Australian media bias

Could a Jakarta Post reader please tell me what the Australian media's problem is regarding news from Indonesia? It seems they slant stories about my country to fit their long-held biases. This letter writer checked out the suspicions he had about Australian media reporting during the recent Irian Jaya hostage rescue operation.

I first heard the news about the successful Indonesian army operation on BBC radio on May 16, 1996, in the early afternoon Jakarta time. The British report said that nine hostages had been rescued, eight OPM separatists were dead, and two Indonesian captives had been killed. In light of what was known later, this account was accurate, with no embellishment by the "Beeb".

At 6:00 p.m., I switched on CNN television news and their Jakarta correspondent was by then able to report that all the rescued hostages were on an Indonesian air force Hercules transport plane shortly due to land in the capital city. CNN basically gave the same version as the BBC. At 6:30 p.m. I tuned in to the RCTI Seputar Indonesia (Around Indonesia) half-hour news broadcast and heard the first interviews with Indonesian military officials. The first pictures of the military rescue from the field were also shown.

Curious about how the Australians would handle it, at 7:00 p.m. I viewed the ABC's television news. The successful Irian Jaya hostage rescue mission was announced by AusTV with the newscaster stating that "The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has suffered a setback." The number of hostages rescued was mentioned, then the fact that two of the Indonesian captives had been killed. Relying only on conjecture, the news report by Australia Television then speculated that the two hostages found dead may have been hit by Indonesian army gunfire. Of course the details were still vague at that point, but to me that implication revealed a lot about the mentality and biases of the Australian press. It was probably their wishful thinking that the Indonesian army had, at least in part, botched the rescue operation. At least two witnesses among the hostages, and I believed a third, Anna McIvor, stated that they had seen their two Indonesian colleagues hacked to death by the OPM separatists.

What would be particularly galling to Indonesian viewers was that the accompanying picture to the AusTV news report was the OPM flag on the screen. Here was a flag, recognized by no government in the world, given prominence by the Australian television newscast editors, again revealing quite a bit of an anti-Indonesian prejudice. Would they have shown the Tamil Eelam flag in stories about Sri Lanka? Or a Tibetan Flag? Or perhaps the Moro liberation colors in news from the Philippines? Or that of the Basque separatists in Europe? Perhaps -- if only for over dramatization. CNN "Headline News" newscasts show only national flags. The Australian press does things differently.

Unlike the Australian government or those Australians who feel Indonesian territorial integrity is best for the region -- Balkanization of my country would have disastrous consequences, even for Australia -- their press seems intent on roiling the waters. Is it any wonder that Australian journalists have been suspect in this country?

I would never rely on Australia Television alone for news concerning Indonesia, and I hope people around Southeast Asia realize the existence of these press prejudices.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta