Southeast Asian press needs to retaliate

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.