Taming Western media on E. Timor

Taming Western media on E. Timor

By Al Busyra Basnur

This is the first of two articles on the link between the
Western media and East Timor.

JAKARTA (JP): When Dom Duarte de Braganca of Portugal visited
East Timor last November, he admitted that the situation in East
Timor was absolutely different from the reports that had been
reaching Portugal. He also said he was very much impressed by the
achievements of the province in socioeconomic development, so
much that he promised to convey to the Portuguese authorities the
real situation in East Timor. Of course, it would indeed be
interesting to know what reports about Indonesia Dom Duarte had
referred to and the impact of the true information on East Timor
that he would give to the Portuguese authorities.

That was not the only good opinion expressed by foreigners
about development and the true facts in East Timor. Many other
independent foreign observers or government officials who have
visited East Timor expressed similarly good impressions of the
situation in the Indonesia's youngest province. Among others,
three Kenyan journalists (Imanuel Oyiba Wili, Lilian Nduja
Githccingo and Bascrah Blasto), who on completing their visit to
East Timor last August commented that they had not seen anything
bad in East Timor such as Ramos Horta widely claimed overseas. In
the meantime, Lt. Gen. Silvio of Italy who visited East Timor
last month said that the negative image of East Timor abroad was
absolutely a result of unfair foreign journalist's reports.

Since Jose Ramos Horta, a leading Fretelin activist, received
the controversial 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, demonstrations, rallies
and forums protesting East Timor's integration organized by NGOs
and academicians in various countries have greatly increased.
Their objective is clear: to gain support from the international
community in their efforts to embarrass Indonesia for alleged
human rights abuses in East Timor and the repressive ways in
which Indonesian authorities govern the province.

The increase of anti-Indonesian rallies and demonstrations in
other countries has been not only in reference to the moves of
East Timor dissidents themselves or Portuguese diplomatic
maneuvers and the activities of certain NGOs, but also to the
role of the Western press, print and electronic media. For a long
time the Western media have distorted, exaggerated and
mispresented the facts about the Indonesian government with
regard to the issue of East Timor's integration, human rights and
democratization. This has misled the international public and
given them a false picture of the situation in Indonesia,
particularly East Timor.

It is what might be called a news fantasy of the East Timor
issue. Unfortunately, the fantasy has cost Indonesia much both
materially and morally, especially the people of East Timor who
would like to concentrate on social and economic development. No
less than Dom Duarte de Branca of Portugal, in his visit to
Indonesia, frankly admitted that many reports published by
foreign media did not match the conditions he had observed in
East Timor. During the dinner tendered in his honor by Ambassador
F.X. Lopes da Crus at the Jakarta Hilton Hotel, Dom Duarte told
me that most foreign media up to now seem to be only interested
in publishing news on East Timor if there is a problem. They
rarely publish anything on the success of the development efforts
in the province.

Actually, Indonesia has not been the only "victim" and
"target" of inaccurate reporting by the Western press. Several
other developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are
also experiencing similar problems and embarrassment. The late
prime minister of India Indira Gandhi once said that the Western
press was only interested in publishing bad news occurring in
developing countries, not success. Former president Carlos Andres
Perez of Venezuela blamed the Western press for shattering the
national identity of his country. Meanwhile, Abbas Sykes, former
Tunisian ambassador to UNESCO, said that he did not like Western
journalists entering his country. Several other countries in
Africa, in fact, banned foreign (Western) press offices because
they threatened national unity.

For decades, the Western media were also criticized widely
because they were apparently interested only in protecting and
promoting the interests of their owners and the companies that
advertised with them.

In the case of Indonesia and its relation with the Western
media, it is a reality that the Portuguese government, the East
Timorese dissidents and many other anti-Indonesia groups use the
Western media to defame Indonesia by publishing and airing
groundless information on East Timor's integration, human rights,
democratization and the labor situation in Indonesia.

News of East Timor published by the Western media, could be
put in three categories: First, fair publication, where the news
on East Timor aired or printed in the Western media is fair, wise
and objective, based on the facts and on what really occurs in
East Timor. This kind of news is seldom published in the Western
media.

Second, news that is neither complete nor comprehensive and
thus misleads readers on the East Timor issue. Why should it be
published in this way? There are two possible reasons, namely
lack of editorial space or the editor intended it to be that way.

Third, news that is clearly meant to gain support from readers
or audiences to prevail on the Indonesian government to change
its policy on East Timor. The facts and data of such news are
manipulated in order to mislead readers and audiences on East
Timor and Indonesia in general.

Most Western media also tend to use the wrong terminology,
referring to "invasion" and "occupation" in describing
Indonesia's presence in East Timor. In response, all our
representative offices (embassies and consulates) abroad have
endeavored to correct and inform the editors concerned
accordingly on the correct terminology. But, such inaccuracy
often still persists in the Western media.

Al Busyra Basnur, is an international observer and an alumnus
of University of the Santo Thomas (UST), Manila, Philippines. He
is working for Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The views expressed
in this article are personal.