President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was on a two-day official visit to Bali, Indonesia, met a world renowned figure on the sidelines of the 10th World Water Forum high-level meeting, and held a discussion with him to reach future agreements. It was Elon Musk, a pioneer of the new technological revolution and a world-famous businessman who has built an international business network (Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, X) that the President met in Bali.
Although not many Sri Lankans are aware of Elon Musk, a significant number of people know him well. His biography titled ‘Elon Musk’ written by Ashley Vance has been translated into Sinhala by Ruklanthi Perera as ‘Elon Musk – anagathaya wenas kala minisa (Elon Musk- the Man Who Changed the Future) and published in 2022 as a Sarasavi publication.
Musk is one of the 10 richest people in the world. However, he is not a unique personality mainly because of his wealth. The title given in Perera’s translation for his biography as ‘The Man Who Changed the Future’, explains the uniqueness of Musk. The future has not yet arrived but Musk has managed to change the future before it arrives. That is his uniqueness.
As of May 2, 2024, according to the details of the top 10 richest people in the world published by Bloomberg, Musk was the third richest person in the world. But as of May 21, he has become the second richest man in the world, after Bernard Arnault of luxury goods maker LVMH fame. The reason for this is that the share prices of the companies owned by Musk have increased significantly in recent days.
According to data on May 21, 2024, his net worth is US$ 201 billion. In 2023, the value of Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was US$ 84.4 billion. It is not surprising that Musk’s assets are worth more than the GDP of many countries. The contribution that he has made for the existence and the future of mankind can be recognised by the group of companies he has built.
Born in South Africa on June 28, 1971, he received both B.A. and B.Sc degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He entered Stanford University in 1995, but dropped out just two days later to found Zip2 with his brother Kimbal (this is not unusual, Facebook founder and fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is also a university dropout). In 1999, a company bought Zip2 for US$ 307 million. In the same year, Musk founded X.com, which became PayPal in 2000. In 2002, eBay bought it for US$ 1.5 billion.
Space travel
In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX. It is a private company that was created to engage in space travel with the goal of establishing human colonies on Mars in the future. In 2004, he invested in the electric car maker Tesla, and became its chairman in 2008. In 2006, a solar power company named SolarCity was established. In 2015, he founded OpenAI, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) research institute. In 2016, Neuralink, a company that creates connections between the human brain and computers, was founded. He bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X, after the original company he owned.
Anyone who goes through the above list will see that his every step was initiated with the aim of changing the world’s future. Many people who are trying to create a “System Change” without knowing what “System Change” is can understand what “System Change” is all about by following the path adopted by Musk.
He showed that cars can run efficiently on electricity instead of fossil fuels (a model that has since been followed by specialist electric carmakers such as Lucid, Rivian, Nio, BYD and Polestar, not to mention legacy carmakers) and showed how to create changes in how we travel to space. For example, SpaceX uses reusable rockets, which saves a huge cost. All of that has made a clear difference in the future existence of the universe and mankind.
The meeting between this unique personality and President Wickremesinghe took place at the 10th World Water Forum held in Indonesia and Musk arrived in Indonesia to attend the same conference and also to inaugurate the Starlink internet system introduced by his company SpaceX in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of more than 18,000 islands where conventional wired or mobile-based (4G or 5G) Internet services cannot be offered in a cost-effective manner.
Senior Presidential Advisor on Climate Affairs Ruwan Wijewardene also participated in this discussion held between President Wickremesinghe and Musk.
During the 40-minutes discussion, they put more emphasis on getting Internet facilities through Starlink with low cost and maximum efficiency for everyone in Sri Lanka. Starlink provides high-speed and low-cost internet facilities to 91 countries around the world using high-tech satellite facilities.
At the same time, world history, the current state of world politics, and so on were also discussed during the meeting, and Musk has expressed that he will be pleased to visit Sri Lanka to observe the country’s present situation. President Wickremesinghe invited Musk to visit Sri Lanka.
Senior Presidential Advisor on Climate Affairs Wijewardene, who participated in the discussion, told me that the main outcome of this important discussion could be that all parts of the country could get high-speed, low-cost, satellite-based internet facilities without any ethnic, regional or other distinctions.
When analysing this episode that took place in Bali and the productive outcome, one can think that only an experienced and seasoned leader like President Wickremesinghe can hold a discussion with such a professional technocrat and world renowned business tycoon, who has changed the world, to get immediate and long-term results from a single meeting.
A statement made by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa in the Parliament comes to my mind. ‘Today, we have a great opportunity. You may know that the world richest person named Elon Musk is producing electric cars. His cars are called Tesla. He is disappointed that facilities have not been provided by India for him to start manufacturing electric cars. Why cannot we talk to Musk and give maximum concessions and start a factory that produces electric cars in our country? If my father was here today, he would have done this” the Parliament’s Hansard report on January 20, 2022 states quoting Premadasa.
Although President Ranasinghe Premadasa is not there today to do so, President Wickremesinghe has met Musk and laid the foundation to get low-cost, high-speed internet facilities, which is a vital requirement for the country’s development and for also many Sri Lankans who cannot afford to have such a facility. Tesla electric cars and superchargers may perhaps follow.
Bright future
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the new Internet system in Bali, Musk said: “If you can access the Internet, you can learn anything. You can also sell your businesses and services all over the world. That is why I think it will give enormous opportunities”.
Musk has changed the world. He changed not only the present world but also the future of the world. President Wickremesinghe’s desire is also to enhance Sri Lanka’s future by gaining the support of professionals who see a bright future for the world. After the lengthy meeting between Ranil and Musk, many are raising the question, who else has the ability to have such an exclusive meeting other than President Wickremesinghe?
