Southeast Asian press needs to retaliate

Enrico Aditjondro and Solahudin, Southeast Asian Press Alliance, Jakarta

Old habits die hard. Most of us journalists in Southeast Asia understand that the state-sponsored press suppression does not go away easily. But when pressure does not go away at all, or even rises, we become restless. In the case of Southeast Asia, the nation leading the attack is the country once regarded as Asia's safe haven for free speech -- Thailand. As pressure grows in just the third month of the year, Southeast Asian journalists take up their pens and notepads to retaliate.

Last year, the Thai Journalists' Association (TJA) dubbed 2001 as "the year of media interference", signifying attempts by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to both directly and indirectly interfere with news reporting. The trend, however, seems to continue to 2002. In January the Thai government banned the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine for its Jan. 10 article on the tensions between Prime Minister Thaksin and King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thai police even threatened to expel two Bangkok-based journalists working for FEER and blacklisted all foreign journalists working for FEER. In March, due to government pressure, distributors withheld the March 2 edition of another prominent foreign magazine, The Economist, which contains an in depth report on Thailand which again touched on the Royal Palace matter.

Domestically, the Defense Ministry on March 4 ordered Smart Bomb, the company that licenses airtime on FM 90.5, to discontinue programming produced by the Nation Multimedia Group. The ban followed FM 90.5's broadcast in late February of an interview with Prasang Soonsiri, who criticized the government's reaction to the FEER debacle. The interview was also aired on Nation Channel, however, the broadcast of the interview was interrupted. While station officials cited unspecified technical problems, the Nation Multimedia Group blamed political interference.

To add to the blow, Thaksin also instructed the Anti-Money Laundering Office to investigate alleged money laundering of leading politicians and journalists, especially those who have been critical of his government.

When the Bush administration expressed concern over press freedom in his country, Prime Minister Thaksin responded: "Thailand's sovereignty is our business."

In Malaysia, the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently blocked distribution of Newsweek, Time and FEER because it was upset with the magazines' coverage on Islam and terrorism. The Economist was also under review for its reporting on illegal foreign workers.

In the Philippines, pressure rarely comes from the state. The Abu Sayyaf Group, a Muslim rebel group in southern Mindanao, monopolizes most of the attacks. The group's modus operandi against journalists includes kidnapping, intimidation and robbing. On Feb. 8, Arlyn de la Cruz, a local reporter for the cable channel Net 25, called to say she was being kidnapped by an armed group. This kidnap adds to the tally that already exceeds 20 cases. Since the Marcos crackdown in 1986 to this day, 37 journalists had died in the country due to their reporting.

Back home in Indonesia, the Jakarta Chapter of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) recorded 95 cases of attacks against the press in Indonesia. While it is down quantity-wise from 2000, the tendency for state pressure rises. In December last year, the Ministry of Communication and Information collaborated with the House of Representative to revise the Press Law by inserting a number of "hate sowing" articles (haatzaai artikelen, courtesy of the Dutch colonial rule) from the Criminal Code (KUHP). These are the same articles often used by the former Soeharto regime to crack down on the press.

So what is happening? Is there a wave to silence the press in Southeast Asia? It could be. But it is not a new trend for government to clamp down the press. A new government would try to act nice to the press at the beginning, but once consolidated, they would try to find ways to get back at controlling the press.

But time has changed. In the 1980s and early 1990s, suppression against the press was never retaliated. But exasperation and communication advancement have led to better international networking. Nowadays news about a journalist getting thumped by a police officer in Aceh could reach New York City within hours, sparking protests and solidarity from various international press organizations.

In Indonesia, the press law revision receives strong opposition from press groups like the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and SEAPA. The two groups have also monitored all attacks against the press throughout the archipelago.

In countries where press freedoms are more limited, alternative media are published to counter the state-censored information. A group of journalists in Singapore released the Think Center website for putting across more accurate stories.

Next of the border, journalists also went online to create the Malaysiakini.com for the same purpose. Malaysian broadcast journalists also get their reports out through the independent station Radiks Radio.

For Burmese journalists, it is an impossible task to report or broadcast accurate stories from within their country. So, they do so from outside Burma, publishing the Irawadi magazine and airing the Radio Free Asia, providing the public with independent reporting, free from country's junta military regime.

The struggle for press freedom relates closely with Asia's economic crisis. Prior to 1997, not so many groups discussed press freedom, access to public records or state transparency. But since July 1997, when the Thai bath fell and affected the economic crisis, these freedom issues topped the list of prescriptions made by those diagnosing the region's economic malaise.

Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize Winner for Economics, said that accurate information is crucial to development and prevention of disaster. Sen wrote that famines have never been found in places with democracy and press freedoms. "A free press and the practice of democracy contribute greatly to bringing out information that can have an enormous impact on famine prevention," he said.

Back in Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin is now answering Senate allegations that he had breached constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of speech, public's rights to information and individual privacy. The PM faces impeachment if found guilty.

In Indonesia, the Megawati government will be guaranteed strong opposition from the press community. We may not be able to teach old dogs new tricks, but we can teach them a lesson.