In an article published on 26 January 2026 in The News Pakistan, LIRNEasia Senior Policy Fellow Muhammad Aslam Hayat highlights how data has become a powerful instrument of governance in Pakistan, yet the frameworks governing data remain fragmented and heavily skewed in favour of state control rather than citizen rights. He stresses that Pakistan does not need more data; it needs better rules to govern it. 
In an article published on 26 January 2026 in The News Pakistan, LIRNEasia Senior Policy Fellow Muhammad Aslam Hayat highlights how data has become a powerful instrument of governance in Pakistan, yet the frameworks governing data remain fragmented and heavily skewed in favour of state control rather than citizen rights. He stresses that Pakistan does not need more data; it needs better rules to govern it. 
“Untangling Data Governance – Sri Lanka’s Way Forward” was held on 13 November 2024 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The event formed part of the Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia (D4D Asia) project, with funding support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Crown corporation of the Government of Canada. 
Reflections on a panel discussion concerning AI and information disorder Across the globe, digital media platforms have exacerbated the intentional and unintentional spread of misinformation. Misinformation, which can be spread both intentionally and unintentionally, has contributed to increased polarization, hateful rhetoric and the deterioration of democratic systems. The development of AI systems may exacerbate these issues, while also creating opportunities to combat the problem. Seasoned voices from the South Asian and African disinformation landscape came together for a panel discussion, held in Colombo, organized by LIRNEasia, titled “Use of AI to Counter the Information Disorder” on July 3, 2025, united by a single question: Can AI assist in solving the very problems it creates? The session, moderated by Merl Chandana (Research Manager and Team Lead of Data, Algorithms, and Policy), focused on the intersection of AI and information integrity in the context of misinformation, especially during elections. 
2025 සැප්තැම්බර් 28 වන දින “ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතට (Online Safety Act) කළ යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?” යන තේමාව යටතේ පැවති කතිකාවකදී, ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ කනිෂ්ඨ පර්යේෂක නීතිඥ සචිනි රණසිංහ ඔන්ලයින් ආරක්ෂණ පනතේ දුර්වලතා පිළිබඳව අදහස් පළ කළාය. පනතේ ප්රධාන දුර්වලතා ලෙස ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නේ මෙම පනතට අයත් වැරදි අපැහැදිලි, පුළුල් සහ අවිනිශ්චිත ලෙස නිර්වචනය කර ඇති බවත්, රටේ දැනට පවතින දණ්ඩ නීති මගින් මෙම පනත යටතේ ඇති සමහරක් වැරදි දැනටමත් ආවරණය වන බවත් ය. මෙම කතිකාව සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වන ජාතික ව්යාපාරය විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද අතර ලර්න්ඒෂියා ආයතනයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රොහාන් සමරජීව මහතා විසින් මෙහෙයවන ලදී. ඇයගේ කරුණු පැහැදිලි කිරීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන් නරඹන්න. 
This report is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) initiative, which critically examines how data governance is evolving across the region, including both formal frameworks and informal norms. In the Philippines, the absence of a comprehensively organized legal or policy framework has resulted in a patchwork of approaches shaped by sector-specific laws, presidential directives, and administrative regulations. In recent decades, policies have emerged in response to growing data use, such as updates to intellectual property laws aligned with international practices and the enactment of personal data protection legislation addressing cross-border data processing. Despite recent developments, the Philippines still lacks a unified data governance framework. The only broad measure is the 2016 presidential ordinance on public access to government data. 
This report is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) initiative. The project seeks to critically examine how data governance is evolving across the region, with attention to both formal frameworks and informal norms. In the case of Thailand, this means analysing how state, corporate, and civil society actors shape the production, access, and use of data in ways that either enable or constrain democratic values. Thailand stands at a pivotal moment in its digital transformation journey, where the governance of data is increasingly central to questions of rights, development, and democratic accountability. As data becomes ever more embedded in public services, commerce, and civic life, the structures that govern its use, such as laws, policies, practices and technologies, have profound implications for inclusive and equitable development. 
The following document is a summary of an upcoming regional report for the Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI) that focuses on responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Asia region. The broader report, to be released in April 2025 as the final output of a Global Center on AI Governance (GCG)-funded project, was authored by Merl Chandana and Sukitha Bandaranayake from LIRNEasia, with the India case study written by Anushka Jain and Aarushi Gupta (of Digital Futures Lab, India). Part II was co-authored by Merl Chandana, Sukitha Bandaranayake, and Ana Florido. The report containing global findings of the Index can be found here. 
සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ඩිජිටල්කරණය කරන ලද රජයේ ගෙවීම් පද්ධතියක් රජය, බදු ගෙවන්නන්, සහ බැංකු වැනි මූල්ය ආයතන ඇතුළු සැමට ජයග්රහණයක් වන්නේ මන්දැයි LIRNEasia සභාපති මහාචාර්ය රොහාන් සමරජීව මහතා The Leaderහි පළවූ ඔහුගේ නවතම සිංහල ලිපියේ පැහැදිලි කර ඇත. සම්පූර්ණ ලිපිය කියවන්න. The article has been published under Prof. Samarajiva’s column in the Daily Mirror in English. You can read the English version as well if you prefer. 
In a significant move towards modernising archival governance and promoting data accessibility, a committee appointed by the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs, has been working on revising the National Archives Law No. 48 of 1973. Chaired by Nigel Nugawela, Archivist, the committee includes experts such as LIRNEasia Chair Prof. Rohan Samarajiva — who is also a former Chairman of the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). The draft text, which will act as the basis for a National Archives and Records Management Bill, was presented to the subject Minister Vidura Wickremanayake last week.