Freedom
of the press comes under attack in Asia
Philip Bowring International Herald Tribune Tuesday, April 2, 2002
In
terrorism's shadow
April
2, 2002
BANGKOK
-- News organizations have recently been under official fire from
several Asian countries, including those noted for press freedom. Is
this a coincidence or a trend? If the latter, is it an extension of
post-Sept. 11 illiberalism in the West? Normally freewheeling Thailand
silenced a radio station, threatened with expulsion two Dow Jones journalists
and banned an issue of The Economist. Indonesia has expelled an resident
Australian journalist. Malaysia has been holding up distribution of
issues of Western publications such as Time magazine. Taiwan has charged
a reporter with breaching national security. Meanwhile a significant
row has erupted between Singapore's Straits Times, usually a mouthpiece
of government, and Tempo, Indonesia's independent weekly, on the issue
of Islamic terrorism. The Thai case arises from the sensitivity to criticism
of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, an admirer of more authoritarian
regimes to the south. Thaksin incited nationalist sentiment by suggesting
that the foreign journalists had criticized the monarchy. In fact they
had drawn attention to aspects of the king's publicly expressed unhappiness
with the Prime Minister. Local journalists were generally supportive
of their foreign colleagues. Some complained of Western hypocrisy, however,
noting U.S. efforts to suppress coverage on national security grounds,
and Dow Jones' commitment to the U.S. war effort by passing information
to its government well prior to publication.
The radio case may have more damaging domestic effects for the prime
minister. It involved The Nation, a leading multimedia group long critical
of Thaksin, and showed how government control of the airwaves could
be used to silence some critics. Vehement public reaction in this case
could hurt Thaksin, whose popularity has been slipping.
The Taiwan case, involving a magazine report of a secret fund to pay
off foreigners to support Taiwan, appears isolated. Most countries have
such funds and often use national security laws to protect secrecy.
Malaysia has censored foreign media spasmodically for years. But events
elsewhere have emboldened the government. Ironically, the Malaysians
may have been hoist on their own petard. The government is unhappy that
foreign publications have, they say, grossly exaggerated Muslim extremism
in Malaysia. They have a point. Editors' calls for lurid stories about
Islamic extremism have been eagerly answered, with fringe fundamentalist
groups that have been around for years transformed into global threats
and Al Qaeda operatives. But having used the Internal Security Act so
freely against political opponents from the main Islamic party, and
sought to use the fundamentalist threat to frighten the electorate,
the Malaysian government should not now be surprised at negative international
repercussions.
Singapore has fed the hunger for stories of Muslim threats with its
own detentions of alleged terror conspirators, and stories in the Straits
Times, widely quoted elsewhere, about terror networks in Indonesia.
Given Singapore's history of political detentions without trial and
the extent of its domestic surveillance, some question aspects of its
recent arrests.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is being criticized overseas for not cracking down
on extremists, as though it was at fault in not detaining suspects without
trial. However, its expulsion of the Australian journalist was on account
of his reporting of military atrocities in East Timor, not of Islamic
issues.
Some Indonesians are more angry with The Straits Times. Its four-page
article, based on documents said to come from Indonesian intelligence
sources, revealed a conspiracy to bomb U.S. embassies by a group called
Jemaah Islamiah. The independent Indonesian weekly Tempo put a team
of journalists on to the claims and came to the conclusion that they
contained numerous errors and inventions.
Tempo's response may reflect Indonesian sensitivity to criticism, especially
from Singapore. Real security threats do exist. But there are political
reasons for governments in Singapore and Malaysia to play up Muslim
extremism. Both are also using the issue to defend the use of detention
without trial. Whatever the truth about Southeast Asian links to international
terrorism, it is certain that the issue has become part of the politics
of the region – and added to threats to freedom of expression. International
Herald Tribune
