Saturday Oct 05, 2024
Saturday Oct 05, 2024
Friday, 27 February 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Things have changed. Things have changed significantly. The Government has changed, the President has changed. Good governance has become the talk of the town.
Have we won? Are we winning?
I of course was a supporter of the ‘Change’. I believe many of my age and background took that stance. Many supported silently, and some did so more openly.
I am happy that it happened. A regime of 10 years and running is no good to a country. Those who are in power take things for granted. Those who live off them make permanent channels for their existence. All that was shaken ... but are we winning?
I have a sense of feeling that the rapidity of change has slowed down. At the helm, rather than fighting against those who were corrupt, there seems to be reconciliation developing.
But what’s our role?
Keeping the pressure tight I believe is the thing. Social media I think has the biggest role, because that’s where people really have the voice and power. Traditional media is controlled by things that are out of hand of the common man.
As an ICT professional (Information and Communications Technology), I believe social media like Facebook and Twitter is something strong that we have as a platform to propagate the truth, and real opinions. Emails and internet telephony such also helps.
What happened from 8 December to 8 January is almost like the Arab spring. The Arab Spring is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests in the Arab world that began in late 2010, and spread throughout the countries of the Arab League and its surroundings. By January 2015, rulers had been forced from power in some countries, civil uprisings and major protests had broken out in many other places. The protests have shared some techniques of civil resistance in campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies. The extremely effective use of social media to organise, communicate, and raise awareness was a key factor in these changing periods.
Although our Government was not as bad as some of the examples from around the world, it had signs of becoming worse by the day. Corruption, nepotism, lawlessness and waste of public resources had taken to an all-time high.
And the key was that the revolution happened non-violently using the ballot. The country should be proud of that.
The revolution almost was like a Facebook revolution, as the awareness of the situation was taken to masses through it. Of course traditional media played a role but it was controlled to a high degree. But Facebook was free. Free of charge, free of control. Many millions had access to it, and those who did not have access were influenced by those who had access. Fooling people became extremely difficult for people who were doing that for almost a decade as people were privy to real information.
That needs to be kept up. Many are not clear what the new ‘Right to Information’ Act would bring along, and I hope people would be educated on it. Although the 100 day plan is a sprint, this sort of things needs public discussion before enactment. It might be in good faith, but all matters pertaining to it, all views, pros and cons need to be given due attention. While public and the media need to have access to information on actions of government organisations, there can’t be compromises on national security and the like.
Constitutional changes that were promised during the election seem to be worked out behind the scenes. However, there seems to be a slowdown or a doubt on the change of elections system. This has to change. The vote was for all that. This system does not allow real people representatives and experts from various fields to come into politics. It is open only for those who have millions and also for those who are connected. This reduces the quality of policymaking and governing.
Internet censoring in this day and age is absurd and the new Government has taken the right approach. The only hope is that they keep to those qualities. If they don’t, again the silent revolution should happen.
Prime Minister Modi’s government in India is planning to use Information Technology as a strong enabler in reducing corruption by giving more visibility into processes as well for taking out middlemen between the public and government offices. There is corruption and bribes giving associated with public organisations to get things done. Technology can be used effectively to eliminate these and I believe the new Government should look at these.
Free Wi-Fi offer of the Government as an election pledge is a good move. But there are details to be discussed and considered with this. Again I am not sure if the public and the related experts are engaged enough on this matter. For example, privacy of people when using public Wi-Fi and also the confidentiality of the work done online needs to be safeguarded. Do we have mechanisms, processes and institutions in place for that? Is that discussed enough in parallel to the implementation of this election pledge?
IT is incredible. ‘C’ – the Communication component included in it makes it ICT, and it really is powerful, not just technologically but also as a social revolution platform. However any such powerful tool needs to be handled carefully. That and more next week….
(The writer Yasas V. Abeywickrama is an entrepreneur, trainer and a freelance journalist. In 2011 he was recognised as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in Sri Lanka. Yasas has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Colombo and a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from Swinburne University in Australia. He is currently the CEO of Lanka BPO Academy and Vice President of Computer Society of Sri Lanka.)
