Belo urges Australia to keep radio services

Belo urges Australia to keep radio services

SYDNEY (AFP): Nobel laureate Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo urged the Australian government yesterday to maintain funding for the international shortwave radio network Radio Australia.

The government decided Tuesday to slash Radio Australia's funding from 23 million Australian dollars (US$18 million) to about seven million dollars a year, which will mean an end to broadcasts to Asia-Pacific nations including Indonesia and China.

The cut had been recommended as an economy measure after an inquiry into the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corp. Belo, who was joint winner of last year's Nobel peace prize for his work in East Timor, said he would write to the Australian government urging it to maintain funding for Indonesian programming.

"Not only in East Timor, but I think in all of Indonesia we need the existence of this radio," he said in an interview broadcast on Radio Australia.

"For our ideas about democratization, about human rights, about justice and peace and all other respects of our social life in Asia and in East Timor, really we need the existence of Radio Australia's Indonesian edition," he said.

Belo said East Timorese relied on Radio Australia as a daily source of news and it could not be replaced by services such as Voice of America and the BBC.

"Radio Australia has a special kind of characteristic for us, because you are near and you are up to date about the news that is occurring in East Timor," he said. "I think it is important to maintain Radio Australia."

Radio Australia has broadcast to the Asia-Pacific region for 60 years. It currently reports in nine languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesia, Vietnamese and Khmer to an estimated audience of 20 million.

However the funding cuts mean its broadcasts will now be restricted to South Pacific nations such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

The opposition Labor Party said Wednesday that the cancellation of the Indonesian and Chinese services would be regarded as further evidence of a retreat from the region by the conservative coalition government.