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Daily News sets the record straight

The Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu has written a letter dated March 24, 2004 to the Editor, Daily News challenging him to publish the documents sent by the CPA on which the front page lead story headlined 'Impressive Freedom Alliance lead in independent opinion poll', was based.

To this request, the Editor, Daily News takes pleasure in publishing not only these documents but also our reply to the CPA Executive Director.

March 26, 2004

Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Alternatives, 24/2, 28th Lane, Off Flower Road, Colombo 7.

Dear Sir,

Impressive Freedom Alliance lead in independent opinion poll - Daily News, Saturday March 20, 2004

I refer to your letter dated 21st March 2004 wherein you alleged 'major distortions' and 'gross fabrications' of the survey (hereinafter referred to as the Report) conducted by Social Indicator, the Polling Unit of the CPA, which was sent to me on Friday 19th March 2004 and published in the Daily News of 20th March 2004; and your subsequent letter of 24th March 2004 in response to the report carried in the Daily News of 23rd March 2004.

The Report I received from the CPA had between the cover page and the first page another loose document consisting of 4 pages divided into two parts titled "Snap Poll Results, Phase I" (3 pages) and "Snap Poll Results Phase 2" (1 page).

The part dealing with Phase 1 consists of 4 paragraphs of text and 5 tables. The first table is headed "What are the three topmost concerns/issues that bothers Sri Lankans?" 18 districts are listed and there are columns headed Ethnic War, Unemployment, Cost-of-Living, Corruption with percentage marks allotted under each column on a district-wise basis.

The second table is headed "Were you better off two years ago than now economically? Do you feel more secure than 2 years ago physically?" 18 districts are listed and there are columns for each of the two questions posed with percentage marks allotted under each column, on a district-wise basis.

The third table is headed "Which party has more chances to come to power". 18 districts are listed and there are two columns, one for the UPFA and the other for the UNP, with percentage marks allotted under each column on a district-wise basis.

The fourth table is headed "Who will be able to handle the peace process effectively?" 18 districts are listed and percentage marks are allotted under two columns, one headed CBK and the other headed RW on a district-wise basis.

The fifth table is headed "Do you think the President did a right thing by dissolving the Government?" 18 districts are listed and percentage marks are allotted on a district-wise basis under two columns headed "Did the right thing" and "Should have sorted it out".

The part dealing with Phase 2 consists of 4 paragraphs of text and 2 tables. One table is headed "Who is more honest of the two?"

18 districts are listed and percentage marks are allotted on a district-wise basis under two columns headed CBK and RW. The other table is headed "Who will compromise the country's interest while negotiating peace". 18 districts are listed and percentage marks are allotted on a district-wise basis under two columns headed CBK and RW.

Your letter of 21st instant has a schedule of corrections to the Daily News article of the 20th instant. The schedule states that "the following reported in the above article as a result of the poll carried out by the CPA have been fabricated. They are purported answers to questions that were never asked in the CPA poll". 11 such corrections are listed. I will deal with each one separately.

1. "The strip headlined on the honesty of the President and the Prime Minister respectively is a fabrication. No such question was asked". On the contrary, the first table in Phase 2 of the Snap Poll Results is headed "who is more honest of the two?" The All Island figure under the CBK column is 52% and under the RW column 33%.

The second and third paragraphs of the text on that page read as follows: "When it comes to honesty CBK is way ahead of RW. Here again, the perception varies across districts. Ranil is ahead in Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam and Kegalle whereas in most of the other districts CBK is ahead (except Matale where both have scored equally)".

My quotation (at page 1 of the CDN) is taken verbatim from Phase 2 of your document and reads as follows: "With regards the integrity of the two leaders 50% felt that President Kumaratunga was the more honest of the two while 33% felt Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was the more honest".

Later, (at page 15 of the CDN) I have said "When it comes to honesty CBK is way ahead of RW. Here again, the perception varies across districts. Ranil is ahead in Nuwara Eliya, Puttalam and Kegalle whereas in most of the other districts CBK is ahead (except Matale where both have scored equally)".

Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, whereas in your Report you have deliberately omitted any reference to the question of the honesty of the two leaders thereby revealing conclusively your bias in favour of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and against President Kumaratunga.

2. "No question was asked on which 'has more chances to come to power' ". On the contrary, at page 2 of the Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, there is a table headed "which party has more chances to come to power".

The All Island figure given in that table is 61% for the UPFA and 29% for the UNP. Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, whereas in your Report you have deliberately omitted any reference to this question thus proving conclusively your bias in favour of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and against President Kumaratunga.

3. "No question was asked on the ability of either the President or the Prime Minister 'to handle the peace process effectively' ". On the contrary, at page 3 of the Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, there is a table headed "who will handle the peace process effectively?"

The All Island figure given in that table is 44% under CBK and 47% under RW. I have stated that "47% are of the view that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will be able to handle the peace process effectively as against 44% in favour of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga".

Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, and you seeking to mislead the public when you say that no such question was asked.

4. "No question was asked on whether people felt that the problems 'associated with the dissolution of Parliament' 'should have been sorted out'. On the contrary, table 5 under Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, is headed "Do you think the President did a right thing by dissolving the Government".

There were two columns "Did the right thing" and "Should have sorted it out" respectively and the All Island figure given was 50% under the first column and 27% under the second. I have stated that "to the question whether they think the President did the right thing by dissolving the Parliament 50% endorsed it while 27% felt that the problems should have been sorted out".

At page 5 of your Report (Executive Summary) you have stated at paragraph 5 as follows: "When asked whether the President was justified in dissolving Parliament 49.3% agreed and 40.5% disagreed".

Therefore, you concede that the question was asked as to whether the President was justified in dissolving Parliament. You have omitted to say that there was a column in the fifth table under Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, headed "Should have sorted it out".

Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, and you are seeking to mislead the public when you say that no such question was asked.

5. "No question was asked on whether the President or Prime Minister respectively would "compromise the country's interest while negotiating peace". On the contrary, the second table under Snap Poll Results, Phase 2, is headed "Who will not compromise country's interest whilst negotiating peace".

The All Island figure is 60% in favour of President Kumaratunga and 28% in favour of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe. I have stated that "The Sri Lankan people seemed to have more faith in CBK than RW when it comes to negotiations with LTTE. Except 1-2 districts all the districts are favourable towards CBK".

This sentence is taken from the 3rd paragraph of Snap Poll Results, Phase 2. Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately and you are seeking to mislead the public when you say that no such question was asked.

6. "No. page 15, the first paragraph of the continuation of the headline story does not bear any relation to CPA Survey apart from the statement that the survey is independent and not connected to any political party". On the contrary, I have reproduced verbatim paragraph 1 of the Snap Poll Results, Phase 1. Therefore, your sixth purported correction is false and misleading.

7. "The second paragraph on page 15 bears no relation to the CPA Survey. On the contrary, my second paragraph is a verbatim quotation from paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Snap Poll Results, Phase 2.

For instance "There is a general feeling that Sinhala Buddhists are under the threat of donor nations - 65%, there is a feeling that some external powers are diluting the Sinhalese culture - 69%, and the chances of donor nations pushing their culture is very high - 64%".

These words are quoted verbatim from paragraph 4 of the Snap Poll Results, Phase 2. Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately and your seventh purported correction is false and misleading.

8. "The third paragraph on page 15 bears no relation to the CPA Survey". On the contrary, the first paragraph of column 3 at page 15 of the CPA Survey is a verbatim reproduction of paragraph 4 of the Executive Summary in your Report.

The second paragraph of that column is a verbatim reproduction of paragraph 5 of your Executive Summary. The third paragraph of column 3 is a verbatim reproduction of paragraph 6 of your Executive Summary, while the last sentence of that paragraph (that the vast majority of Sri Lankans - 74% - say that they will vote against the candidate involved in election violence and/or election malpractices is taken from the chart at page 13 of your Report.

Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, and the eight purported correction is false and misleading.

9. "In the fourth paragraph on page 15 no question was asked on the President and/or Prime Minister's handling of the peace process 'effectively'. The figures with regard to the dissolution of Parliament distort the figures in the CPA Survey re those who disagree. No district-wise figures were given".

On the contrary, as pointed out above, the question "Who will be able to handle the peace process effectively?" is the title of the fourth table in Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, and in all 7 tables in Phase 1 and 2, All Island figures are given.

Therefore, I have correctly quoted your document and your ninth purported correction is false and misleading.

10. "Everything in the second sub-title 'Phase 2' is a fabrication". On the contrary, the entirety of the column under the heading Phase 2 is quoted verbatim from Phase 2 of your document titled Snap Poll Results.

Therefore, I have quoted your document correctly and your purported tenth correction is false and misleading.

11. "Likewise the first three single sentence paragraphs under the sub-title 'All Island'. On the contrary, those three sentences, as I have pointed out above, are quoted verbatim from paragraph 4 of Phase 2 of the Snap Poll Results. Therefore, I have quoted your document accurately, and your purported eleventh correction is false and misleading.

To summarise, your proposed corrections are utterly untenable and your descriptions of the Daily News article as "contemptible and unpardonable" conduct and "the worst form of journalism" are not only utterly baseless and unfounded but, much worse, your allegations are a cunning attempt to shield yourself from your unsuccessful attempt to mislead the public of Sri Lanka by selectively concealing from them those statics which do not present your preferred candidate, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, in a favourable light. Your protestations of integrity and impartiality now stand exposed as a hollow rhetorical posture.

You have copied your letter to twelve selected Missions based in Sri Lanka (USA, UK, Norway, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, India, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Union). Apart from India, all these Missions may well be your donors and may have a special connection with you and your organisation. I will be releasing this reply to the entire diplomatic corps in Sri Lanka and a number of other institutions both in Sri Lanka and abroad so that your disgraceful conduct may be judged by the widest possible audience.

As requested, I annex hereto the 4-page document titled Snap Poll Results, Phase 1, and Snap Poll Results, Phase 2.

Sgd: Geoff Wijesinghe, Editor, Daily News

Snap Poll Results 1

Phase 1

The study was being conducted across 18 out of 22 Districts in Sri Lanka. The Objective of this exercise was to measure the certain issues pertaining to economic well being, security issues and election feedback. Please note that the study has been done independently and in no way connected political parties. The figures may change during consecutive studies.

The margin of error would be in the range of 6-8% Overall 2700 contacts have been made across Gender, Age, Socio Economic status, Rural & Urban Only Trincomalee was covered in the East and the North was completely left out for security reasons. The sample was selected using starting addresses from the electoral roll and by using right hand rule.

The study clearly indicates that Cost of Living as a single issue that bothers more than 80% of the people followed by Unemployment with 55% The %age varies across districts (Refer Graph). The North-East problem, as an issue seems to have taken a back seat currently, because of no-war situation in the last 2 years. This seems to be true across all districts except Trincomalee where Ethnic problem tops the list. Perhaps they are most affected of the lot.

The study also indicates that the high cost of living seems to be a recent phenomenon, for the last 2 years, as 63% feel so. Similarly the sense of security was high during the last 2 years than before (69%). 61% of all people feel that UPFA has better chance to come to power.

However it is not uniform across all districts. The strong favourable districts for UPFA are Gampaha, Galle, Hambantota, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Moneragala. The favourable District for UNF are N'Eliya & Trincomalee.

When it comes to handling the peace process effectively, both the President and the PM have got equal score, with PM scoring marginally better. Here again there are positive and negative districts for both President and PM (refer graph). 50% of the Sri Lankans feel that the President did a right thing by dissolving the Parliament and only 27% feel otherwise. Here again Districts like Colombo and Puttalam are not favourable to dissolution act.

What are the three top most concerns/issues that bothers Sri Lankans?
		Ethnic  Unemp         Cost of  Corruption
		           loyment         Living


-Colombo District	52	35	72	26
-Gampaha		60	62	86	25
-Kalutara		51	43	85	21
-Kandy		33	50	87	5
-Matale		48	60	85	20
-N’Eliya		55	79	90	13
-Galle		33	89	83	20
-Matara		37	91	78	16
-Hambantota	30	69	91	19
-Trincomalee	81	67	74	17
-Kurunegala	31	64	90	11
-Puttalam		53	41	90	10
-Anuradhapura	24	66	91	12
-Polonnaruwa	47	35	92	13
-Badulla		32	54	86	6
-Moneragala	63	81	97	21
-Ratnapura		50	50	89	15
-Kegalle		53	59	89	27
-All Island		45	55	86	17

Were you better off 2 years ago than now, economically?
Do you feel more secure now than 2 years ago, physically?


	Were you better off	Do you feel more
	2 years ago than now	secure now than
	economically?	  2 years ago,
			  physically?
-Colombo District	61	  	56
-Gampaha District	73		79
-Kalutara District	63		56
-Kandy Dist.	70		68
-Matale Dist.	42		80
-N’Eliya Dist.	56		74
-Galle Dist.		70		71
-Matara Dist.	54		74
-Hambantota Dist.	63		81
-Trincomalee Dist.	72		68
-Kurunegala District.	60		67
-Puttalam Dist.	68		83
-Anuradhapura	47		73
-Polonnaruwa	61		69
-Badulla		51		83
-Moneragala	90		41
-Ratnapura		73		54
-Kegalle		61		64
-All Island	           	63		69

Which party has more chances to come to power?
	                               UPFA	UNP
-Colombo District		56	24
-Gampaha District		72	15
-Kalutara Dist.		65	27
-Kandy Dist.		59	38
-Matale Dist.		44	24
-N’Eliya Dist.		44	50
-Galle Dist.			59	22
-Matara Dist.		59	33
-Hambantota		77	14
-Trincomalee		40	53
-Kurunegala District.		63	20
-Puttalam Dist.		70	28
-Anuradhapura		71	27
-Polonnaruwa		59	34
-Badulla			51	35
-Moneragala		71	23
-Ratnapura			58	32
-Kegalle			56	41
-All Island			61	29

Who will be able to handle the peace process effectively?
			CBK	RW
-Colombo District		42	31
-Gampaha District		57	35
-Kalutara District		42	40
-Kandy District		40	55
-Matale District		36	43
-N’Eliya District		27	72
-Galle District		53	33
-Matara District		39	59
-Hambantota District		62	35
-Trincomalee District		35	55
-Kurunegala District		42	47
-Puttalam Dist.		43	58
-Anuradhapura		43	53
-Polonnaruwa		49	49
-Badulla			37	54
-Moneragala		51	43
-Ratnapura			53	44
-Kegalle			28	71
-All Island			44	47

Do you think the President did a right thing by dissolving the Govt.?
			Did a	Should
			right	have
			thing	sorted
				it out
-Colombo District		33	40
-Gampaha District		53	16
-Kalutara Dist.		54	26
-Kandy Dist.		48	24
-Matale Dist.		36	26
-N’Eliya Dist.		37	25
-Galle Dist.			48	31
-Matara Dist.		42	23
-Hambantota		77	17
-Trincomalee		39	30
-Kurunegala District		47	40
-Puttalam Dist.		43	55
-Anuradhapura		62	24
-Polonnaruwa		50	18
-Badulla			47	27
-Moneragala		57	1
-Ratnapura			53	36
-Kegalle			49	41
-All Island			50	27

Snap Poll Results 2
Phase 2

There seems to be serious concerns with regard to culture getting diluted. Close to 2/3rds of the people feel that the threat from the Church and Foreigners is highly visible. The same percentage of people also feel that the donor nations are trying to push their culture. Effectively the threat to the basic culture could become one of the main concerns, if not checked at the right time.

When it comes to honesty CBK is way ahead of RW. Here again the perception varies across Districts. Ranil is ahead in N'Eliya, Puttalam and Kegalle whereas in most of the other Districts CBK is ahead (except Matale where both have scored equally).

Sri Lankan people seem to have more faith in CBK than RW when it comes to negotiations with LTTE. Except 1-2 Districts all the districts are favourable towards CBK.

All Island

There is a general feeling that Sinhala Buddhists are under threat from the church and donor nation - 65%

There is a feeling that some external powers are diluting the culture of Sinhalese - 69%

The chances of donor nations pushing their culture is very high - 64%

Who is more honest of the two?



All Island
There is a general feeling that Sinhala Buddhists
are under threat from the church and donor nation - 	65%
There is a feeling that some external powers are
diluting the culture of Sinhalese - 	69%
The chances of donor nations pushing their
culture is very high - 	64%

Who is more honest of the two?
		CBK	RW
-Colombo District	38	32
-Gampaha District	60	30
-Kalutara Dist.	49	27
-Kandy Dist.	46	41
-Matale Dist.	36	36
-N’Eliya Dist.	29	42
-Galle Dist.		52	27
-Matara Dist.	57	39
-Hambantota	69	17
-Trincomalee	42	47
-Kurunegala District	50	32
-Puttalam Dist.	43	58
-Anuradhapura	64	27
-Polonnaruwa	62	32
-Badulla		46	39
-Moneragala	57	27
-Ratnapura		62	32
-Kegalle		43	44
-All Island		52	33

Who will not compromise country’s interest while negotiating Peace?
		CBK	RW
-Colombo District	48	30
-Gampaha District	68	23
-Kalutara Dist.	65	16
-Kandy Dist.	59	27
-Matale Dist.	41	33
-N’Eliya Dist.	37	36
-Galle Dist.		62	25
-Matara Dist.	65	33
-Hambantota	75	18
-Trincomalee	41	44
-Kurunegala District	65	19
-Puttalam Dist.	50	50
-Anuradhapura	70	26
-Polonnaruwa	61	32
-Badulla		48	40
-Moneragala	56	30
-Ratnapura		63	31
-Kegalle		68	27
-All Island		60	28

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