ABC signing off

Nothing definite about the matter has yet to be made public but it seems almost certain that in a few months 2.8 million Indonesians will be deprived of some of their best-loved radio programs. An inquiry led by Bob Mansfield, a former chief executive of the Australian John Fairfax media empire, which publishes among other things the widely respected Sydney Morning Herald, recommended that the Asian radio and television services of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) should be shut down for budgetary reasons.

Canberra, it seems, wants all the corporations operating under its control to make budget savings, and "... there is an obvious expectation that domestic priorities should be a higher level of priority," communications minister Richard Alston said in Canberra last month. Radio Australia is estimated to have a weekly audience of around 4.9 million in Asia and the Pacific, 2.8 million of them in Indonesia and 700,000 in China.

Because of this wide audience the Australian foreign affairs department has reportedly argued in favor of keeping Radio Australia's shortwave overseas services, arguing that it would serve Australia's trade interests. However, as Communications Minister Alston said, the foreign affairs department could keep Radio Australia if it was willing to pay for it. Thus the chances of Radio Australia remaining on the air for very much longer look really rather slim.

For the faithful Indonesian listeners this is of course a great disappointment. For several decades Radio Australia has been at the top of the list of foreign radio stations popular in this country. It even ranks higher than the BBC or Radio Hilversum of the Netherlands. Young Indonesians regularly tune in to the ABC for music programs and the English lessons. For many older Indonesians, Radio Australia has long been a trusted source of news -- especially of events which they suspect would not be reported, or not in full, by the domestic media.

One may wonder whether the Australian government is wise to close down Radio Australia's overseas services -- assuming, of course, that the step will be taken -- especially at a time when relations between nations are expanding all the time. On the other hand, given the budgetary constraints, shifting the money from services whose impact can only be speculative at best to real domestic needs does make sense, especially considering the reduced emphasis which the present Australian government is placing on Asia.

For us in Indonesia, however, there is a lesson to be learned from this case. Why do so many Indonesians turn to Radio Australia? One obvious reason is that Radio Australia's reception is good in many areas of Indonesia. Also, many Indonesians seem to like the station's programs. Another, and perhaps more significant reason, however, is that Radio Australia, in many cases, satisfies Indonesians' need for unpartisan and accurate information.

It is no secret, for example, that photocopies of news reports or articles that are censored are always in high demand. It is also no secret that every time something serious happens, or is rumored to have happened, people turn to foreign radio stations, newspapers and news magazines to get the "true" picture of what is happening. Radio Australia's popularity reflects this situation very well.

It is important that we realize that such a situation is not only embarrassing for us, it can also be detrimental to our own well-being as a nation because who can say that the information we get from abroad is always accurate? But until we learn to recognize the benefits of having a truly free and responsible media, we are afraid that this is the situation that we will have to live with for the foreseeable future.