LMD-TNS poll shows public concerned over ethnic discord

Saturday, 6 September 2014 00:17 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The latest nationwide survey compiled by research firm TNS Lanka, for leading business magazine LMD, reveals that 59% of respondents feel that extremism is becoming widespread in Sri Lanka. “In addition, alarmingly (but not surprisingly), more than half of those polled point the finger at our politicians for inciting racial and religious hatred asserting that local lawmakers do so to gain political mileage,” the journal’s Talking Point column asserts. LMD also reports that 54% of survey responses “indicate that citizens are not to be blamed for extremism of any nature, although 15% remain ‘unsure’ and 31% disagree with this premise. Meanwhile, six-in-10 of those consulted by the pollsters say the Government is doing its best to foster harmony.” In contrast, 62% of TNS Lanka’s nation-wide sample population believes that the so-called ‘ethnic conflict’ is now a thing of the past. LMD says that according to survey respondents, the Government’s action plan to improve racial and religious harmony should aim to create equality, punish those who try to spread extremism, act without any racial discrimination, unite the country and incorporate unity in the education system. The September edition of LMD has been released to bookshops across the island. Its Cover Story features the ADB’s Country Head Sri Widowati. LMD’s website (www.LMD.lk) has the online version of this exclusive in-depth interview on social justice in Sri Lanka and beyond.

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