Confidence Fading In Sri Lankan Leader Tamil Rebellion Erupts Anew, Foiling Hopes Of New President

A year ago Saturday, Sri Lankans voted Chandrika Kumaratunga into office with hopes for prosperity and an end to years of violent civil war.

Looking back, many see only failures, frustrations and broken promises.

President Kumaratunga’s bold effort to end the 12-year ethnic war has been thwarted, and fighting with Tamil rebels in the north has resumed more fiercely than ever.

She has been accused of having a naive faith in the rebels that was crushed when they suddenly scuttled peace talks after a three-month interlude. More than 2,000 people have been killed since the truce broke down April 19, raising the death toll in the war to more than 35,000.

The plan she introduced two weeks ago for radical government reform, which would create a federation of strong provinces, won praise in Colombo but was rejected by the rebels.

While the war is the overriding issue, disappointment goes deeper.

When she inaugurated her government, Mrs. Kumaratunga was seen as a charismatic leader, untainted by traditional politics, who promised deep reforms. Many of her pledges are unfulfilled.

She promised to lower taxes, but in nine months has raised the defense levy by 1 percent to 4.5 percent and increased taxes on luxury items to meet increased defense spending. The hike is expected to heighten inflation and hurt local industry, and the resumed war and labor disputes have also slowed investment.

She promised to replace the executive presidency, which has almost dictatorial powers, by last month, but after the deadline passed said the reform would be included in a revised constitution. She set no time frame.

She also promised to halt state terror. But thousands of Tamils have been arrested in military roundups, and at least 30 mutilated corpses of young men have been discovered in lakes and on roads around the capital in the past three months.

Mrs. Kumaratunga argues that most of the criticism is unfair, saying, “My government has succeeded in meeting two challenges of fundamental and overriding importance.”

Mrs. Kumaratunga said she has proposed a framework for lasting settlement of the Tamil problem and that her government has put the economy back on track.