, social relations, or good knowledge.

Spoken communication between ethnic groups

People's face-to-face contact with other ethnic groups is limited. In Matara 79% of Sinhalese have never talked to an Up-country Tamil and 69% have never spoken with a Sri Lanka Tamil. Furthermore, although 90% of Bandarawela Tamils frequently spoke with Sinhalese, 47% have never talked with a Sri Lanka Tamil. Even in ethnically mixed Trincomalee, 18% of Tamils have never talked to a Sinhalese, 13% of Sinhalese have never exchanged words with a Muslim, and 15% of Sinhalese have never spoken to a Sri Lanka Tamil. These limited experiences of other ethnic groups reflect the limitations of language.

Although in Trincomalee many respondents had fair to excellent ability in another groups' language, still 38% of Sinhala, 31% of Tamil and 19% of Muslim respondents could not speak another groups' language. This suggests that lack of communication with other ethnic groups is not only due to lack of proximity as in Matara but can also be found in areas such ethnically mixed settings as Trincomalee.

Eagerness for knowledge of and empathy for other ethnic groups A large number of all survey respondents thought that other ethnic groups also suffered during the ethnic war (87%).

Recommendations

This view is especially high in Trincomalee were 98% of Sinhalese, 91% of Sri Lanka Tamils, and 94% of Muslims said so. Also, although 60% of respondents did not know the histories of other ethnic groups, 90% felt that the teaching of these histories was necessary.

This indicates an opening to accept others. A key conclusion of the survey is that the ethnic conflict is less about cultural differences than it is about political power. Over the past few decades, the differences between ethnic groups has been politicized. Nevertheless, the survey points to the existence of and further potential for positive relations between persons of different ethnic communities. These are practical recommendations to strengthen the peace process.

1. Interim administration as first step to democracy. - Civilians in the North and East are ready to accept the interim administration as a de facto authority but hope that it will be the first step towards democracy. To help ensure this civilians strongly desire international monitoring. And the assurance that an interim administration in the North and East will govern according to human rights norms can also reassure people outside the North and East. Besides, Sinhalese in Matara and Trincomalee express apprehension that the interim administration could lead to more problems. Therefore, a public education campaign needs to be carried out to explain the long-term social and economic benefits that an interim administration could also generate for the South.

2. Transparency and accountability of Government and LTTE. - There is much fear and anxiety in the North, East, and South among all the different ethnic communities regarding the future. However, we have to understand that peace making is a long-term process. A significant sign we found is that even in remote places persons are keen to gather information about the peace process from newspaper, radio, and television. Therefore interpretation, transparency and good explanations are very much demanded not only from the Sri Lanka Government but also from the LTTE. The citizenry especially desire greater transparency and accountability on the part of the LTTE because of their expectation that the LTTE will play an important role in future administration.

3. Exchange Programs for Young Leaders. - While persons in some areas have everyday face-to-face experience of other ethnic groups, and persons in some areas have absolutely none, in both cases it is necessary to further understandings of the different ethnic groups by teaching their histories and languages. This should be done by establishing long-term exchange programs for young intellectuals, such as university students, and local leaders in the North, East, and South who will play critical roles to maintain and further peace.

4. Consider ethnic impact of development projects. - Foreign aid organizations for resettlement and rehabilitation as well as international capital for investment will be encouraged by the talks in Thailand to come to Sri Lanka. Any project by Government, LTTE, and NGO, or private sector initiative from international sources needs to be careful to avoid measures and actions that could reproduce conflicts and cause new tensions. Therefore, well-planned resettlement schemes and development projects will be necessary that are based on careful social surveys to avoid further possible conflicts. 5. Establish a peace ministry. - A special state body for promoting peace should be established that has the legal and political authority to integrate all peace projects, and to supervise other sectors' activities, including media, development, education and cultural policy.

(National Peace Council)

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