A quarter of a century ago, Minister Felix Perera, was one of those who pioneered the peace movement in Sri Lanka along with Vijaya and Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ossie Abeygunasekera, before it became a multi million Dollar industry and the exclusive preserve of the NGOs. In this interview, he speaks to C.A.Chandraprema about the present stage of the war against the LTTE, the Roman Catholic vote in the context of the WPC elections and the present economic situation.

A. Yes, it was Vijaya who got me into politics. My father was at that time an SLFP village council chairman. I was a businessman and wanted to be in the background. Vijaya was a very close friend of mine. He told me that life is not just making money and he asked me to join him to serve the people. We had both been active in the Samasamaja Party in our youth.

A. Our belief at that time was that there should be a political solution to this problem. Today, the president also holds this view. It was in an attempt to speed up the forward march of the SLFP that we left the party in the 1980s. When we compare the past and the present, the moment president Rajapakse was elected to power, what he said was that he was even willing to meet Prabhakaran to solve this problem. Political leaders should have a programme based on peace. That has today become a reality. In 1987, we supported the provincial councils system brought in under the 13th amendment and we helped J.R.Jayawardnene, who put us all in jail, in 1982, to bring that amendment. We were not for J.R.Jayawardene, but we accepted the 13th amendment. Now our government has accepted that a political solution is necessary after the war. So there is consistency in our stand in the past and the present. Vijaya, Ossie (Abeygunasekera) and I were the first to visit Jaffna on a peace mission. In 1982, when Vijaya, myself, and our band of activists ran Hector Kobbekaduwa's presidential election campaign in 1982, what we noticed was that we got votes in the north when we were losing in the south. At that time, the mainline parties like the SLFP, the CP the LSSP, and even the JVP, were still politically active in Jaffna and there was still an environment when national parties could exist in that part of the country. In 1982, the people of Jaffna voted against Kumar Ponnambalam and for Kobbekaduwa. When we were losing in Kalutara and the south, we won in the north. One of our pledges in the 1982 presidential election campaign was that we would not import potatoes, chillies and onions and that pride of place would be given to local produce. Now after so many years, our president has given priority to local produce. I believe that the ethnic question is bound up with economics. The Tamil people of the north needs to sell their surplus produce to the majority community in the south. After the J.R.Jayewardene regime came into power, the mutual understanding that existed between the people of the north and the south, due to this economic linkage, was broken. I believe that because of the economic policy of our present president, we will be able to rebuild that mutual understanding with the north.

A. I have many memories of those visits. We met the then Jaffna commander of the LTTE, Kittu and his deputy Rahim. Then there was Thileepan who fasted to death in 1987, and also Tamil Chelvam. We met the entire second rank of the LTTE. The first questions that we asked them is "How did those who voted for us in 1982, change so much by 1986?" "How did you, who welcomed us with garlands of onions and chillies in 1982, turn out to be kotiyas?" "How did things change so much in just four years?" I had wondered about that myself. My opinion is that it was due to the July 1983 riots. The government of that time had to send people to the north by the droves in ships for their own protection. Every group that arrived from the south joined the terrorist groups. Otherwise, no terrorist movement can grow and gather momentum that fast.

A. There was a time when 'Catholic' was synonymous with 'UNP'. They were not two, but one. So there was this feeling that the Catholic vote could not be won by the SLFP. The trend began to change from Ja Ela at the first provincial council election in 1988 when I won Ja Ela. That established a pattern with the bastions of Negombo and Wattala falling next. I won Ja Ela at a time when even Katana was being won by the UNP.

A. During the presidential elections in 2005, some people felt that electing Mahinda Rajapakse into power would be disadvantageous to the Catholics and the other religious groups. But my contention was that as Catholics, we adhere to a religion based on faith. We believe that there is no reincarnation after death. We believe that there is eternal life after death. Likewise, I made it an article of faith that if a good Buddhist comes into power, no harm would come to people professing other religions. I propagated that view among the people of this area, that only a good Buddhist will protect Catholicism. That too has been proved by the president because he has a ministry to look after each of the major religions.