As the violence that affected parts of the Kandy District quietly moves into the history of ethno-religious confrontation in the country, society is faced with a new situation and issue of considerable importance that arose from the violence of recent days. It is the issue of handling Social Media, which brings a whole new area of the freedom of expression and the rights of Internet users into the considerations of politics and government.
Sri Lanka has undergone many years of censorship of the media due to left-wing and trade union protests, ethnic and religious confrontations, and the three-decade long war with the separatist LTTE. The voices that were critical of the use of censorship have been many, and since the lifting of the Emergency by the last government, many months after the defeat of the LTTE, the country has seen a prolonged period of free expression.
Under the present government, there has been a major advance with the passage of legislation for the Right to Information. The current government has certainly opened the paths to media freedom, although there have been concerns about the use of this freedom by sections of the media, and management of news and information by the government itself.
Fear of the Censor
But the things did change with the situation in the Kandy District requiring the government to declare a State of Emergency throughout the island. Although this did not see the usual introduction of regular media censorship and a Competent Authority who would pass a copy for publication, the new developments in the Internet and the involvement of Social Media in a very wide role of social, personal and corporate communication, did bring about the banning of social media networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber which have presented a new area of media, and involvement of the people in an expanding area of communication.
Many diplomats from western democracies have been strong in their call for these bans to be lifted. The ban has also impacted strongly on local politics, with most political parties, other than those directly associated with the government, calling for the lifting of the ban. Some of the affected networks such as Viber and WhatsApp are already free, and Facebook is due to be free very soon. The protests that have come out, and very loud and effective indeed, have brought to light the importance of an area of the media that was largely unknown to administrators and regulators until the Kandy crisis erupted.
The Government has now declared that laws will soon be introduced to control Social Media. The situation that developed in the Kandy District and the threat of it spreading to other areas too, due to alleged wrong and false reportage and comment in social media networks, certainly points to the need or a good regulatory practice in this regard.
The government also had to face attacks from the JO and other political opponents that its control of social media was due to its own weakness, following the recent defeat in the local government polls. Some comments by the government’s own ministers, too, gave an impression that the government had fears of the political impact of social media.
All of this makes the new proposal to impose curbs on social media a matter of considerable interest, with regard to the safeguarding of media freedom, the right to free expression, and the hopes of widening the freedom of expression that the country has seen in the past three years. Measures to genuinely ensure reportage of the truth and fair comment on social media will be most welcome, as well as genuine moves to prevent hate speech on all media, with necessary democratic judicial controls.
Past fears and modern trends
A country that has seen the activity of the Free Media Movement at times when the media was under serious threat, and one with a past (not too far, too) where the killing of and attacks on journalists, and white van dispatches had been the order of the day, it is not surprising that any calls for control of social media could raise many fears and opposition. It is necessary for the government to engage in a wide discussion with the public, media organisations, the journalists on the Internet in this day of blogging, and social media network users and contributors, before such rules and regulations are introduced. The examples of such regulations in the UK and Germany, and any other democracies, as well as the rules in developing countries such as Kenya, require careful study; to ensure that any necessary curbs of social media, in given situations, do not threaten the core principle of freedom of expression in a democracy.
Persons such as the US Ambassador in Colombo who has been very vocal in calling for removal of the ban on social media networks, should not forget or ignore the problem that social media has allegedly caused in the US, seen in allegations of Russian interference in the last Presidential election which brought Donald Trump to the White House in 2016. Congressional inquiries have shown that Facebook, Google, and other organisations had to deal with several millions of what is seen as ‘fake news’ or communications with special or misleading interest, that were planted on those sites. Facebook, Google, and other institutions have announced their intent to prevent such misuse of their networks. True the US did not impose any ban on social media networks, but it did not have to face a situation of violence, and only election propaganda, which may have benefited the current president (whose attitude to the Third World is highly questionable), and helped defeat the candidate who received the wider majority votes, and was no friend of Sri Lanka. The situation in Sri Lanka is certainly different. We can learn from the US records on Freedom of Expression and the First Amendment to its Constitution. But we also need to look at our own problems, from the point of view of a society that has different thinking on gun ownership and control. Democracies can and will differ, and it is best to encourage such differences, without unreal punditry.
The Provincial Polls
The Government is likely to face much opposition if there are any delays in holding elections to three Provincial Councils - North Central, Eastern, and Sabaragamuwa – which saw their terms end in October last year. The assurance given in Parliament was that these polls would be held by March 31 this year, once the related Delimitation Report was submitted and the necessary recommendations approved by Parliament.
The Delimitation Report has now been submitted to the special Parliamentary Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. This is scheduled to be taken up for debate on March 21, but it must be passed with a two-thirds majority. If the two-thirds is not available, elections to these three PCs cannot be held. It will be interesting to see if the two-thirds could be obtained, following the divisions in politics after the recent local government polls.
Obtaining two thirds will require the full support of the UNP and SLFP-UPFA within the government, as well as the TNA and JVP, unless the JO decides to give it their own support. This vote will certainly be a good pointer to the developments within parliament after the political shakeup with the local government polls.
The JO and the SLPP with the Pohottuwa will certainly be looking forward to these provincial polls, which they believe could push further their opposition to the government, and the call for a change of government. This will also raise questions about the actual role of the SLFP-UPFA members within the government, and whether they and the leadership of the government really want to be sure of an early poll in these provinces.
The electoral process will also move further with the polls to three more PCs – Central, Northern and North Western – expiring in September this year, and needing a clear acceptance of the necessary amendments to ensure these elections too. The adoption of the necessary amendments, with the least delay, will be necessary for the proper flow of the electoral system in the country, and the need to prevent the public opposition as caused by the major postponement of the Local Government poll, which led to such a bad defeat to the SLFP-UPFA and a lesser defeat to the UNP.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Mustapha will also have to look at amendments to the Local Government polls legislation to overcome the problems it has caused in the proper selection of candidates to all local authorities, after the February 10, election. Many analysts have seen the need for changes to make the local authorities more manageable, with the absence of too many members, as well as the proper assurance of having a 25 percent membership in the local bodies.
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