COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has to address the mounting frustrations among the country’s youth if it wants to stave off another uprising against the state, warn researchers. Fuelling such frustrations are a lack of employment, a stagnant economy and a loss of faith in this South Asian island-nation’s political and judicial systems, they say.

“I was alarmed by the data that came out from the youth survey. They (youth) have no great faith and trust in the state, police or judiciary,” says Dr Laksiri Fernando, a political scientist at the Colombo University, referring to a national youth survey that was discussed over the weekend at a seminar in Kandy.

Particularly worrying to Fernando was the prospect of the country’s frustrated youth mounting a third insurrection in southern Sri Lanka like previous generations had done in 1971 and 1987 under the leadership of the Marxist People’s Liberation Front or JVP.

“I feel we are moving towards a major political deadlock. The two main parties (the ruling People’s Alliance and the opposition United National Party) are losing support because of the violent political culture that they have created,” adds Siri Hettige, a well-known sociologist and dean of the Arts Faculty at the Colombo University.

But not all agree with this prognosis. “I don’t think violence would be the means by which youth would try to resolve their problems,” argues Karunatissa Atukorala, a sociologist at the Peradeniya University in Kandy.

What would deter the youth is the state’s military might, he said. “The state apparatus is quite tough.” Equally relevant are the greater freedoms the youth have to express their views today than before, he added.

On the other hand, there is a greater likelihood of frustrated youth turning to drugs, criminal activity and even committing suicide as a reaction to their mounting woes, he observed.

“Perhaps what is new about the present study is the uncovering of many facets of this orientation and most importantly the fact that these tendencies are still prevalent perhaps more acute than before. The later fact is politically alarming and the possibility of a third insurrection cannot be discarded,” he says.

“While there is a gender difference in the responses, i.e. more males than females agree to the armed struggle, the gap is not very wide. It is also interesting that there is no significant difference between the urban and rural respondents,” the survey reported.

The survey also found that support for an armed struggle increased with education, with the highest level of 40.5 per cent recorded for university graduates. “As is well known, many youth who joined the armed struggle in the south have been educated youth, many with university education,” it revealed.

The survey revealed that only 26 per cent of the respondents had a “great deal” of trust in state institutions like the military, the judiciary, the police and the bureaucracy. —Dawn/InterPress Service.