Panellists call for new ways to handle rapid tech change

Perak Sultan highlights need for agile, consultative governance amid digitalisation

- Syarafana Shafeeq

Countries must find bold new ways to better manage their societies as they get continually transformed by technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), a group of eminent speakers urged on June 25.

The need for agile and consultative governance is pressing as the benefits of digitalisation have unfortunately come at a considerable cost, such as the rise of digital echo chambers that feed prejudice and the propagation of extremist ideologies, said Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah.

Delivering the keynote speech on the second day of the annual International Conference of Cohesive Societies, the Sultan said digital transformation of society is one of three interlocking factors that have fuelled uncertainty and challenged social cohesion.

"Our digital spaces, which should be so good at opening doors and minds, are instead responsible for closing them," he said.

"The very technologies that promise inclusion can entrench exclusion (while) our information ecosystems have become battlegrounds."

The other two factors he cited are the unprecedented pace of international migration due to reasons such as climate change and political instability, and the rise in populism and protectionism caused by the unequal outcomes of globalisation.

At a discussion following the keynote, former civil service head Peter Ho noted how social media has dramatically weakened the ability of governments to regulate information flows, and that misinformation is outpacing the ability of states to correct it and control its impact.