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.