ASEAN ministers ponder dark side of infobahn
ASEAN ministers ponder dark side of infobahn
SINGAPORE (Reuter): ASEAN ministers yesterday spoke about the
dark side of the information technology revolution sweeping their
countries and launched a joint effort to deal with the Internet
invasion.
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong set the tone for the
biennial information ministers' meeting in Singapore when he
spoke about the "darker veins" of the multi-media revolution.
"...We cannot tap into the riches of this new technology
without also hitting the darker veins," he said.
"The free flow of information brings with it problems as well
as opportunities. Take the Internet, for instance. In cyberspace,
pornography is easily available to youngsters," he said in his
keynote address.
The information ministers from the seven ASEAN countries are
likely to define a collective stance against the "long and
ominous shadow" of the net at the end of their one-day session,
one ASEAN official said.
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines
and more recently Vietnam.
"All the statements made this morning have expressed
preoccupation with this new phenomena, especially the Internet,"
ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh told reporters after the
morning session.
"It is not a question of confronting the Internet but it is
more to see how we can make a collective stand and take advantage
of the Internet in proposing the right image for ASEAN," he said.
Values
In their morning deliberations, the ministers expressed concern
about the effect on Asian values and disinformation about Asia
spread through the Internet.
"Although (the Internet) has opened up the world to all, what
it offers may not be totally acceptable to us in this part of the
world," Malaysian Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat said in his
speech.
"Our value system is different. Pornography, and all types of
writings and the graphics, including those that attack people and
government are accessible to net users," Mohamed said.
He told reporters that Malaysia, which does not have
regulations governing Internet usage, may revamp its laws to
accommodate the Internet wave but is watching to see how other
countries implement new Internet laws.
Principles
He said ASEAN needed to identify common principles to manage
their respective information technology and satellite
broadcasting infrastructures.
Singapore, which already has tight controls over broadcast and
print media, said this week it would license all Internet service
operators and local content providers under the Singapore
Broadcasting Authority (SBA) in order to protect local values.
The Internet is a global network of computer users linked by
telephone lines. Users can exchange electronic mail, post
messages, swap information, scan research published by
universities, governments and companies and shop across the
world. The system connects more than 30 million users.
Indonesian Information Minister Harmoko called for the setting
up of an ASEAN television channel, the extension of the ASEAN web
page on the Internet and the setting up of expert group meetings
to deal with the issues.
Apart from issues covering the Internet, the ASEAN Information
Ministers' meeting will also discuss several other proposals
including one for setting up an ASEAN satellite.