Editorial

It is not always that the media reports on itself. Once in a way, though, it must make news and turn the searchlight inward. And so it did this week when the United Nations declared a Universal Day for Access to Information and the local media celebrated the 20th anniversary of the ground-breaking Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility.

There is recognition now that Access to Information, especially official Government information hitherto under lock and key and an Official Secrets Act, is a fundamental right of the citizen. In Sri Lanka, in the first year since the Right to Information Act was passed, 650 applications have been made to the Right to Information (RTI) Commission seeking information, and that is apart from the hundreds of applications where the Government has willingly provided information on application.

The RTI Act has opened new vistas throughout the country to the public-at-large. Cynics may say we can’t eat information. But life is not all about eating. Information is only valued, like democracy or the rule of law when it is in short supply.

At the opening of the international symposium held to mark the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was roundly praised for pushing through with the repeal of criminal defamation laws in 2002 and the passage of the RTI Act in 2016. He was urged to implement other media law reforms contained in the Colombo Declaration. There was special mention of the need for a Contempt of Court Law defining the boundaries of contempt, a matter the PM agreed with in principle, but said the other stakeholder, the Judiciary, also needed to be consulted.

The Colombo Declaration working sessions had a separate session on the subject yesterday with some eminent speakers including a former Supreme Court Justice from India. The process towards such a law began with the Lakshman Kadirgamar parliamentary select committee about 15 years ago, but the process was aborted with the premature dissolution of that Parliament – never to be revived by the Legislature.

The Prime Minister, of course, complained about the media not giving prominence to his Government’s good deeds and highlighting the negatives aspects. That is a common complaint of all world leaders in democracies even if it may have a ring of truth to it. One-time US President Bill Clinton likened his relationship with the media to the fire hydrant on the road that a pack of dogs (the Media), would raise their legs and do what they do to it whenever they passed by.

The representative of the Leader of the Opposition justifiably lamented that no investigations have begun on the murder of journalists in the north during the troubled years of recent times. The Government is duty-bound to do so because northern journalists were often trapped in a three-cornered contest between the Security Forces, paramilitary groups of northern political parties and the LTTE, all engaged in a turf battle.

It was heartening to hear the Media Minister, who was on the other side of the barricades when the Colombo Declaration of 1998 became a reality, say that the Government wishes to work with the independent media to raise Sri Lanka’s standing in the Global Media Freedom Index. The representative from the International Press Institute (IPI) read out some gruesome statistics at the conference. Nearly 100 journalists have been killed around the world for doing their job in just the last 12 months. What was even more startling was the fact that more journalists died for exposing corruption than were killed covering war zones.

No doubt, the media has a collective responsibility to police itself if it does not want the Government to do the job of regulating the media. The Colombo Declaration conference organisers promised to offer a draft proposal for a new self-regulatory Authority that will include the print, broadcast, television and social media. Whether they will be one body or separate bodies will need to be further discussed.

The collective Media has a huge responsibility to be free, independent, socially responsible and relevant in the future. Hopefully, this will be a new chapter in Media Freedom and Social Responsibility for Sri Lanka and its people.

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Build closer ties with the Maldives
The politics of neighbouring Maldives seems somewhat familiar to that of Sri Lanka in recent years. The state was ruled by a President who is referred to by the Western media in particular as a “strongman” – an autocrat. This was the same reference they made to the former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

No doubt, the Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen took over power in a questionable constitutional coup of sorts and locked up scores of his political opponents, including a one-time long serving President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Mr. Yameen sacked judges who gave verdicts against his Government. He also took the archipelago into the Chinese Dragon’s clutches much the way the Rajapaksa Administration did in Sri Lanka. Huge development projects with huge loans with allegations of huge kickbacks became the order of the day.

It seems the Maldivian people were not impressed. Eventually, they have opted for democracy and the rule of law rather than suspicious economic development projects – and elected a relatively unknown common candidate of the Opposition. Unlike in Sri Lanka, however, President Yameen, did not pack his bags and go home the day after the results were announced. He does not have to do so because the new President takes office only in November as that country’s Constitution provides for. Whether any slip between the election and the investiture of the new President takes place is to be seen.

Sri Lanka has long provided a ‘safe haven’ for Maldivian dissidents, while keeping close and friendly relations with whoever is in office in Male, the Republic’s capital.

The Maldives is finding its feet as a democracy with all the attendant ‘noise and chaos’ after years of virtual one-party rule. What is more dangerous is that the country with hundreds of islands and islets scattered around a vast stretch of the Indian Ocean will continue to be the geo-political playground of superpowers. When the British ruled over the Maldives they had their base in Gan Island (very much like Trincomalee) and the US had Diego Garcia in the vicinity. There are new predators interested in those seas and Sri Lanka should not merely watch political developments unfold in its neighbourhood, but also look to establish closer links with the Maldives in its own strategic and national interests.