New Media For A New Sri Lanka: Minister Sajith Premadasa outlines proposed advancements in media &am

Minister Sajith Premadasa chaired the “New Media for a New Sri Lanka” interactive session, on Tuesday 27th August, to discuss the importance of new technology and social media on the progress of the country. Held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Minister Premadasa was joined by fellow ministers, Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickramaratne and Ajith P. Perera.

The ministers in turn gave speeches on the current standing of the country in regards to new media and also addressed the questions of the audience, made up of media personnel, businessmen and members of the public.

The session was aimed at bringing light to how using new media can “bring another part of social-political into our daily lives”, as opposed to solely for entertainment purposes.

Quoting car manufacturer Audi’s signature slogan, “progress through technology”, Mr Premadasa said that this is truly important today. “We must harness the emerging technology to empower Sri Lankans and achieve digital prosperity”, said the Minister. He outlined that under a new government in hand with new media as a focus, he would promote e-commerce and an e-government, 4G and 5G universal coverage and increasing internet access across the country.

Mr Premadasa also announced that he is in the process of establishing a youth charter, a national innovation and start-up fund to support capable youth instrumental in formulating innovative strategies in business. As well as this, Minister Premadasa hopes to implement information communication technology skill centres across the country, to give the public opportunities to obtain both technology and English skills at an international standard.

Mr Premadasa outlined in his speech that before the country can move forward with new media advancements, there needs to be solid change. “Prosperity is predicated by the implementation of four essential principles”, said Mr Premadasa. The honourable minister outlined the four principles as sound decision-making resulting in positive policies, identifying national issues, fast-tracking the implementation of new policies and finally monitoring and taking feedback of said policies. Mr Premadasa said, “it is imperative we establish a coherent strategy of decision making”, in order to take steps forward.

According to World Bank statistics, Sri Lanka sits at 100th out of 190 countries in the encouragement of business, investment and innovation, and in innovation, Sri Lanka sits at 88th out of 126 countries. 37% of the Sri Lankan population use the internet and 54% use smartphones in the range of 16 to 65 year olds. “We lag far behind… however there is potential”, said Minister Premadasa.

Eran Wickramaratne, state minister of finance and chairman of the ICTA, spoke about the new technology advancements in the financial sector such as establishing “Easy Pay”, a cashless inclusive system. “Investing in digital literacy teaches the public to think”, said Wickramaratne.

Minister of economic relations and public distributions, Harsha De Silva, spoke on the 1990 Ambulance system and the new media advances they have made in a short time. “So much has been done, but not communicated to the best of ability”, said Mr De Silva.

As the most followed minister on Twitter, Mr De Silva has made social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter his main point of communication for the public with a greater reach. Minister De Silva said that social networking opened up two-way communication, allowing for regular updates, presenting facts and responding to users and criticism far more easily than through traditional media. Mr De Silva has also launched an app for the 1990 Ambulance service, so that response time is much faster and accessible. “The network effect has kicked in”, said Minister De Silva.

The audience were given the opportunity to ask their own questions, which Mr Premadasa was happy to take on. Some asked about how new media can be used to develop and transform the country, whilst others asked about the possible decrease in pricing of data and internet packages.

One audience member asked how new media can help with transparency and control of corruption, to which Mr Premadasa answered that new media is already helping to tackle such issues. “Exposures must be based on substance, facts and investigation. There needs to be a necessary check and balance”, said the Minister. He also spoke on the issue of fake news and hate speech online, whereby he suggested that self-regulation should be the way forward as opposed to legislation.

The interactive session concluded with hope for advancement in the new media sphere for Sri Lanka. Mr Premadasa ended with simply stating, “This will be a digital decade.”