ABC signing off

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.