Twin Terrors

ON November 16, 2005 the day prior to the Presidential Election our stock market moved up sharply, reversing a declining trend which had prevailed. Analysts said the reason was a newspaper report which said the LTTE would allow the people in the areas under its control to use their votes.

It didn't take more than 24 hours for the report to be proved baseless. In the run up to the election some media attempted to paint the picture that the market favoured a particular candidate.

And following the election of the new President the same elements continued to use the media to create a negative picture. They went all out to make investors believe that war is imminent and a market crash is inevitable.

This negative campaign has become so intense that those who wished the market would crash are now hoping that the very building in which the stock exchange is located would collapse thanks to a terrorist attack.

Rumour mongers can do as much harm to investor confidence as terrorists. They can affect vital sectors such as tourism and even export. We saw a few years ago when the terrorists attacked our airport how international underwriters declared the Colombo Port a dangerous place for ships to call at.

The Shippers' Council is still struggling to free our port from the 'held-cover' label. Country after country imposed travel advisories discouraging tourists from visiting Sri Lanka.

This caused as much damage to our tourism sector as the tsunami. Basaless news reports saying 'Colombo is under terrorist threat' can only bring back such unpleasant memories.

Business Chambers and organisations such as Sri LankaFirst which lament for the peace should issue strong statements condemning this kind of irresponsible use of the media for petty political gains.

Sri Lanka is not the only country which is under the threat of terrorism. In the US we saw the Twin Towers crumble to the ground due to terror attacks. In the UK, travelling in the tube trains has become a nightmare due to the same reason.

But, these countries have not let the constant threat of terrorism disrupt their day-to-day economic activities. But here in Sri Lanka it is not only the terrorists who try to unsettle the public but also those with vested interests hell-bent on achieving their ends.

Our business community has stressed the importance of 'peace' for development in many a fora. But peace is not only in the hands of the Government or the people in the South.

And, as long as the terrorists demand for a separate land persists a peaceful solution to the problem is far from achievable. The country has to move on despite continuous terrorist threats.

However, the attempts by various groups to destabilise society should be condemned strongly, specially by the business community which clearly understands the need for peace.

They should send positive signals to the international community on which we depend for attracting foreign investment. It is difficult to believe that investors could be misled by baseless news reports when taking their investment decisions.

But a persistent negative media campaign can create enough doubt on the minds of investors. Therefore the Government too should effectively counter such attempts to tarnish the image of our country.