by Shakuntala Perera
Approximately forty nine percent (49%) of a sample group of a Public Opinion Survey, do not believe that the proposed devolution of powers by the government will help solve the on-going terrorist conflict in the country, revealed the Head of the Department of Sociology of the Peradeniya University, Prof. S. T. Hettige.

Prof. Hettige has carried out the survey of approximately 2000 persons from the different provinces for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Foundation.

Thirty two point six percent (32.6%) of those interviewed has stated that they did believe the devolution of power will bring about a solution to the issue while 18.4% had not been sure.

These findings were revealed at a special discussion on the survey at the auditorium of the FES in Colombo on Friday (2).

According to the survey, asked why they did not think the devolution of power was a solution to the conflict, 24.2% has held scepticism about the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 8% felt that devolution was not adequate, 9.9% that "something more was needed", 3.4% that it was merely "political play" and 7.4% that it was elitist-imposed from above.

Forty two percent (42%) of the respondents have stated "other" reasons such as that without an election in the North the attempt will fail, that the people lack faith in the government and the scepticism that politicians will not really devolve power.

"A minority of the interviewed also felt that the conflict will never be resolved," added Prof. Hettige.

"When we looked at the variations that were visible in the data we found such a variation between the young and the old, where the young were positive than the older generations on devolution as a solution. Sex-wise there was not much of a difference in response. In the levels of education there was a very significant variation, where the educated were more negative than the uneducated. Looking at occupational backgrounds we found no significant variation or pattern.

"Yet on a provincial basis a very important pattern emerged where certain provinces such as the North Western, North Central and the Southern provinces holding a much higher response (positive on devolution) than the Central or the Sabaragamuwa provinces. Maybe the lower responses (faith in Devolution) of these two provinces are due to the experiences they have had in the past," he added.

Approximately 55.9 % of the respondents had said they had some knowledge of the government proposals on the devolution of power while 44% has expressed their lack of knowledge of the proposals.

"On the question of their knowledge of the devolution proposals, the younger generations showed greater awareness than the older generations. By sex the males had a better awareness than the females, while on an educational basis too the younger generations were more aware of the issue.

"On an occupational basis the farmers showed a lower level of awareness than the professionals. Province-wise the Southern province was the most knowledgeable whereas the North Central Province was the lowest in awareness. The majority 63% of those interviewed in the NCP were not aware of the proposals," he added.

Queried of how they thought the conflict could be solved, 23% has expressed through war or peace, 31% amity/harmony, 11.7% equality for Tamils, 11.4% a political solution, 9.3% the defeat of the LTTE and 1.7% ethnic integration.

Meanwhile 32.7% has stated that equality was the means by which to promote harmony among the ethnic groups, 23.4% amity/harmony, 20.8% integrative action, 2.5% a political solution and 1.9% confidence building.

"We have looked at what people think so that we can always come up with the views of the people. It is important that people don't believe in a legally strict solution as problems are far more deep rooted and require other interventions such as bringing in equality and getting rid of racism," he added.