On 6 February 2024, the Institute for Security and Development Policy published NESA Center alum Asanga Abeyagoonasekera's Op-Ed, "Online Safety Bill & Operation Justice: Sri Lankan Democracy under Attack."

"Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Public Security has become the ‘Ministry of Truth’, just like in the Orwellian dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The main task of the Ministry of Truth is to correct the record of all information that’s not appealing to the Government. With its five-member commission, the new Online Safety Bill [OSB] in Sri Lanka will decide the content and is the latest tool for truth-seeking. The offenders will be imprisoned for five years or fined," writes Abeyagoonasekera.

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About the Author

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is an International Security and Geopolitics Analyst and Strategic Advisor from Sri Lanka. He is a Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the South Asia Foresight Network (SAFN) at the Millennium Project in Washington, DC. He is the author of the recent book Teardrop Diplomacy (2023) published by Bloomsbury.

About the Publisher

The Institute for Security and Development Policy is a Stockholm-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy organization. ISDP is dedicated to expanding understanding of international affairs, focusing on the inter-relationship between security, conflict, and development.

The views presented in this article are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.