Cabinet Spokesman, Chief Government Whip, Minister of Health and Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa in an interview with the Sunday Observer outlined the Government’s strategy to ensure a free media culture without any State interference and how the State and private media should play their legitimate roles to fulfill the aspirations of the people as a significant turnaround in the country’s political landscape had taken place following the November 14 general election.
Dr. Jayatissa said if the State media acts with responsibility in accordance with the accepted norms, only then we could set an example to the private media. In future, the media culture of allocating more time for Government politicians to bolster their image or giving instructions to change the headlines of State-owned newspapers will be a thing of the past.
Excerpts of the interview
Q: What are your thoughts on getting a very important ministry such as the media and also becoming the Cabinet Spokesman?
A: If these State media institutions are separated from one another, I hope to work under an integrated plan. If the Media Ministry is a separate institution, it looks like the mouthpiece of the Government and the Department of Government Information is an integral part of it. However, what has happened in the recent past was that the President’s media Division, the Prime Minister’s Media Division and other ministries had acted to expand their scope, undermining the role of the Media Ministry and the Information Department. Our intention is to uplift the Government’s legitimate role to be played by the Information Department and the Media Ministry.
After the November 14 general election, the country’s political landscape has changed completely as the people had voted for the NPP. Therefore, the media should also identify the hopes and aspirations of the people. Instead of adopting the hackneyed media strategy, we hope in the future, all State and private media institutions and social media will follow a moderate media strategy to suit the present day needs and fulfill the people’s aspirations. The role of the Media Ministry is to facilitate this process. The Ministry will help enhance training and education programs for journalists and create a conducive environment for them to express their views forthrightly independently. We hope to safeguard the role of journalists and take it to greater heights. In future, we will take every possible measure to fulfill these objectives. The freedom of expression of the people became paramount when the country was brought into this level. Therefore, we would take steps to give a formal outlook to it.
Q: During the recent past the State media was subjected to huge pressure from the Governments in power and some Media Ministers arbitrarily abused State media to bolster their image. What is the new NPP Government’s stance on the State media?
A: State media institutions will not be used whatsoever to project the image of the Media Minister or any other Minister. State media institutions have a responsibility to educate the public on the Government’s initiatives. If the State media acts with responsibility in accordance with the accepted norms, only then we could set an example to the private media. In future, the media culture of allocating more time for Government politicians to promote their image or giving instructions to change the headlines of State-owned newspapers will not happen. It is more appropriate to call it the people’s media rather than calling it the State media as a people’s Government has been elected.
Q: What steps will you take to ensure media freedom?
A: Definitely, media freedom should be safeguarded. The Government will fully safeguard the freedom of expression of media personnel. We will further strengthen the Right to Information Act and the Government will provide the requisite facilities to those institutions. We will educate the people regarding their right to information starting from schoolchildren.
Our prime responsibility is to ensure the right to information of the people and turn it as a part of their lives. Similarly, we will not only concern ourselves with safeguarding the lives of journalists but also ensure the professional safety of both staff journalists and provincial journalists. Some provincial journalists, especially have become henchmen of politicians as they don’t get an adequate salary to lead a decent life. We have laid emphasis on this issue as well. We believe a journalist should live in the society in a dignified manner. When he becomes a henchman of a particular Minister, he is not in a position to fulfill the role of a journalist properly. We would help the journalists to perform their duties with social responsibility.
Q: The previous Government passed some restrictive legislation that could impact the media such as the Online Safety Act which the NPP opposed tooth and nail in Parliament. Will you review such laws or abolish them?
A: The Government doesn’t intend to regulate social media. However, we believe those who use social media will act responsibly realising the prevailing situation in the country. It was also the majority of the social media activists and users who contributed to elect this people’s Government to power. There is a very small percentage of people who attempt to obstruct the forward march of the Government. Perhaps they may be connected to various political groups. The outcome of the election result symbolised national unity.
There are certain elements who still attempt to create disharmony and religious issues among communities based on various incidents. If the people act properly realising their social role, the Government won’t have to regulate social media. We hope social media would appear for a common social perspective.
Q: Investigations into attacks on many journalists have not been probed. Will you revive these probes and take action against those responsible?
A: We have already commenced investigations relating to all those incidents. We have handed over those investigations to the CID and appointed competent officers to those top positions.
We have also sought the assistance of former SSP Shani Abeysekara who conducted those investigations. We would conduct these investigations in a formal manner and hand them over to the Attorney General’s Department to file legal action. However, we will need sufficient time when these cases are investigated and resort to legal action so that nobody could escape from these cases.
Q: Journalism is still not recognised as a profession in Sri Lanka. What are your plans to enhance training and education programs for journalists and give them their professional status?
A: As the Media Minister, I hope to discuss with all media organisations. Our future program regarding media will be formulated based on their suggestions and ideas. Otherwise, we have no intention to merely introduce our own program. We will enhance the professional skills of journalists engaged in the field as well as newcomers who are keen to enter the media industry.
Q: What are the steps you will take to ensure media freedom?
A: We will ensure media freedom at the highest possible level. We will also ensure the freedom of journalists as well. Journalists can discuss any issue with us as they all know us.
Q: What are your plans to address the key issues in the health sector?
A: Our intention is to transform the health sector into a public service. We should also keep in mind that health is teamwork of all those who have connected to it. We would make the people’s access to health into a fundamental right in the next Constitution to be introduced. At that time, the Government will ensure the people’s access to health. This is what we are doing right now. While we rectify the shortcomings of the hospital network, we hope to empower the primary health services. For example, a primary health centre will be set up for a group of 5,000 selected number of people or covering three Grama Niladhari divisions.
These health centres will conduct basic medical tests of the people who are currently receiving treatment from outpatient departments and clinics. If they need any further medical tests or treatment, they will be referred to the tertiary level hospitals. Then we can ease the congestion in Government hospitals and turn them into a healthier environment to treat patients who are physically and mentally ill.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit outpatient departments in hospitals per year. There is no use of increasing the the number of wards in Government hospitals to avoid this. We should bring the health service to the village level and turn it to a public service. We should continuously supply quality drugs to the people. We will take steps to rectify the administrative shortcomings in the National Medicine Regulatory Authority (NMRA), Medical Supplies Division and Pharmaceutical Corporation by making relevant appointments to those institutions. During our tenure in office, we hope to set up a sophisticated fully-fledged laboratory to test the quality of drugs and equipment.
It would pave the way to restrict imports of substandard drugs and low-quality equipment. In future, we also hope to reduce the prices of drugs of those who receive treatment from the private sector by a considerable amount.
Q: The people’s trust in the country’s free health system has declined. What action can be taken to restore the people’s confidence in the free health sector?
A: This trust was lost due to an issue of political authority, not because of the staff of the health sector. Comparatively, we could become one of the praiseworthy health services in Asia due to the sacrifices by Health Ministry Secretaries, specialist doctors up to lower level health workers on various occasions. The trust in the health system has declined due to certain decisions taken by the higher-level political authority and we will rectify it. There will be no room for such incidents in the country again. On earlier occasions too, substandard drugs had been imported. However, substandard human immunoglobulin fraud occurred mainly due to the involvement of the then Health Minister and the pressure he exerted on the Health Ministry officials. Steps will be taken to restore the people’s confidence in the free health sector, drugs, vaccines and treatment given by Government hospitals within a very short period.
Q: Some say the lack of a vibrant Opposition is not healthy for democracy. Do you think a vibrant Opposition is vital for democracy?
A: Whether there is a strong Opposition or not, it won’t be so important for a stable Government like us. Amidst various rumours and disinformation campaigns carried out by the Opposition, the people have placed their utmost confidence in this Government. The people at the recently concluded general election have given more votes to the NPP rather than President Anura Kumara Dissanayake by taking into consideration his six weeks tenure in office. According to the General Election results, the gap between the NPP and the SJB is nearly five million votes.
I don’t think Sajith Premadasa could play the role of the Opposition in Parliament in the future. Before the election, they stressed the need to send experienced people to Parliament. Now those experienced people are fighting with one another for the single National List MP post that they had secured. Some people got elected to Parliament from the National List by using their political affiliations. However, we don’t bother about their internal party matters. We would also like it if somebody comes to Parliament and makes some constructive criticism.
Q: The general election result was a clear testimony that dividing people based on ethnic lines is no longer valid and that the people in the North, East and upcountry areas had largely voted for the NPP. How do you view this significant political transformation that took place in the country?
A: This transformation started two and a half years ago. It was the people’s struggle which opened avenues to drive away corrupt politicians. As we were not able to call an early Parliamentary election at that time, we had to continue this struggle up to now. When the people got the first opportunity at the Presidential election, they brought the positive result. Even some misconceptions the people had were done away during the general election and the people gave a resounding mandate of two-thirds majority to the NPP.
The issue was that our activities were rather less in the North and upcountry areas compared to the South. We are a political party of the country. We will make every possible effort that we could to improve those areas as well. After 2009, our partymen worked continuously in those areas. Otherwise, we would not have secured victory in those areas. The people in the North and upcountry areas closely monitored us. The massive transformation that took place in the country was a stimulant for them to vote for us. The Tamil and Muslim community and upcountry Tamil community for the first time had placed their confidence in a single political party in the country.
The people in the North, East and upcountry areas as well as the Muslim community had voted for the NPP without looking at whether our candidates were Sinhala, Tamil or Muslims. They voted for the NPP candidate who represented their area. We would also consider all those who voted for us as Sri Lankan citizens without considering their ethnicity. When the Cabinet of Ministers was appointed, we didn’t consider the ethnicity or religion of our elected MPs. The ministerial portfolios were given only to those who are capable of handling that particular subject.
Q: The outcome of the election result showed how to respect political opponents without resorting to any violent incident whatsoever. How do you view this new political culture created soon after the General Election?
A: Even though we didn’t ask, people voted for us and gave us a two-thirds majority in Parliament. During our election campaign, we never spoke about two-thirds majority and we only called upon the people to give us power to form a stable Government. Moreover, we didn’t resort to any action to hoodwink the people to get such a majority power.
In 2020, Gotabaya Rajapaksa achieved that victory after the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. In 2010, Mahinda Rajapaksa secured victory in gratitude extended by the people to him for ending the war. However, this is a significant victory achieved by the NPP, by telling the truth to the people. That is why the attempts made by the Opposition to capture power resorting to various false propaganda campaigns failed. At present, setbacks, internal conflicts and theweakness in the Opposition leadership had emerged due to their false and misleading politics that they practice.
Q: As the Chief Government Whip how do you plan to perform your duties in Parliament with a large number of newly elected MPs?
A: There are 143 newly elected MPs but they are not new to politics. They have not entered politics due to their family background or wealth. They have engaged in politics for a long time. Their age may be different from one another but they have political experience. Most of them have the political experience of representing local government institutions.
Therefore, it won’t be difficult to handle this group of newly elected MPs. None of them had entered Parliament based on their personal objectives and they collectively campaigned and talked about our policy to the people and were elected to Parliament to take the country forward.
