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Journalism AsiaPublished by the Center foi M.dl" Freedom and Responsibiliry Mey 3, 2002

MEDIA AND TERRORISMThe language of terror.. . . . . . . .

Johanna SanThe te r ro ts o f a f ree press . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lnis V TlodoroReporting terrorism ar home and abroad

Wari ef Dj aj anto B aso rieThe med ia t negat ive ro le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Waruna Karunatilalee

Reporting in the time of emergencyKunda Dixit

Jemaah Islamiah and the hi jab... . . . . . . . . . . .

James Gomez

The Tha i med ia exper ience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ktlachada Chaipipat

MEDIA AND CULTURAL DIVERSITYHomogenized reporting in a country of diversiry

Carlas CondeImages of islam and Muslims in the Phil ippines .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rttfa Cagoco-Guiam

MEDIA IN NEWLY DEMOCRATIC STATESA dark period for the press

Men Kimseng

Journalism ethics in EastlmorLtthas Luuarso

MEDIAOWNERSHIPMedia ownership and media independence:

Darrrnee HirunruLAnother kind of media concenrrarion?... . . . . . . .

Mah Yin TingThe Sun r ises, sets, r ises, sers, nses... . . . . . . . . . . .

Rehman RashidBeyond economics

James Gomez

ROUNDUP\(orldAsia

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The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibiliry organized the 2nd Journalism Asia Forumin Bangkok, Thailand on February 1 4- 1 6 with a grant from the Japan Foundation Asia Center,

arrd partnership with the,{SEAN Mass Communication Studies and Research Center-University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Journalists Association.

This publication is supported wirh the help of the following corporare sponsors;Development Bank of the Philippines

fuzal Commercial Banking CorporationSiemens, Inc.

Journalism Asia is published by lhe Center for Media Freedom and Responsibil i ty (C[/FB) Irom its headquarters at the Ateneo Professional Schools,130 HV de la CostaSt . , Sa lcedoVi l lage , Makat i C i ty , Ph i l ipp ines . For inqu i r ies , r ing (632) 840-0889/840-0903/894-13141894-1326 or emai l cml r@sur lshop.ne t .ph

P U B L I S H E RMrr-rNoa QurNros Dr Jesus

EDITORLurs V Teooono

BOARD OF ADVISORSEucrNreAlosroL (Philippina)

ArlurusuueH AsTRAATMADJA (Indonesia)Kqvr CHoNcrcrrrevopx (Thailand)

RqurLocsnr (Philippina)Kr.cricHAr PoNCPANIcH (Thailand)

SuseNro Puo;or're.ntoNo (Indonesia)

.COUNTRY CONTRIBUTORS'\7,+ruen

DlalaNro B,tsoux (Indonetia)Rup,r C,e,coco-Gurax (Phi lippina)Kur-,qcH,co.4. CHArpnm (Thai/nnd)

C,qru-os CoNoE (Philippinu)KtnoxDtxtr (Nepal)

Jeles Gotitz (Singapore)D.rr.uvm Hrmn:nurc (Thaiknd)

'WAnLwe KenLql,{r:rrxrcy. (Sri Lanka)

MEN KIMsENC (Cambodia)Lures Luwenso (Indonaia)Mer YtN. TtNc (Hong Kong)REur'r,ql RqsHIo (Makyia)

Lurs V. TEoDoRo (Philippinu)

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSEvELYN O. Katrcser

Hecron Bnvarr L. MACALEMa. Rosrlle B. MTn,nNDA

DESIGN CONSULTANTARNEL RIVAL

IoURNAr.rsM Asl^ 2002 l

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Asian journalists on teruorismTHIS publication began as a forum amongjournalists in the region, a meeting biiled

as Journalism Asia Fontm. The first was

held in Manila in January 20011 the sec-

ond in February 2002 in Bangkok. Both

were designed not only for the usual valu-

able exchange of ideas about shared con-

cerns; but for the production ofa publica-

tion on journalism in this part of the world'

The meeting last year brought together

iournalists from ASEAN countries. The

,.rrrlt, * protorype edition of JournalismAsia. In Bangkok this year, journalists from

Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ma-

laysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and

Thailand attended the meeting. This edi-

tion starrs up JA as an annual report on the

aspects of the press in difitrent countries

in the region; quite auspiciously, in 2001'

a vear of epochal events.It has taken Al Qaedas catastrophic at-

tacks againsrAmerica to place terrorism as a

central issue in the global agenda. But the

small meeting in Bangkok gathered enough

fuian journalists and writers who have had

to reDort on the violence of terrorism in

their own communities long before Sep-

tember 1 1.Asia is home to newly indePendent

countries where struggles for national lib-

eration have been tainted by the same "hor-

ri$ring tradition." In many countrles' com-

munal hostilities have erupted in savage

attacks against unarmed civilians. Police and

military iegimes have resorted to such meth-

ods of fighting the "enemy'' among their

own people. Extremism. Fanaticism. The

embedded sense of the aggrieved. Hurt

and hatred have bloodied the landscape of

Asia with irational ways of making war.

Journalists are quick to admit that per-

haps the news media are hardly equipped

to help their communities and the rest of

the wtrld to understand how and whY

such violence erupts. Quite often, they do

no more than count casuaities. On occa-

sion, they may fan hostilities on either side

of the conflict. Clearly, part of the prob-

lem is a media culture not given to reflec-

tion and review.But these pages Present an earnest at-

tempt for understanding the terror in our

midst. The perspective must become part

ofthe larger context ofdiscussion. For jour-

nalists in the region and elsewhere, the is-

sues involve fundamental questions about

language, attitudes and traditions that have

Iong shaped journalism Practice but may

now need re-thinking.fu INTER PRESS editor Johanna Son

points out in her lead article, terrorism, in

and out of quotes, calls for "analysis and

debate." 'We

hope /,4 contributes to the

process, before and after deadlines, in Asia

and around the world'

lnformation, our most vital resourceTODAY, a year after its birth, JournalismAsia\ pvpose remains the same, and has

in fact become of even greater wgency. JA,however, has had to temPer its earlier opti-

mism that it could as published as a quar-

terly. The realities of the Asian financial

crisis, the problems of language among

countries ofdiverse cultures and traditions,and the pressing, daily concerns ofpracti-

tioners in fuia have transformed JA into

an annual report that will review the previ-

ous year's press performance in Asia.

JA s itsdf a reflection of *re uncerainties

that continue to plague theAsian pres, ofwhich

financial viabilitv is onlv one. As this rwiew of

press performance last year shows, those uncer-

aimies indude the temper of governments, t}re

general economic well being of sociery, as well as

fie kind of preparation for the craft that jour-

nalists receive.Last year the most number of journal-

ists were killed in Afghanistan, which is in

2 Jounuusu Asra 2002

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fuia, and it is in Asia where the most jour-

nalists are still in prison and have h3d to

pay dearly for the exercise of their craft,

sometimes with their lives.Part of the reason are the conflicts that

continue to plague the region, or which

have left legacies ofviolence and instabiliry

that continue to affect the way journalists

must function.In Cambodia, for instance, the years of

war and conflict have taken a toll on the

press that is by no means unique to that

country.On the other hand, press freedom has

also proven to be a right that has required

the most mil i tant defense. In Thailand,

Indonesia and the Philippines, governmentincursion has remained a threat expressed

in draft decrees limiting press freedom (ln-

donesia), the banning of publications for

reporting not to the liking of those in power(Thailand), as well as the closure of radio

stations under the pretext of enforcing mu-

nicipal laws (the Philippines).fu the reports on the subject from the

Phiiippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka

and Nepal shorv, in Asia-a region of di-

verse cultures, religious beliefs and tradi-

tions-the reporting of terrorism also re-

mains problematic, shaped bY, among

other vital factors, the dominance of\fest-

ern media as major sources of information.

As/,4 said in im first editorial last year, it

does not claim to have any solutions to theproblems that the crafi ofjournalism as prac-

iiced in Asia face in abundance. At most

JA would be another Forum for Practitio-ners to examine, evaluate and critique the

way they have been discharging their mandate

of providing the information so vital to entire

nations, in a world in which ffirmadon-ac-

curate, complere, relevant- has become rhe

ultimate resotuce that can make freedom both

possible and meaningflrl.

I+.

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ByJounNNa SoNT INTER PRESS SERVICE

AVE the media beenterrorized by terrorism?The term "terrorism"

can be seen, read or heard today

just about everywhere in media,

rvhether international or local,

ready to be received by news

consumers. It also lies in wait of

many a writer or editor working

in an international political

lardscape changed by the Sep-

rember 1 1 attacks in the United

Srates.The word "terrorism" - both its

rechnical definition and the politicalb"gg€. that comes wirh ir - is aneditorial minefield for journalists, manyoFr,r'hom are trying to find their way totair, insightful reporting in a world that,shaken byevents like that of September1 I , are increasingly dominated by thelanguage and images of rerrorism.

In fact, the dictionary definition ofthe word appears to be rhe easiest part ofan editorial debate on ifand how to use'ierrorism" and "terrorisr" in a news storyas an ongoing discussion among regionaleditors in my news agency, Inter PressService, shows.

The New Oxford Dictionary (1998)

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defines "terrorism" as a mass noun that

means "the use ofviolence and intimida-

tion'in the pursuit of political aims". A

"terrorist", it says, is a "person who uses

terrorism in the pursuit of political aims".

Then comes the manY questions that

have cropped up in the current discus-

sion among us editors, especially in an

organization like IPS, whose editors in

Europe, North America, Asia and T atin

America coordinate their regions' story

production and send the articles they

edit straight to the wire, without going

through a central editing desk.

How should journal ists now use these

words? Should theY aPPear in coPY as

fact, or should they be used always with

attribution to who or what grouP is

making the judgment that a Person or

group is terrorist?

But then again, ifan act is a terrorist

act, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary

should journalists shirk from using the

word? Should they tiPtoe around the

truth, or call a spade a spade? \Tithout

doubt, the September 1 I attacks were a

terrorist act, and that is how news

organizations refer to them.

But we are not talking about just this

one incident. How should news articles

refer to the "United States'war on

terrorism"? Should it be accepted as

indeed a war on terrorism and reported

and used as fact - or is it wiser to put the

phrase in quotes to show that some

group is making that claim, not the

writer or editor?I believe that journalists, wherever

they are.in this globalized world, would

have good use for aworkable editorial

tool withwhich to go through and treat

copy. Ic is Far more than a semantic

debate, but one that is linked to the

media's task ofcritical reporting and

explaining events and trends without

falling into the "terrorist" mindset and

passing on the same blindly to their

readers and audiences'

4 IouRNALIsM Arh 2002

After all, "terrorism" has become

among the most used and abused words

in recent history, a politically loaded term

especially in the lasr seven months' The

images in many PeoPle's minds of

terrorism today are quite different from

those they had before September I I and

the U.S.led military action in $fghani-stan, for instance.

Terrorism has entered the lexicon of

all kinds of media, as well as everyday life- children now play games where one is

the good guy and another "the terrorist"'

In todays media, one can count how

many times the words "terrorism" and

"terrorist" appear in newsPapers,

television and radio reports, websites'

These. to borrowU.S. President George

\( Bush's phrase in referring to terrorism,

are some of the "ticking time bombs" that

can do damage to unsusPecting journd-

ists, and readers.The realiry also is that in manY

media, including the big mainstream

ones we see on cable television everyday,

these terms are used freely and unques-

Farrington

tioningly - often, in ways that do little to

inform audiences or help them under-

stand the nuances oftoday's issues.

This is why the changed interna-

tional setting after September 1l has

generated debates in newsrooms - and as

IPS'experience shows, it is not a debate

that is easily resolved'Not at a time when what the United

States called its "war on terrorism" in

September - in fact a military campaign

in Afghanistan - has expanded to areas as

diverse as the Philippines and Georgia,

raising questions about its policies. And

certainly not when different govern-

ments, from China, Russia, the Philip-

pines, are using the phrase too to refer to

their own insurgents as well.

In short, the meaning of "war against

terrorism" depends on who or what is

using that phrase - and the ones who

define who is a terrorist or not is more

often that not, states or governments.

States or governments with more access

to communication outlets, andwith the

resources to explain their view with

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JouRNALTsM Arr^ 2002 5

supposedly more legitimacy.

So it is easier for media to call the

Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Basque

separatists in Spain and the Palestinian

fighters "terrorists", than it is to call the

Israeli governmentt most recent offensive

against Palestinian towns and refugee

:reas, "terrorisni'.

Yet "terrorism", ifwe go by thei}ford dictionary definition, is defined':r'rhe

act, not by the actor who did it.

lerrorism can be done by states too. To

:iar- the devil's advocate, ifwe use war

.:.gainst terrorism (without quotes),

.rould news articies then refer as well to

-s:aeli state terrorism? Should we? \7ould

The sensit iviry of the issue is seen in

relarion to the volatile Middle East, in

:::rarks made by Malaysian Prime

I' l.::srer Mahathir Mohamad in early

,---:- ar a meeting of Organization of

-,-,:ric Conference (OIC) ministers: He

:.. -.i -ire Israeli offensives in Palestinian

.:;- :errorism by the state, and likewise

:-..=J suicide bombings by Palestinians

.--.. cilerror.

;iis remarks created a stir in the

-:.:;:lic ministers' meeting (on yes,

: - : : - .r ism). They could nor agree on i t ,

==: seleral ministers rejected the

:":.gorization of suicide bombers as:=::.rrists bent on causing civilian deaths.

But putting up editorial guideposts

.:.d piecing together editorial sryle on

:.rrorism is in manyways even more

:::nplicated than, say, a meeting of

:J''-ernments,This is because an editorial debate on

lorv ro get a handle on terror is nor

about individual definitions of "terror-

sm" (lest news organizations end up

drawing up their own lists of terrorists,

like the U.S. State Department), but how

ro use the term in such a way as toprodnce qualiry, professional copy acrossdifferent bureaus and regions.

For individual media encit ies,

\

tr: i

including an international one like IPS, itis a search for a consistent way of usingtheword and the concept in fair, goodarticles - written and read by differentpeople ofdifferent cultures and politicalsettings, with the aim of informingaudiences in an intelligent matter. Thisalso means not internalizing and passingon labels that sound 'big' and are easy touse, but tend to confuse,

fu of thiswriting, IPS continues to

exchange views, sometimes heated ones,on the issue. But the fact that journalists

can have very different individualopinions shows preciselywhy the use ofword "terrorism', especially against thebackdrop of todays political landscape,should be covered by editorial poliry, if

not srylebool.rs. (For those of us whowrite or edit articles everyday, this would

also make work a lot more efficient, and

with less agonizing over terms.)One question before the IPS

editors now is whether to, and howto, update the section on the usage of"terrorism" in a new version of theagency's stylebook.

The previous version of this style-book, which we have shared with otherjournalists, writers, professors and non-

government organizations, cautionswriters and editors against using labelslike "mercenary", "terrorist", "fascist"-

labels that writers and readers sometimesdo not realize are that.

-Where does "terrorism" in the currentfit in? Some points for discussion have

arisen in the IPS debatewhat editorialwarning signs to heed as we write andhandle copy.

0n'1tr4t against rcrofism"One view is that the phrase has been

there long enough to allow us to dropthe quotation marks, and that quotationmarks make it sound "a bit sarcastic anddismissive", one editor colleague inEurope thought. But another view has it

6 IouRNusM Asr^ 2002

, *

that it is wiser to use quotation marks

because removing them would tend toshow acceptance ofthe United States'definition and use of the term to include

all military action it puts under it."Otherwise, we would give credibility

to what is, in realiry a political stand: theofficial claim thatwhatever militaryaction ir takes is an act ofwar againstterrorism," says Alejandro Kirk, IPSproduction editor.

Other ideas: \7ould using 'war

against alleged terrorists" instead work?Or using "the United States'war againstterrorism" ? Or ' what the United States

calls its 'war against terrorism"?The jury is still out on this, and as I

type on, the debate condnues.

0n nG wotd'teilotisl"It has already been flagged up before

as a tricky term to be used with caution,

but certainly more so in the last several

months, where it is often caught between

a factual definition and a politicaldefinition.

But there are ways to handle this

term, or actually, steer clear of it most of

the time, and still tell a good, profession-

ally-writren story. Use in quotations are

fine, with effort put into saying if there is

a denial to that label. Some find it safer

and more precise to describe the act

involved, the aim and identiry of the

group or state, father than to use the"terrorist" label without saying who or

what is making that claim or judgment'

Attribution remains essential, andcertainly more informative for readers.For example, we refer to "... the Decem-

ber attack on the Indian Parliament,which the government in New Delhi

blames on 'terrorists' linked to Pakistan'.

I still recommend using \Tashingtons'war against terrorism'with a clear link to

who calls it that, such as saying some-thing like 'what the United States calls its

war against terrorism".

The link between a term and fromwhose viewpoint it comes from is cited in

this example from Moyiga Nduru, IPSAFrica editor, who said, "I always liken

the word terrorism to the offent{ingwordanimist/s used by Christians/Muslims/

Jews to refer to tlose who worshiptraditional/indigenous religion. " Whilequotes are a different manner, he added,"Instead ofsaying animists, we in Africause the phrase "followers oftraditionalreligion'.

There are accurate, fair ways ofcovering conflicts without falling into theterrorism vocabulary, even withouthaving use the word "terrorism".

Describing groups and states that somecall terrorists, their aim, name, actions, beit a carnage or shooting, is much more

reader-friendly and complete.Abid Aslam, our North America/

Carribean editor, points out, "Such labels

can be clumsy shorthand and not terriblyrevealing." In the end, "irs (terrorist

groups) actions, presumably speak louderthan our labels".

There is not a single answer to this,

but certainly dealingwith the language

of terrorism requires creativity, analysisand debate (lots of it). But as long asjournalists continue to ask questions and

try to put up editorial guideposts they

can use, we can yet make our way out ofthe minefield that is the often abusedlanguage ofterrorism. r

*lPS news agency (http://

www.ipsnews.net) produces a daily'World

Service wire that focuses oncontextualized news and features on

global issues ofrelevance to the

global South. I t is run by a non-

profit international association ofjournalists. Its Asia-Pacifi cheadquaters is in Bangkok, Thailand.

Johana Son is IPS '4sia-Pacifc RegionalDirector

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lilanila's front pages: stories sourced from the wires, and the local angle

By Lurs V. Teooono

I PHtt-rpprr'res

ECAUSE it is their specific characteristics, among other factors, thatdecide how their news as well as

opinion pag€s present and interprer thoseevents, I will preface this report by firstdescribing the Philippine media. Mydescription, however, will be in rather broadstrokes because it is not possible to ad-equately describe it completelywithin thetime allotted to me. I hope, however, thatit will be sufficient to put in conrext theway some media organizations reported andcommented on the September 11 attacksas well as those events subsequent to them.

The Philippine press and media are first of allprotected by a constitutional injunction against thepassage ofany law abridging press freedom as well asfreedom ofspeech, expression, and assembly. Thisprotection in the 1987 Constitution is speciallymeaningful because the need for it had been starklydemonstrated during the period of dictatorship from1972to 1986, when governmenr control overinformation kept Filipinos in the dark abour a vasrarray ofcritical issues about their country and sociery.

C$A wants Pascual €t al. to returnP72h{ .wo*ar,s',.

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JouRN^usM Asr^ 2002 7

I+

Article III Section 4 of the 1987

Philippine Constitution constitutes the

basis for a regime of press freedom, about

which media advocary grouPs and

practitioneis have been generallythankfi-rl. However, constitutional

protection has not always been sufficient

to assure media autonomy' as no law is

ever really enough to do that.

Practitioners and media advocacY

groups have therefore sometimes found

the need to remind various Philippine

governments as well as other institutions

ofthe existence ofthat provision and of

the need to resPect it. In some cases the

reminder has been ignored, and has had

to be reinforced by public campaigns to

protect press freedom.

TN GENERAL, however, it maYbe

Igranted that press freedom does exist

and is practiced in the Philippines.

Practitioners believe this to be the case, as

do most other sectors of Philippine

society, including academics and

politicians. \Thether there is also

agreement that press freedom has played

a positive role in Philippine sociery

however, is another matter'An infl uential Filipino businessman'

for example, said only a few months ago

that the Philippine government' during

en economicsummit itwas at the time

sponsoring, should seriously look at

how the free press has damaged rather

than advanced the country's develop-

ment.Citing the usual examPle of

Singapore, businessman Raul

Concepcion repeated aclaim thatt being

made more and more often bY business

leaders, economists, certain academics,

and even some media practitionersthemselves. It is that the absence of a free

press seems to make development that

much more possible, while its existence

mires entire societies in mindless

bickering and endless fault-fi nding.

8 JouRN^usM As[ 2002

Vhile the partisans of Pressfreedom would take excePtion to the

idea that it's what Singapore doesn't

have (press freedom) rather than what

it seems to have (a comPetent and

determined leadership) that has made

it into what it is today even they have

had their misgivings.Those misgivings are not over Press

freedom itself, however, but over the

failure of much of Phil iPPine mass

media to utilize that freedom for

precisely the very purpose implicit in

the need for its protection. That

purpose, as we all know, is to provide

the public the information it needs for

it to make the informed decisions

worthy of free men and women in a

society that would be democratic.

Much of the information the media

transmit under the Protection of the

Bill of Rights, however, are trivial,

and/or appeal to the worst instincts of

a mass audience. In far too many

instances, the information that on the

other hand would have a public value

otherwise is inaccurate, biased, and

hyped-up or exaggerated'Because press freedom has been a

fact of Philippine life for so long, even

practitioners take both its existtnce as

well as its meaning for granted' In

practice it is regarded as a license to

print and air anything that will sell

more newspaPers or boost ratings.

TN MUCH of the Phil iPPine Press, a

Ireeime of freedom has therefore not

meant its exercise in pursuit of aims

nobler than those of commerce. There

are excePtions, ofcotlrse, but theY

have been so rare as to be immediately

noticeable and to seem like a mutation,

like a third arm. The rule is in fact an

almost uniform diet of sensationalism

and scandal for readers and viewers-

to which is added, when the season for

it arrives, meaning during the summer

months that are right now fast

approaching, the bizarre and the

unusual.Month after month, the Manila-

based press as well as TV and radio

stations have featured in the year just

past, through huge headline type and

high decibel audio, one Politicalscandal after another, some of them

deliberately hyped uP to make them

look bigger than theY reallY are.

In the last few months, aside from

endless speculations on who killed a

once famous actor, the Possibleinvolvement of presidential spouse

Mike Arroyo in various shadY deals,

and whether there will be a couP

attempt against the Arroyo goYern-

ment, the usual lurid stories, still

photographs and video footage of

violence whether between hot-

tempered individuals, or committed in

the pursuit of criminal or political

ends, has remained in ample evidence.

Of course there is the Abu Saryaf

Group- stories about which have

been appearing almost daily in the last

two years since the SiPadan

kidnappings- as well as the arrival of

US troops allegedly for a militarY

exercise. During the summer months

of March to June, however, the

likelihood is that to this diet will be

added stories about women in remote

places who give birth to fish' or about

apparitions materiaiizing atop tele-

phone poles.Remarkable for their absence in the

last two years since the Abu SaYYaf

raid on the Sipadan Island resort in

Malaysia are the articles that will

enable readers to understand the

complex causes behind such phenom-

ena as theAbu SayYaf, and PerhaPseven more critically, groups driven by

genuine grievances into taking up the

gun such as the Moro Islamic Libera-

tion Front.

,'+,

The competition among mediaorganizations in Manila is also extremelyfierce. There are l0 broadsheets inManila, plus a number oftabloidscompeting for a narrow band ofreadership distributed in Manila as wellas the provinces, where on the otherhand there are nearly 200 communirynewspapers. Between Manila's leadingTV stations, GMA-7 TV network andABS-CBN, meanwhile, the competitionis even fiercer in terms ranging from themuflral pirating of high-rating broadcast-ers to finding the sensational angle orshocking exclusive that will boost ratings.

Under these conditions of extremecompetition among the media organiza-tions in both print and broadcast, there isneither time nor will for skills enhance-ment, particularly in the area of researchcapability. Independent research todeepen public understanding of suchcomplex issues as the roots ofMuslimdisaffection and the web of corruptionrhat infests Philippine officialdom isundertaken by a few dedicated pracdrio-ners aswell as bysuch journalists'groupsas the Philippine Center for Invesrigative

Journalism.But these instances are remarkable for

their rariry. Most of the time such eventsas the resumption of hostilities berweenthe Philippine armed forces and armedMuslim groups are covered neither aspart ofa chain of complex events or asthe consequence offestering social andeconomic grievances, but as just anotherincident ofviolence like a street shootingor a hold-up----of course with bloodyphotographs and video footage to march.

This kind ofcoverage does lend itselfto marketing demands, given the factthat Philippine mass media are over-whelmingly privately-owned and incompetition with each other for analready fragmented market. Theyieinteresting to certain readers and viewers,they require limle reader or viewer

concentration, and dont demand theexpenditure of either much time ormoney. But they also strengthen existingmajority prejudices, and serve, not theends of educating through information apublic that desperately needs andprobablywants it, but those of mis-education and funher divisiveness in asociety burdened by the vast dividesbetween rich and poor, Christian and

non-Christian, and the educated and theignorant,

-lHE FREE, even indiscriminate, useI ofthe word terrorist has helped

considerably in this mis-education.Remarkable as it mayseem-thePhilippineswas the first countryinSoutheast Asia to experience terrorismfirsthand while burdened by a historv of

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centuries ofsocial unrest, armed rebel-

lion, and uprisings -too many Philip-

pine rnedia practitioners are unable to

distinguish beween terrorist acts and

groups and ihose armed groups which

do use violence in the furtherance of

their political aims, but whose use of it

has been generally discriminate.In addition. undue, often over-

whelming, reliance on goYernment

sources has led to one-sided rePorts

characterized by a lack ofbalance and

fairness. The result has been the

common demonization of all armed

groups in Mindanao, and therefore

public condemnation of even those

groups with legitimate grievances,

and which, while engaged in combat

with government trooPs, do not use

terrorist means.A further consequence has been the

almost total absence ofsupport for Peaceefforts among the population, and the

encouragement ofwhat in the Philip-

pines has been labeled as the "total war"

approach in dealingwith all political

formations including those forced by

injustice, government neglect, and short-

sighted policies into taking up arms.

The kindestwayof describing the

practitioners who help make this happen

is that they are not Particularly interested

in either further study, or in producing

reports beyond the commonplace. The

harshest would be that they themselves

share the biases of the majoriry and are

content with reinforcing those biases by

accessing only the most easily available

sources.But it is also true that the limitations

of Philippine media coverage are the

results ofshared responsibiliry in a

situation in which media organizations

dare not risk losing readerships and

audiences through rePorts that do not

confi rrn dominant prejudices, or which

they believe would not attract, and

would even drive away, consumer

t0 JouRNALIsM Ash 2002

t$j{etu :8g*efu:d* :

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interest. Another factor is the cost in

both money and man/woman-hours of

producing in-depth stories and back-

ground material based on research' fu

commercial enterprises, Philippine mass

media organizations do not normallyseek

to produce bettei reports quite simply

because they cost.

A LLTHESE factors were at work in

A.th. Philippine media last September.

September I I was ofcourse the big story

in Philippine broadcasting even as the

events related to the attacks on thE World

Tiade Center and the Pentagon were

unfolding live, so to speak, in the

evening of that date in Manila, which

was morning in the US eastern seaboard'

Footage from CNN and other US

networks were replayed again and again

for the rest of that evening, which of

course was understandable.On September 12, every broadsheet

and tabloid in Manilawith but one

exception had the attacks for lead story.

The exception is ofcourse also ofinterest,

but was due to no other reason than the

relative antiquiry of the printingequipment of that one newspaper, which

required its printing earlier than the other

broadshees. It did manage a rePort on

the 13th, however, which was distin-

guished as well by its being sourced from

the Philippine Department of National

Delense because it concentrated on

Defense sources'claim that the United

States had expected terrorist attacla in its

territory as early as June. This was a

notable exception in the sea ofstories

sourced from \7estern, specifi callY

American sources, however.

The other newsPaPers sourced their

stories from the wire services, mostly

American, which had reporters on the

ground. Evident in this reliance was the

absence of those alternative viewpoints

from other sources that were almost

immediately available in the Internet as

well as from other, more distanced

sources like some ofthe British publica-

tions.

Virtually no background material was

provided by either Philippine print or

broadcast, which uniformly accepted the

American press' and wire services'

interpretation and focus on September

1 I and after.

The atmosphere in the PhiliPPine

media was a virtual replication of that in

US media, where any dissent from the

dominant interpretation of events was

regarded as practically treasonous-

despite the fact that there is a sizeable

Muslim communiry in the Philippines'

and armed groups with which the

Philippine governmentwas and is still in

peace negotiations. The assumptions and

focus oFCNNk non-stop coverage oF

ever)'thing and any-thing that had to do

with September 11 and aftermath under

the headings'America Under Attack"

and "WarAgainstTerror" were dso

bodily and uncritically transported into

Philippine media reporting.

The stories sourced from the wires

occupied much of the front pages until

the end of the month, edging out stories

about domestic events, and eventually

giving way to attempts to find the local

angle tha: editors think makes aninternadonal story appealing to a localreadership. This was at the start all to thegood because rhe localization effortsinitially focused on the experiences ofFilipinos in NewYork, a legitimateenough concern considering how manyFilipinos live in that ciry but whichsoured when the broadsheets as well asrhe tabloids ran out of "I-was-a-block-away-when-I-heard-the-explosion"accounrs by Filipinos, and beganpublishing stories on how the predictionsof Nostradamus supposedly anticipatedrhe evenrs of September I l, and later, asrory on the devil's countenancet beingperceptible in the smoke from groundzErO.

The search for local angles continuedbeyond September, and by October 2had resulted in a story about fluincidents among the students in several'exclusive'-

meaning expensive--schools in Metro Manilawhich promptlysenr parents into a panic, as a segment ofthe Philippine media prematurelyconcluded that it was a case ofbio-terrorism.

It began innocently enough with acrawler overABS-CBN News Channel(ANC) in the early afternoon of October2,which reporred that "an unknownvirus" had infected a number ofstudentsin a cluster ofschools.

Bythe late afternoon, however,viewers were reading into that reporttheir interpretation that it must be bio-terrorism at work because ofANCtimmediately inrerviewing, for a take onthe evenr, the National SecurityAdviserrather than rhe more logical inrerviewees,who would have been the doctors at theDepartment of Health.

The National SecurityAdviser didsay that there was no evidence ofbio-terrorism in the flu incidents in theschools concerned, and as ANC and thenewspapers eventually got around to

d.

interviewingdocrors ar rhe DOHincluding the Secretary of Health, it soonbecame embarrassingly evident that therewas no bio-terrorism at work, merely flucases that were not unusual for the timeof year, and the number of thoseafflicted.

It was also established thar one of thereasons why the cases had multipliedquicklywas that the classrooms oftheschools concerned were air -conditioned,which made transmittal of the virus easierthan ifthe classroom windows and doorshad been open. In this episode thebroad-sheets were more subdued thantelevision news, with one of themproclaiming in its lead storyheadline theday after that "IT'S NOT BIO-TER-RORISM," and directly criticizing theoffending station, while another warnedmedia to be more careful because theirstories "affect people. "

T\ ESPITE THE lessons offered

| | by this sorry incident, the] ' searchfora localanglecont in-

ued among the leadingTVstarions andbroadsheets in Manila, and again, someof them found it in a disease. This time itwas anthrax.

Reports of the anthrax deaths in thdUnited States had been published in thebroadsheets and aired over TV news asthey occurred in September and October.These reports were from the wire services,and with only a few exceptions appearedin the foreign news pages.

In mid-October, howevet an over-imaginative citizen workingat the formerSubic US Naval Base called Manila'sGMA-7TVto repoft thar he hadreceived what he described as a 'tuspi-

ciousJooking envelope" by mail. Theenvelope, in the mind of this citizen,who had apparendy been following theanthrax reports via CNN and thenewspapers, was "suspicious" because ithad the names ofsingapore Senior

Minister Lqe Kuan.Yew and US Presi-denr George lM Bush on it.

GMA-7 promptlyincluded in itsevening news report of October l6 astory headlined'Anthrax hits Manila," inwhich the imaginative cidzen wasinterviewed, and asked such questions aswhen did you receive the envelope, whatmade you suspicious of it, etc., and theenvelope in question shown bigger thanlife-size through the TV camera.

This was parendy roo much even forsome media pracdtioners. One columnistcalled the station and informed its newseditors that she too had received the sameenvelope-which was norhing morethan a promotion by the Singaporeoffices of the British magazine theEconomist. To emphasize the magazinetinfluence, the promotion had been sentin an "lnter-Office Envelope" facsimile,on which the names of the more famousreaders of the Economist-among themLee Kuan Yew and George \( Bush-were listed.

However, some of the media persistedin playing up rhe anthrax-has-reached-the-Philippines angle despite GMA-7'snegative example. One of the Manilanewspapers used rhe discredited GMA-7story as background ro supporr a reporrthat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyohad warned the public of the possiblespread ofthe disease. It later turned ourthat Ms. Arroyo had said exacrly theopposite: that there was only theremotest possibiliry that the Philippineswould be the object ofan anrhrax attack.Another emphasized in a huge headlinesuspicions ofanthrax over an envelopesent to the Speaker ofthe House ofRepresentatives-withour, however,providing any details, beyond theenvelope's having been in fact sent andreceived, that could justif, the headlineitself

\fhat could have been ofsomehelp, however, was hard information

I ^ t r D N r r k U A " ' . i ^ ^ . | |

on anthrax and how it 's sPread;

which countries have rhe sPores in

their biological warfare arsenals; as

well as a dispassionate analysis of the

likelihood that the Phil ippines could

be a target ofbio-terrorist attacks'

Except for one newsPaPer that

printed an article that did provide _information on what anthrax is and

how it is transmitted, the rest of the

Phil ippine mass media did not

provide that kind of enlightenment'

Vhich could equallY be said of

those other issues that had preoccu-

pied, or which continue to be the

concerns of, manY PeoPle in the

Phil ippines. The Center for Media

Freedom and ResPonsibil i tY, for

example, did a studY of f ive Manila

broad-sheets during the Year 2000

April-July offensive of the Armed

Forces of the Phil ippines against the

Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The study noted the glaring

absence o fp rec i se lY the k ind o f

contextual izat ion bY waY of

background ar t ic les that could

have he lped F i l iP inos , sPec ia l lY

the 80% o f t he PoPu la t i on who

are Chr is t ians and who are t radi -

t i ona l l y susP ic ious and b iased

aga ins t t he Mus l im commun i tY ,

unde rs tand the reasons beh ind the

demand for autonomY bY cer ta in

Mus l im g rouPs l i ke t he Moro

Is lamic L iberat ion Front .

In the p lace of such mater ia l

was an overwhelming emPhasis on

armed confrontations, on battles and

body counts' There were also

numerous instances of posed photo-

graphs and video footage-with some

of them displaying a gross insensitiv-

ity to Muslim culture, to Islam, and

to the diversitY of the Phil iPPine

population.Obv ious l y t he Ph i l iPP ine mass

media st i l l have a long waY to go

12 JouRNAusM Ash 2002

., ,l

before they are able to do just ice

to t he manda te imP l i ed i n t he

Cons t i t u t i ona l gua ran tee o f p ress

freedom-that theY wi l l Providethe in format ion Fi l iP inos need to

enab le t hem to unde rs tand the i r

present and to char t thei r fu ture

"s f t " . men and women. In the

meant ime, the rePort ing that 's

going on is unfortunately not doing

much to advance the imPerative to

, bridge ih. tt*t, divisions between

Christian and Muslim which have

led to mutual susPic ion, mist rust ,

and armed conflict in the Phil ippine

part of the g lobe. I

i;; i i;; i; ; ; ; ; ;;;;; ; ;iiil i ii iii'i)Joumalisrn Reuiew andteaches journalisrn at

the tJniuersity ofthe Philippines - Dilirnan'

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fi{':*ffiffiffiffiabr0au\Tashington, DC killover 3,000 innocenr people. None of the above definitions, however, specifically

\Zhat is terrorism? The 1989 edition of\Tebster's cites state terrorism or state-sponsored terrorism- thatEnryclopedic Unabridged Dictionary which contains is, terrorist acts systematically perpetrated by govern-more than a quarter of a million entries, definesterrorism as "the state of fear and submission soproduced." Terror implies an intense fearwhich issomewhat prolonged and may refer to imagined orfuture dangers, \Tebster's explains.

A more applicable definition to todayt situationcomes from thewebsites ofthe U.S. State Departmentand the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In a definition used since 1983, the U.S. StateDepartment defines terrorism as' premeditated,politically-motivated violence perpetrated againstnoncombatanr targers by subnational groups orclandestine agents, usually intended to influence anaudience."

The FBI states that terrorism is'the unlawful useofforce or violence against persons or property tointimidate or coerce a Government, the civilianpopulation, or any segment thereof;, in furtherance ofpolitical or social objectives."

Indonesia also has its own definition. In agovernment-drafted bill on anti-rerrorism (RUUPemberantasan Terorisme) now before the House ofRepresentatives, the definition of terrorism includesendangering or threatening the lives ofothers,destruction of properryr depriving others of theirpersonal freedom, and creatingwidespread fear in thecommunity. (Jalcatta Pos t December 2 l, 200 I )

ments, One definition that also covers the state as apossible perpetrator is given byMunia a prominenthuman rights campaigner and former secretary ofKontras, the Jakarta-based Commission for MisingPersons and Mctims ofViolence.

According to Munir, rerrorism in the broadest

Fl$nes sfnlkc U"$* $e**ns of power

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Indonesia's free prcss: A denrcracy in pedl

JouRN usM AsrA ZOOZ 13

sense of the word refers to all

categories of terrorist activities

whetHer committed by a state, cells or

individuals, (Jekuta Po st December

3 1 , 2001) He explains that terrorism

is derived frorn a framework of

political activiry which strives to

control people through violence,

intimidation and fear. Invariably

murder, if not genocide, is part of the

equation, Munir saYs.

ScntemDetll couenseHow did the Indonesian media cover

the September l1 attacls? Media

researcher Eriyanto of the Jakarta-basedPdntau,a monthly magazine devoted to

media studies, concludes that the

Indonesian Press concentrated more on

the how and why. (Pantau October,

200 1) How did the crashes take place?

How did the victims save themselves?

How did the temperature of the inferno

rise to 1,000 degrees Celsius and melt

the steel pillars ofthe towers? Howdid

the suspects, men offuab descent, enter

and direct the planes to their targets?

The newspapers that focused on the'why'' aspect tended to say that terrorism

is the product of U.S. foreign policy.

Since the Cold'\far of the 1950s to the

I 990s the U.S. government was

presumed to have committed in

,ru-.ro* instances acts in furtherance of

an unjust foreign policy. Such actions by'Washington

result in hate bY many

individuals and groups, Eriyanto argues.(Pantauidem)

In an analysis ofthe news content of

the terrorist attacks in five majorJakarta

dailies through September 12-16 2001,

Pantaa found that the five PaPersreported on eight themes: the impact of

terrorism (43 news items appeared in the

five papers in the five-day period ofthe

study), the perpetrators (29 items), the

victims and properryloss (32), what

happened (35), the reasons (25),

14 lou|llwsM Asu 2002

', *\

American public reaction toward

Muslims (1 6), retaliatory attacks on

terrorism (16), and condemnadon of

terrorism (12).

OnAmerican public reaction toward

Muslims, the Islamic-oriented daily

Republihacznied the most items (nine).

This categorywould generate interest in

Indonesia given that it is the worldt

largest Mrslim-majority nation. More

than 80o/o of its poPulation of 210

million is Muslim and anycoverage on

terrorismwith a Mtslim angle' moreover

a U.S. versus Islam overtone, could touc'h

raw nerve- as it soon did in the attempt

of this newspaper to look into the reasons

for the attacls.On thewhyitems, the local reporting

upset the American embassy to the Pointthat then U.S. Ambassador Robert S.

Gelbard issued a rebuttal. The JakartaPost onSeptrember 13, onlY nvo daYs

after BlackTiresday, carried a story tided

"U.S. warned against blaming Islamic

groups for attacla" ' The headline was

based on interviews the paper did with

several Indonesian academics who

cautioned'Washington against pointing

the finger at miliant Islamic Middle East

groups until it has substantid evidence'

Another story that drew the Ameri-

can envoyb ire had the headline 'Act

together to prevent violence." This

second item printed September 14 was a

front page interview in Q&A format

with Dr. Dewi FortunaAnwar, an

international affairs specialist at the

Indonesian Institute ofSciences, or LIPI'

Askedwhatwere behind the amacks, Dr

Anwar argued that "manygroups feel

that the U.S. had been victimizing

them." She continued that "unless the

U.S. is reallyryilling to take up the roots

of the problem, theywill not really be

able to eradicate terrorism"'In response, Gelbard countered the

charges in a letter the Posrpublished

September 15. On the first item,

Gelbard said the commentators who' were quoted "betrayed a lack of

understanding of the origins and

prevailing nature ofthe majoriry of

todays international terrorism." The

ambassador also took excePtion to

Anwart comments that "suggest that the

terrible aca againstAmericans and even

acts of terrorism within Indonesia may be

justified. Grrorism threatens all of

humanity and can never' ever be

justified."

Doms$le tGroil$mOn terrorism within Indonesia, what

acts ofterror occurred in 200 I and how

did the locd press rePort them?

In January a bomb exPloded at the

Indonesia in Miniature Park in East

Jakarta. There were no casualties, but the

incident raised public anxiety as it

followed a series of church bombings in

several cities during the Christmas season.

On February 17, communal violence

erupted in Sampit, Central Kalimantan,

between migrant Madurese and local

Dayaks who resented the former's alleged

dominance ofthe locd economY.

Hundreds of Madurese were massacred,

and their homes torched. Thousands of

Madurese fled to Java and their home

island Madura to add to the 1.3 million

internally-displaced persons in Indonesia'

On March 29,amob of 500 men

with knives and other sharp weapons

attacked workers striking for better Pay at

a factory in the Pulo Gadung industrial

estate in EastJakarta. Two workers died

and 33 were injured'On April 29, a Molotov cockail

exploded at a mass prayer gathering at

the East parking lot ofsenayan stadium

to support !7ahid as his hold on Powerwasslipping.

During the Pe riod MaY 20'26,

unidentified men entered private homes

inAmbon, capital of the eastern

Indonesian province of Maluku, which

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was then being torn by conflict benveenChristians and Muslims. They lctlled 25and injured more than 40 people. Theintruders wore ninja-sryle black clothing.Theywould knock on the door of ahouse, and attackwhoever opened itwith machetes.

On June 26 hundreds of fishers inAncol Timur, North Jakarta, soughtrefuge at the premises of the NationalCommission ofHuman Rights. Localauthorities had evicted them from theland theyhad been living on for morethan ten years and told them to move tothe nearby Marunda area. A hotel withwater sporr facilities is ro be built on rhesite.

On August I an explosion shook the On November 10, Thep HiyoAtrium MaIl in central Jakarta. The Eluay, chair of the pro-independenceground floor was heavily damaged. There Papua Council Presidium, was kid-were no deaths but more than a dozen napped and found murdered in his carpeople were wounded. The police the next day. He was driving home ataccused theAceh Free Movemenr, night from a Heroes Day function at theGAM, of being the perpetrator, but Army Special Forces command threeneither this nor past bombings has really kilometers outside Jayapura, the capital of

Irian Jaya, lndonesia's eastern-most andIargest province, locallycalled Papua. Theresulting investigation has so far notyielded anything conclusive.

The year 2001, however, ended on ahopeful note that has put a belatedfeather on Megawatit cap. Appointed bythe president, Coordinating Minister forPeople's W'elfare Jusuf Kalla succeeded inmediating peace talls between warringfactions in Poso, Central Sulawesi, whichhad been torn by sectarian strife that haskilled 500 people in three years.

In Malino, South Sulawesi, 23Christian represenmtive s and 24 Muslimdelegates signed the Malino DeclarationDecember 20 to end the violence andstart confidence-building measures. Oneearly move was a government-supervisedcollection and mass destruction ofhome-made weapons and the setting up of twocommissions. One will deal wirh securityand the otherwith social and economicmatters.

Kalla, anative ofSouth Sulawesi,believes the Malino deal has a betterchance to succeed than four previousagreements that failed. His reasoning isthat the Malino accord not only bears thesignatures ofreligious and tribal leaders asin the previous four; it also has theapproval, for the first time, of fieldcommanders as well.

Malino, a hill town 77 kilometersnortheast of Makasar, the provincialcapital, became thevenue again fromFebruary l l-12 ,2002 ofmorecomplicated peace talks. This meeting,also mediated byMinister Kalla, wasbetween the Christian and Muslimcommunities in Maluku. Like Malino I,the accord also called for the voluntarysurrender ofarms and the setting up ofjoint panols and commissions. One earlysign of success was a spontaneous massmarch for peace by thousands ofChristians and Muslims weary withconflict through the streets ofAmbon,

-eer- 199$, and Mega$ati subs€quent l l scs,-bp-r to }orver on rhc back oi thc re{orn:r€hr #s!4**il1,r*1ir" !l vtruk! n+t bt {.1 tx.lggeraiifi:

+rus l* siiiic ihal lha tri{itsi prns ir:ir

, !{1@ knwtu shr AqilB Sdis dH {rE US hq. "d'ad t{ rqr- d Er3r h ahrrrs ldd 6r i RFsrL Fbr h !k

:::&q5e#ffiql$46efdgdis!.*i&$**#&Sisf!i3awffii&f;!**s&t:eH{e#,#iis#*#,qHwi*;}?& i:yj#A$i$i8!r*t${!i$S*;€r{is$ii$fd ,l

been solved.On August 9, at least 3 I people were

killed and seven wounded in anunprovoked assault on unarmed workersat the PT Bumi Flora palm oil plantationin EastAceh. One of the victims was fiveyears old. Both governmenr securiryforces and the independence seeking

-

GAM denied responsibiliry for theatack.

On September 6, Dr. DayanDawood, rector of the Syiah KualaUniversitywho preached non-violence inresolving the conflict in Aceh, was shotdead while in his car by unknownassailants, No partyhas claimed responsi-bility.

JouRNALTsM Ash ZOOZ 15

the provincial caPitd, February 28.

Galo rnil Gilcums[GctionHow did reponers cover domestic

acs ofterror? Indonesian journalists are

circumspect in reporting on acts of terror

both in conflict and non-conflict

situations. In conflict situations like the

strife in Aceh, Maluku and Central

Sulawesi, the media refrained from the

use of language that could aggravate the

situation. In naming the warring factions

in a conflict, for instance, there has been

no inflammatory labelling that could

have been construed as bias for one parry

or the other. The parties involved have

been referred to by the designation they

give themselves, and not by the names

the opposin$ party or the authorities use'

In contrast, during the New Order

years of former President Soehano, the

military made it mandatory for the

Indonesian press to refer to the separatist

movements in Aceh and EastTimor as

ffiffiffim$ ffitr&

@si;'qfi9::t!$:t*tffr*,el;;i*t::t{${f9:}liifieltti6!:13:giii4tqge*'iq.i!$itg!r$!t*a$:*3,{

GPK, for gerombolan Pengacaukeamanan, meaning securiry disturbance

gangs. Now the seParatists in Aceh

seeking independence are no longer

labelled as GPKbut as GAM, the name

the movement calls itsell which stands

for Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or Free Aceh

Movement.Another self-imposed media restric-

tion has bpen to keep factswithin human

reason. The horrific details of the mass

killings ofmigrant Madurese bY

indigenous Dayala in Sampit, W'est

Kalimantan, for instance, were left

unstated for the sake ofdecorum and

digniry even ifjournalists had witnessed

the aftermath ofthe massacre.

Another matter of reason journalists

have to wrestle with is to maintain an

equal distance from the contending

I*JH::'S*::"'rl'',. . liii..lp1l,qi-i'.i$:, ffiM'h'# i. ::$^s,', j:iliii:5 '::,,1.:,j:,::--,:,;.:':,,

;-"., ; ;''b.J[_e , . q . * i + . - * ' " . ' - i ; : . 1 : : . i - ' . " : : : q F F n

fu* ' ; ' . : ;- ; :*: , :r . . . ; , i :"rr ; ; :- : ' : ' i ' r ' - "^ / i l n

1. Extortion extraordinaryOn June 26, 20Ol two firms of

the Maspion group, a SurabaYa'based manufacturing conglomerate,held a general shareholders meetingat a hotel in the East Java caPital.The agenda was for the firms to holda public discussion followed bY apress conference. That plan wasabandoned because of intimidationby "Bodrex" iournalists bent onextortion, who Presented to thefirms' representatives a list of 75reporters to whom cash-filledenvelopes should be distributed.

These bogus reporters un'abashedly stated theY wereoffended for 'not having beeninvi ted. They accused MasPion ofsnubbing journal ists, and so faras to blame MasPion for v iolat ingthe Press Act bY Preventing themfrom carrying out their reportor ial

dut ies. They demanded thatMaspion place half-Page ads ofapology in their Publ icat ioos, andeven f i led a complaint with thepolice. Source: AJI Yearend rePort

2. Press freedom's ultimate PriceOn June 3, 2001cit izens of

Poso. Central Sulawesi, found abody floating in the watefs of thePoso River. The swollen neck ofthe corpse was t ied wrth roPe totwo olastic sacks of stonesweighing 70 kg. The corPse's facewas mangled beYond recognit ion.Its hair had been shaved off' Thenose had been broken and the lefteyeball gouged out. The bodY hadnumerous knife wounds' The bodYwas later ident i f ied as that of IWayan Sumariasane, rePorter ofthe Poso Post. The motive for themurder is st i l l unknown. Source:

AJI yearend report

3. When militants strike"Police in East Java arrested

on Sunday more than 100 mem'bers of a rel ig ious mi l i tant grouPin the town of Ngawi and conf is-cated dozens of weaPons, includ'ing bombs, handguns and bu l le ts .They said more arrests would bemade fol lowing raids carr ied outby members of Laskar Jihad (HolYWarr iors) on gambling centers andnight spots in Ngawi on Thursdayand the abduct ion of a localleader of President MegawatiSoekarnoPutr i 's lndonesianDemocratic PartY of Struggle (PDlPerjuangan)."

This was the lead in a Page twoJakarta Post storY December 3,2001 head l ined "100 j ihadfighters arrested in Ngawi"'

1 A r^ , , " , ' ^ r ' c ' A( , r tmt

parties. Serambi Indonesia in Aceh, forinstance, has to deal with the militaryand GAM, who both see the paper as aplatform fromwhich to present theirrespective cases to the public. GAM fieldcommanders have been known rodemand that the paper publish theircommuniquds.

'\7hat the daily does is to

quote the sensible sections ofthosecommuniquis and to put them togetherin stories which also contain the responseofthemilitary.

Indonesian media has also handledthe coverage of militant organizationswith care to avoid any provocation thatcould cripple the reporting capacity ofrhe media concerned. These organiza-tions include Muslim groups like thelaskar jihad (Stnrggle Militia) based inYogyakarta, which has sent armedfighters to the conflict zones ofMalukuand Poso.

Another is theJakarta-based FPI forFront Pembela Islam or Islamic Defenders

. d

Front. FPI vigilantes had driven inconvoys to night clubs, bars andgambling halls intimidating their ownersto close down prior to the Muslim fastingmonth ofRamadan.

A recent development is newsreporting on the members of groupsAmerican officials allege have links withAl-Qaeda. Those chargedwith such linksinclude Abubakar Ba asyir who heads anIslamic boarding school in Sukohardjo,Central Java, andwhose name has beentied to alleged Al-Qaeda cells whosemembers have been arrested in Malaysiaand Singapore. Another isJa fu UmarThalib, commander.ofthe LaskarJihad.Both have denied any linkwith Al-

Qaeda. $akzrta PostJanuut 24, 2002)A check on the Foreign Terrorist

Organizations list in the U.S. StateDepartment's website reveals that'Washington

had so designated 28 groupsworldwide as of October 5, 2001. Manyon the list are based in the Middle East

with several in South America, Europeand Asial No Indonesia-based group,however, is on the list.

lnti-terofismbillIn the coverage of terrorism, a

developing, pertinent topic would beIndonesia's government-draft ed Anti-Terrorism Bill (RUU PemberantasanTerorisme) now before Parliament.Human rights campaigners reject thepresent draft, arguing that it wont beeffective in overcoming terrorist acts butwould in facr encourage state terrorism.Munarman of the Indonesian Legal AidFoundation, YLKI, in Jakarta says the Billhas provisions that allow investigators touse tortufe to extract information, deny asuspect to communicate externallyincludingwith his or her immediatehmily, and does not require that thesuspect be interrogated in the presence ofcounsel. (Komp as J anuary | 0, 2002)

"lfthese provisions are enforced, they

Kompas had played up theincident on the front page theprevious day with the headl ine"Ngawi tense, PDI-P cadre kid-napped. Pol ice arrest 30 sus-oec ts . "

D u r i n g t h e M u s l i m f a s t i n gm o n t h o f R a m a d a n , f r o mN o v e m b e r 1 6 t o D e c 1 5 , 2 0 0 1 .s e l f - a p p o i n t e d v i c e s q u a d s o ft h e N g a w i M u s l i m s F o r u m ,F U I N , r a i d e d g a m b l i n g l o c a l e s .T h r e e t r u c k l o a d s o f w h i t e - c l a dF U I N v i g i l a n t e s c a m e t o t h ecent ra l marke t on the n igh t o fNovember 29 and se ized s ixa l leged toge l opera tors andl a t e r h a n d e d t h e m o v e r t o t h eloca l po l i ce . Toge l o r to to ge lapi s a n u n r e g u l a t e d n u m b e r sg a m e p o p u l a r a m o n g l o wi n c o m e g r o u p s w h o m a k e s m a l lb e t s .

The abduct ion of the six swif t lydrew publ ic anger as they turnedout to be members of the domi.nant PDI -P wh ich has a s t ronghold in Central and East Java. Acrowd formed before the localpol ice precinct the next day, aFriday, and demanded the releaseof the Togel Six. The pol icerefused. The crowd then moved tothe off ices of the FUIN which alsoserves as the local headquartersof the Laskar Jihad. The mobransacked the place, a shophouseowned by FUIN leader MuhyiEffendi.

In re ta l ia t ion , FUIN memberson Saturday attacked the houseof Yuwono Susatyo, the local PDI-P chief. whom the mil i tants accuseof masterminding the raid onMuhyi 's shophouse. Brandishingswords, the pre-dawn intruders

assaulted and abducted Yuwono.News o f the k idnapp ing

quickly spread and fuel led fears ofan imminent c lash in Ngawibetween PDI -P suppor te rs andLaskar Jihad stalwarts from afarconverging in this town on theborder with Central Java.

To defuse the si tuat ion, thepo l ice on Sunday ra ided the FUINoff ices and seized 10 home-madebombs, several knives andmachetes, a handgun and 18bul lets. They also arrested 100Laskar J ihad members .

The pol ice searched anotherLaskar Jihad house on Mondayand found more home-madebombs, sel f-assembled long-barreled guns, machetes,sickles, swords and bayonets.Source: The Jakarta Post Decem.b e r 1 0 , 2 0 0 1 .

JouRNAusM AJr^ 2002

would be a major setback in our legal

system. Even without this system, torture

still occurs," says Munarman.Munarman also questioned the

setting up ofa terrorism task force(Satgas Terorisme). Its establishmentwould be a return to the Kopkamtibof the New Order. Moreover the task

force's powers are wide-ranging and

would not be accountable to anyone'

Munarman believes.The Kopkamtib or the Operations

Command for the Restoration of Order

and Securitywas an agencywith near-

emergency powers to seek, arrest and

imprison Communists and those per-

ceived to be subversive elements. It

helped Soeharto check dissidents and

maintain power for so long. He set it up

shortly after the abortive coup of Octo-

ber 1965 blamed on the now-bannedIndonesian Communist Party, PI(.

The terrorism task force, to be headed

by the national police chief, would be

empowered to tap the phones ofsuspec-

ted terrorists and detain people for up to

90 days without due process. Detentioncan be extended by rwo 90-day periods.

According to Munarman, if the Bill

is passed in its present form, its first

targets would be groups which would

be arbitrarily identified as linked to the

movements in Aceh and Papua, and

workers, peasants and uninformedfundamentalist groups which have no

clue that they have been used by state

intelligence agents.In response, the chiefofthe

government's drafting team said the draft

is still provisional and can be altered to fit

the anti-terrorism paradigm the nation

desires. To discuss and change the draft,

the government has formed a team that

includes NGOs, says a conciliatoryRomliAtmasasmita, the director general of

general legal administration of theJusticeDepartment, who heads the drafting

rcam. (Komp as January | l, 2002) a

18 JouRNAusM Asr^ 2002

{* i i

Ihe nolitical $ettingl\ fECA\7ATI Soekarnoputri took

IYIou.t as president of lndonesia

on July 23, 2001 from Abdurrahman'W'ahid

after'\fahid's 2l months in

office failed to rescue the country

from its vexing problems.'\?'ahid

was no master of manage-

ment. But he was a chamPion of

human righrs and democracy. In

support of a free press, for insmnce,

one of his first acts as Indonesia's first

freely elected president in October,

1999 was to disband the Information

Department. The Department had

been former President Soehartot main

instrument during his 32-year

authoritarian rule, his New Order of

1966-98, to control the press through

the issuance, withdrawal, and denial

of permits to publish.

But Wahid's commitment to Pressfreedom was not enough to keeP him

in office for the entire five-year term to

which he had been elected to govern

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of

17,000 islands and 210 million

people. Primarily, he failed to rebuild

an economy ruined by a US$ 129'7

billion debt- or 83o/o of GDP

(Kompas Feb 12, 2002)' Forry

million Indonesians continued to live

below the poverty line, up from ll

million before the 1997 financid,

crisis.Other problems inherited from the

Soeharto years that remain unresolved

include errant banks and weak

prudential regulation, corruPtion,

communal strife, little transparency in

the legal system, poor public order,

and a seeming lack of a sense of crisis

among the political elite who tend to

use their positions to further their and

their associates' vested interests,

Fueled by public dissatisfaction, the

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)

impeached \fahid by linking him to a

US$ 3.5 million corruption case for

which \fahid's masseur was prosecuted.

The 7OO-member MPR, Indonesia's

highest state organ with the power to

pick and oust presidents, elected

Megawati into office hours after'W'ahid

was removed.Megawati, the nations fifth president

and Indonesia's first woman head of

government, rose to power on a wave of

broad popular support. However, up to

the advent of the New Year (2002),

Megawati had not undertaken any

initiative to bring the nation out of ia ;perplexing pit of problems.

Kompcu, Jakarta's premier serious

newspape! published the results ofa poll

January 28, 2002 on peoplet perception

of her performance during her first six

months as president. Over 1,600

telephone owners in 13 major cities

throughout the island-nation were asked

how satisfied they were with Megawati's

performance. On the economy, 75o/o said

they were not satisfied. On law matters,

680/o gave her the thumbs down. The

level of dissatisfaction was 650/o on social

welfare and 54o/o on political and

securiry concerns.

It is not surprising that President

Megawati is becoming the target of

public complaints. One of Megawatit

mistakes is that she does not communi-

cate her government's policies to the

people, noted Islamic scholar Nurcholish

Madjid has claimed (Kompas Jannry 27,

2002). Indeed, since taking office

Megawati has not once held a full-

fledged press conference. She has granted

interviews only rarely. Her statements

before the press are also perfunctory and

low on detail and urgency.

and security matters, expressed theirvexation over press performance andcalled for an amendment to the PressAct.

MP Aisyah Aminy of the PPI'Islamic parry who helped draft theAct in 1999, questioned the minister'sefforts to curb

'the yellow press"

which she accused ofspreadingpornography and misleading stories,and which she claimed was a menaceto future generations. Syamsul Muarifhas proposed an amendmenr ro rhePress Act to control "the yellow press".(Kompas, December 7, 2001).

Lawmakers charge that Indonesiatpress freedom has been excessive, andhas been characterized by provocativerePorting tantamount to characterassassination. Some reporters are alsoaccused of extorting money from theirnews sources. Part of the lawmakers'annoyance, however, may havestemmed from media reports oflegislators with poor work habits,among them non-attendance inparliamentary sessions.

Minister Syamsul is reporredlyconsidering grafting 37 provisions onpress-applicable offenses in the PenalCode (KUHP) onto the Press Act.(Pantau February 2002) This mayinclude futicles 154 to 157 of thePenal Code, the so-called "hate-

sowing" articles, which mandate amaximum jail senrence of seven yearsfor anyone who "disparages" thegovernment. Another clause could beArticle 310, which can send a personto prison for up to 19 months for"intentional slander."

In response, media leaders haverejected any such changes in the PressAcr.

"The present Press Act is adequate

Iile Indonesian media toilay-I-HE MEDIA are enjoying much

I greater press freedom after the ousterofSoeharto but restrictions appear to bereturning,

Soeharto's removal from the presi-dency meant the return of those civilrights Indonesia had been denied fordecades. All political prisoners were freed,new politicd pardes emerged unfettered,people demonstrared openly, and thepress gained a freer voice. B.J. Habibie,Soeharto's hand-picked successor whorvas a transitional president from May1998 to October 1999, removed suchgovernment constraints on the media aslicensing, censorship, the threat ofbanning, a ceiling on the number ofpages a newspaper can print and theamount of ad space it can carry and rheobligation ofjournalists ro join anapproved professional organization,namely the government-mandatedIndonesian Journalists Association, P'!7I.Moreover, press freedom now has a legalbasis in the 1999 Press Act.

After Habibie, \fahid went furrher ropromote press freedom by abolishing theInformation Departmenr. In nor namingan'information minister to his firstCabinet, \fahid said information was rhepeople's business and not thegovernment's,

\flhen Megawati formed her Cabinet,however, she established the office of'r

state minister of communication andinformation, albeit not a full-fledgeddepartment. The return of an informa-tion minister was partly due to growingpressure from quarters piqued by thesupposed excesses of the free-wheeling

Press,In a palace meeting December 28,

President Megawati told visitingexecutives of the Indonesian PressCouncil that she believed some mediagroups were disseminating "dispropor-

tionate and unbalanced" reports, Shementioned several media organizationsthat she said often rwisted rhe rruth.Megawad asked the media to help createan atmosphere conducive to theresolution of various regional confl ic6.

In reply, the Council memberssuggested she, or any member of thepublic for rhar matter, can sue in courtany publication that may have damagedtheir names. (The Jakarta Part December29, 2001) (Under the provisions of the1999 Press Act, the Press Council is abody of mostly media leaders indepen-dent of government that mediates publiccomplaints of news reports.)'

Government ex,rsperation over themedia had earlier come to a head whenstate minister for communication andinformation Syamsul Muarif held a workmeeting at the House of Representativesor DPR December 6. Legislators ofCommission I, which deals with political

JouRNAusM Asn ZO0Z 19

to ensure the healthy growth of the

fress industry that is conducive to

press freedom," argues Suryana (one

name), executive director of the

Newspaper Publishers Association,

SPS. Journalists accused of offenses

should be dedt with by exisdng laws

and their various provisions, he adds

(Pantau idem).

Similarly, Alliance of Independent

Journalists (AJI) secretary general

Solahudin has expressed opposition to

the proposed grafting ofprovisions of

the Penal Code onto the Press Act'

The Penal Code already provides for

offenses journdisa can be accused of,

Solahudin says (Panuu idem).

Against the advocates of cunailing

the free press, the Jakarta Post argrcd

in an editorial entided "Good press,

bad press" on January 7,20O2:

In a free press regime, you are bound

to get both good and bad Press.But in a controlled press regime,

you are only going to get a bad press, a

press that indulges in lies, or half-

truths because it is prevented from

telling the whole truth. There is no

doubt that sociery's overall interests

would be better served if we all

worked to protect our freedom of

expression, which includes the

freedom of the media.

f[reats against tnG [rG$snN THE STATE of the media as\r.-/a whole, the Alliance of Inde-

pendent Journalists, AJI, concluded in

a year-end report that Indonesia's press

freedom in 2001 was still in danger'

Indonesian iournalists have press

freedom and a Press Act that oudaws

censorship, licensing and the banning

of the press. The Act even has a

provision that can send a person to jail

for up to Frvo years and fined up to

500 million rupiah (US$50,000) for

obstructing press freedom.

,t*)

Despite this, numerous Problemsarose throughout 2001 that threatened

the press freedom that the Indonesian

media have enjoyed only a scant two

years, AJI reponed. One such threat is

violence against journalists. AJI docu-

mented 45 cases of physical intimidation

and 50 ofa non-physical narure against

journalists in Indonesia in 2001.

It listed nine offenders: police, mobs,

government agencies, MPs, the military

fellow journalists, the Free PaPua

Organization (OPM), and the Free Aceh

Movement (GAM), and one category

labelled as "unknown elements"'

Mobs topped the list, with 20 out of

95 authenticated acts of intimidation.

The police was a close second with 19

acts; unknown elements, 15; and

government agencies, 14. The military

score was five incidents, whereas dre

OPM was involved in two; and GAM'

three. (See monitor).

The tragedy ofthese 95 cases is that

the perpetrators have not been brought

to justice. Less than 5olo of the presumed

offenders have been charged before a

court of law. This can encourage among

the public the perception that acts of

violence against journalists are permiaed

by law, AJI said.The police are a leading concern for

the press. Apart from assaulting journal-

ists, the police also exerts prychological

pressure on them by summoning

repo$ers as witnesses to cases the police is

investigating. On AJII seventh anniver-

sary in August 2001, AJI named the

police and GAM as 'ihe prime enemies

of Indonesian press freedom."

Violent acts against journalists

endanger press freedom as they can lead

journaliss to self-censorship. They

become too intimidated to report and

the watchdog function of the press

becomes eroded, AJI said. A funher

implication of self-censorship is that the

public does not receive fi.rll disclosure of

information. The public is denied the

right to knoq a basic public right.'\ilThatever

information the public gets is

distorted information. The effect of

distorted information is that public

participation in the political Processwould also become distorted, AJI argued.

Another threat to press freedom are

state actions and policy. As earlier noted,

the Megawati government established

the office of the state minister for

communication and information in

August as means of intervention in the

press. But three issues about government

intervention are of special concern'

One is government collaboration

with parliament to amend the Press Act

by grafting onto it the press offence

provisions of the Penal Code. A second

concern is *re eventual amendment of

the Penal Code, also known as the

Criminal Code, itself- a remnant of the

Dutch colonial system. 'W'hat

is lamen-

table about the imminent amendment is

that ifthe old code has 37 provisions

that can affect press freedom, the new

code will have 40 to serye the same

pupose, AJI reported.

The third concern is a broadcast bill

now before parliament. Broadcast

practitioners are arxious that 21 of the

billt 63 Articles contain provisions for

fines and penalties for broadcasters who

break the law.

Inuelorcs anil GxtoltionnN ANOTHER issue, welfare, AJIlr.-/said the low salaries of journalists

were cause for concern. A three-year

survey, 1999 in Jakarta, 2000 in East

Java, and 2001 in Medan and Makasar,

revealed that salaries ofjournalists in the

four regions were low relative to the local

cost of living.In Jakana, the majoriry of journalists

suweyed have a monthly take-home pay

of under one million rupiah (US$100).

In East Java,86.20/o ofthose surveyed

20 JouRNilsM Asu 2002

;dr..: --:-:-: :::ondtly salary was below onenr... :: :-:rah. The figures are no lessur:::::::-: :- -\fedan and Makasar. In

:.*- - i: : oF respondents said they:r!!:::-: :,::-\'.en 200,000 and 400,000'rr .;-: ---, \{akasar, the majority of'r::r'i:r: --':::-:i said they earned less than-.i , .'.,- :-.piah with 40o/o admittingn r'; ri: - fie 200,000-400,000 rupiahl r - i i : i : :

- -;r ;., ;;'lg5 ale oflen used as a,r.,--*:.,:;: : :: ior journalists' accepting or

ri L. :. *- ::rbes from news soufces, a: -. .--. . i : :- ' : reging to rhe independence-- - - :+-.. . ; of journal isrs. To provide1,j.-.3 - -t;.:-;3 rvithout resofting to cashlrr ,:: -:j -rJl believes press guilds musr": .- - ' . .- ' : rn negoriaring wiLh media:. i ::: ::--i :br berter working conditions

"I-,' i,;..:i :or Journalists.. '.:

'::.r'eloPe" problem, however, is

r.; " --:: :--::rion only of the receiver but-. . . . ' - :- . : ;rovider, namely state agenciesd:: ::-,r--alions. AJI cited a study that, : : : - , t - - a u

: ----a: 3'ery year no less than 864- - - - - t - L / 1 r c 6 0 1 t r _ - a l l r , , \ e,, ::- :-:iah (US$86.4 million) of srare

'*::, :i; ;llocated to 64 state-owned

" r -:.::--s tbr use as bribe money for: - -=i j i .

- :1:::izadons that dispense enve-:r: i! :r' :eponers have one aim in mind:

' . : : ' i :L) l press. These envelopesj, - :-i-jr rribes damaging ro press-*:::,::-. -{,JI said

.1- j.::-,' ourgrowth of the envelope:-:-:: is the abuse of the iournalistic;: . : . i - .-on. By invoking the 1999 Press'*:: :- demand access, journall5l5- 61: ,: - : -: maiquerading as reporters-;:.:': demand money, which in itself is: :-:r;. -1. case in point involved the Maspionj':,-:. a Surabaya-based producer of: ,,-:'*rold ircms. (See moniror)

Ort rl Gonttol\ THE issue of the press' being-our

ofcontrol" in its reporting, the

found press freedom, and the appearanceof new publications. Provocativeheadlines abound, as well as srories onpolitics and sex. "America is Satanl"screeches the front page headline ofa

Jakarta-based daily with national reachupon the start of U.S. bombings inAfghanistan againsr the Taliban and Al-

Qaeda strongholds,Meanwhile, tabloids that capitalize

on sexual arousal short ofhardcorepornography have proliferated onsidewalk news sralls, with titles like!7O'w' POB sdO(Y, LiPSTIK. Pressfreedom advocates wor{y thar, rakingissue with a press they perceive to be outof control, citizens will insist on thecreation of some kind of mechanism torein it in.

This was exactly what happened inthe December 6 hearing the stateminister of communication and informa-tion had with members of parliament'sCommission I. The MPs clamored foramendments to the 1999 Press Act,claiming that rhe law had failed to checkmedia excess. AJI opposed amending thePress Act. It views any excess or anyoffense commifted by the press as amatter to be dealt with by the Penal(Criminal) Code.

AJI has also called on media compa-nies and the Press Council to uphold thecode of eth ics of journal isrs.

"Upholding rhe code is necessary notonly to add more digniry to pressfreedom but also to clamp down onthose parties who are displeased by a freepress and seek a return to controlling thepress. AJI fully supports the role ofthePress Council as an erhics police thatwould lay down moral sancrions onmedia that violate (the code of) ethics,"AJI concluded in its year-end review.

Meanwhile, the Press Council in itsend of the year reporr agrees that the "outof control" issue is one of many chal-lenges to press freedom in Indonesia. The

question ofwhether to restrict pressfreedom or not was indeed a majorissue of public discussion in 2001.

In the first half of 2001, secrionsofthe public linked the excesses ofthe press to the way they werereporting on conflicts within thepolitical elite. The press was accused ofraising political remperatures, and ofcontributing to the fall of PresidentAbdurrahman \7ahid rhrough"character assassination" and "unfairreporting," the Press Council ob-served.

For instance, critics have notedthat the use ofpolls on \Tahidtleadership was widespread amongprivate TV starions. However, themethodology of rhe polling was soflawed that the results became aninsrrumenr oF disinformation.Furthermore, the reporting onpolitical conflicts was out of propor-tion, and the "cover both sides"principle was not observed. This led tothe publict mistaken perceprion ofthe situation, the report says.

In the second halfofthe /ear, rhe"out of control" label was mainlyattached ro provocative reporting ontopics other than the W'ahid story onpornography, and the phenomenon ofjournalists pracrising exrortion, rhewartawan Bodrex or Bodrex iournal-ists. The label comes from rhe brandname of a widely sold over-rhe-counter relief pill. Bodrex journalistsare so-called because they are likenedto a strip of the relief pill thar movesforward like a phalanx .of srormtroopers as depicted in an oldTVcommercial.

Statements that such conduct wasan indication of the excesses of oressfreedom were repeated in rheDecember 6, 2001 parliamenraryhearing.

-::aomenon can be traced to the new-

JourNarrsu Asu 2002 2 I

The Press Council correctly sees

IL\

reporting that borders on character

assassination as a breach ofthe code of

ethics ofjournalists rather than as a

consequence of press freedom. The

breach ofthe code and of iournalisticprinciples is a basic professional

weakness that can also occur in

conditions where there is no press

freedom, the Council argues. This

weakness, due to lack of skills and low

levels of understanding journalistic

ethics, deserves the serious attention of

media companies and press organiza-

tions, said the Council.On violence against journalists, the

Council cited the decision of the

Serambi Indonesia daily in strife-torn

Aceh to suspend publication on June20, 2001, and again for two weels

from August ll-24. The paper did

not go to press because of the terror

the Aceh Freedom Movement, GAM,had inflicted on it. The matter could

have been resolved with the use of the"right of reply' method or through

mediation, the Council says.

Ma!ulruA NOTHER example of a rhreat to

.1-l-or.r, freedom in a conflict

srtuatron are feporilng restnctlons

imposed by authorities whose job it is

to resolve the conflict. On March 20,

2001, for example, the governor and

civil emergency administrator of North.Maluku, Abdul Muhyi Effendie,

issued a stern written warning and a

threat ofdenial ofcoverage to rwo

Jakarta-based TV stations and three

local publications in Ternate, the

provincial capital.In a dialogue with the Press

Council in Jakarta April 3, GovernorEffendie defended his action by

accusing the media of inaccurate and

biased reporting on the events in his

province, which was then besieged by

sectarian conflict. He refused to

withdraw his warning, but pledged to

"make the effort" not to ban the pressl In

a province where a civil emergency has

been declared, the governor is the

supreme authoriry and can issue

regulations deemed necessary to maintain

public order. That includes gagging the

press. Up to the end of 2001, Governor

Effendie had kept his word by not

issuing an outright gag order.

Meanwhile, the neighboring

province of Maluku, also under a civil

emergency, was similarly troubled by

strife between its Muslim and Christian

communities. The numbers of both

communities are roughly even in Maluku

and Poso, another sectarian flashpoint in

Central Sulawesi.Governor M. Saleh Latuconsina

issued an order August 28,2001

banning the media from reporting the

activities of the Maluku Sovereignry

Front, or FKM, a parry involved in the

communal conflict, except for repofting

concerning FKM leaders on trial.

In a letter dated December 12,2001,

the Press Council called on the Maluku

governor to repeal the order and

reminded him of "our joint commitment

to continue efforts to maintain and

safeguard press freedom and the freedom

of expression in a democratic society."

GonclusionsIndonesian iournalists are still

learning the professionally proper and

publicly acceptable exercise of press

freedom. To help them along, media

companies and organizations must work

on programs to develop the skills of

.iournalists and at the same time weed out

the "Bodrex" journalists who practice

extortion and other excesses under the

cloak of press freedom.

Parallel to that, the press can address

public arxiery and anger against the

media by opening i6elf tq scrutiny. For

that purpose, TVRI, the state-owned TV

station, has a weekly program every

Friday evening called "Halo Pers

Indonesid' (Hello Indonesian Press),

Moderated by a media law

specialist, during the programjournalists and public figures like

legislators sit down before the cilmeras

to debate with, and answer phone calls

from viewers on media issues like

yellow journalism, biased reporting, or

distortion. The off-the-cufi point-

counterpoint exchanges and tough

questions from people from Sumatra to

Papua jam the phone lines and keep

viewers riveted to their seats. Editors of

media charged with an offense and

executives of the Press Council have

often been in the line offire.

Beyond that, in this age of

globalization and mass culture,

Rosihan Anwa! a grandmaster of

Indonesian journalism, believesjournalists must make a choice between

market journalism and duty journal-

ism. Market journalism serves what the

public wants. Duty journalism serves

what the public needs (Kompas

Febnury 9,2Cf.2), saln Rosihan who nrms

80 in 2002 but still writes actively

leadin0sl. Catatan akhir tahun AJI soal

kondisi kebebasan pers 2001 (End of

year notes of the Alliance of Indepen-

dent Journalists on the condition of

press freedom 2001)

2. Catatan akhir ahun 2001

Dewan Pers (Press Council end of year

notes 2001)

3. Kompas human rights violations

review December l0 2001

4. Tbmpo edisi khusus akhir tahun(special end of year edition) December

3 1 , 2 0 0 15. The Jakarta Porr Review 2001

Regional Scene December 27 2001 a

VariefDjajanm Basorie is a journaliirn

instntctor at the D/. Soetomo Prus Insti-tute in Jaharta, Indonesia.

22 JouRNusM Ash 2002

IHIByWnnuxa lGRurunlnreI Sru Larura

(^l INCE the September 11th attacks on the United States, the

\ *ord terrorism has been given a new definition by the 'West,

\-f specially the United States and Britain. The simplified defini-tion now stands as "use ofviolence to achieve a political objective". Ifthis definition had been applied to the freedom struggles againstcolonization throughoutfuia, Africa and SouthAmerica in the firsthalf of the century, most of the countries would still be under colo-nial rule with the colonial powers joining togerher in a'Globalalliance against terrorism'.

Most ofAsiat internal conflics.however, cannot be wished away as a'terrorism' problem. After decades ofdiscrimination against them, some racialand religious minoritygroups have takenup arms after peaceftrl proresrs failed tocorrect the situation. Indeed mostinternal conflicts in Asia are politicalproblems rather than military problems.

In discussing the handling oftheTamil separatistwar in Sri Lanka by themedia, the frame work used by this paperis to treat it as a political problem to beresolved by negotiations and not as a'terrorism'issue

to be dealtwith militarily.In any case, the incompetent and corruptmilitary in Sri Lanka has failed in the lasr1 8 years to defeat the rebels and SriLatrkat political leaders have realized thatrhe onlyway forward is to find a politicalsolution to the problem.

Sri Lanka is a multi- religious multi-erlnic nation of about 20 million people.The majority Sinhalese make up about-2%

of the population. Most of them

are Buddhists and speak Sinhala. Theother two major ethnic groups are theThmils who speak the Thmil languageand are mosdy Hindus while theMuslims are ofArab descent and areexclusively followers of Islam.

Background to hG conlliGtSri Lanka, formerlyknown as Ceylon,

was under colonial rule for 450 years.The last ofits colonizers, the British,ruled Sri Lanka for I 30 years until I 948.Since then the country has been a multi-party democracy. As in ttreir othercolonies the British favored the minori-ties, mostlytheThmil, as awayofcontrollingthe majority. \)fhen Sri Lankaachieved independence in I 948 therewas a perception among the majorirySinhalese that theThmils had an unfairshare ofthe economic activity. Successivegovernments with an eye on votes tooksteps to "correct this", Soon it was theturn oftheThmils to feel deprived.

After peacefirl agitation and political

lA'

n0LInegotiations failed to correct this trend,Tamil youth took up arms in the lateI 970s to establish a separate srate in rhenorth and east of the Island where theThmils are a majoriry. Almost rwodecades ofwar have killed 70,000people, wounded tens ofthousands,made millions refugees both locallyandoverseas, and almost bankrupted thecountry. The war itself is in stalemare,with neither theThmil rebels nor thegovernment able to win the warmilitarilv.

The rebels have progressed from aclassical guerrilla movement to one ofthemost sophisticated militarygroups in theworld. It has a naval arm and is in theprocess ofdeveloping an air arm. It iscapable of fighting set-piece battles inconventional military formations as wellas carrying out hit-and-run operations.The rebels routinely use terror merhodssuch as placing bombs in crowded

. . t .civilian targets in the capital. The LTTEhas a worldwide network collectingmoney from the estimated 700,000tmils who have sought refugee inwestern countries such as Britain,Canada, France, Australia andScandinavia. The LTTE s annual incomefrom these collections as well as drugtrafficking, human trafficking and

JouRN usM AsA ZOOZ 23

l',lewspapr reader: reports from both sides

24 louRNMsM Asu 2002

Anurudha Lokuhappuararachi

I

I

investments in legitimate buslnesses lsestimated at around $50 million dollars,Five cougtries, the United States, India,Canada, Australia and England, havebanned the LTTE after naming it aterrorist group. However, these samecountries have continuously put pressureon successive Sri Lankan governments tostafi peace talks with the rebels to find apolitical solution co the crisis.

The Sri Lankan armed forces, whichnumbered just 1,000 in the mid-1970s,have grown to nearly 200,000 withbillion ofdollars invested in modernweaponry. However, high levels ofcorruption, and poor military andpolitical leadership have made themilitary incapable of defeating theTamilrebels militarily.

The newly elected government ofPrime Minister Ranil \Ticlaemesinghe(December 5, 2001) has opened peaceralks with the rebels, the fifth suchanempt to find a political solution. As

ofnow an open-ended ceasefire is in

operation. The rebels and the govern-ment are locked in a peace process with

\orwegian facilitation. The exPectationis rhat the fightingwould stop at least for

a,vear and during this time talla between

rhe two parties would take place to find a

political solution. This is the baclgroundto the currentwar in Sri Lanka.

I[eilediaThe media of Sri Lanka are publish

and broadcast in three languages-English, Sinhala andTimil. The largestnewspaper group, the biggest televisionstation as well as the biggest radio station

are all owned by the government.Private companies own and operate threeTVchannels and dozens of radiochannels. Though some of these privateradio andTVchannels are more popularthan the state-owned channels, theydont have the same geographicd reach as

the state owned channels.

.t

* *

The print media are dominated bythe shte-owned newspapers, but lackcredibiliry. The state media is seenprimarily as a propaganda tool of theruling party. Business houses mostly ownthe rest ofthe newspapers although thereare excePtions.

Ihe Gouernmcnfs Gonuold$e mGdia

The government uses variousmethods to control the privately- ownedmedia. Government advertising accountsfor more than 500/o of their totaladvertising revenues. Governmentssometimes link advertising to "good

behavior" by the media. There are anumber of laws such as criminaldefamation to harass media organizationsperceived to be "unfriendly''towards thegovernment. In extreme cases, and thesecases are not that rare, the govefnmentuses strong-afm tactics to frightenindividual iournalists. These tactics inextreme cases include murder. These areindirect ways of controlling the media.

The more direct methods are censorshipand limiting access to the conflict areas.

The Sri Lankan government uses both

these methods frequently, whether in

time ofconflict or in time ofpeaceprocesses to block criticism or conffaryviewpoints from appearing in the media'

This background must be taken into

consideration when considering thereporting on the Thmil seParatist war bythe Sri Lankan media.

Rather than playing a positive role in

solving the problem, the media in SriLanka have played a negative role inreducing tension among ethnic groups.

The state-owned media wouldsupport a peace process whenwer thegovernment indulges in one and wouldsupport military action with the samededication, accusing anyone whoopposes either government policy ofbeing traitors to the nation. They have

never taken a balanced stance on theethnic problem.This has furtherconfused the people who at one time aretold that theTamil rebels are mereterrorists, and who during peaceprocesses are told by the same mediaoutlets that theTamil rebels are fightingto correct unfair treaunent over the years.

Obviously this has led to a situationwhere the most widely-read; watchedand listened to media in the countryhave no credibility with any of the ethnic

gfouPs.The Sinhala media by and large c:m

be categorized into three sections. Onerepresenb the hard-line Sinhala opin-ion- i.e., that the rebels have no causeto fight and should be militarilydefeated. Another group is morebalanced, publishing views across theboard, while a minoriry group suPPorts a

political solution to the problem.The Tamil media are in total support

of theThmil demands for more devolu-tion ofpower to the north and east (the

Tamil majority areas) of the island and

are sympathetic to the rebels. However,they are careful not to come out open\'

in support ofrebel actions, fearing a

backlash by the Sinhala majoriry and the

S inhala-dominated government.In the English media of Sri Lanka

there are also media organizationswhichsupport the Sinhala hardJine position,

but by and large they allow a wide range

ofopinion to be expressed.This has led to a situation where the

newspapers in the different languages

cater to sets of individuals who inhabit

different worlds. Though the country is

small- iust 25,000 square miles- the

gulfthat separates the three languagegroups are wide. An analysis carried by

the Center for PolicyAlternativesconcludes that these differences inreporting the war are not accidental or

innocent, but a reflection ofdeepideological divergence".

founNrusv Asn 2002 25

.t*:

The Sinhala and the English media

do cover the fighting, but spare little or,space for civilians aflected by the war'

The lives ofcivilians, of human rights

violations refugees and other humanitar-

ian issues are ignored. Reporting on these

issues is done bywhat is termed the"alternative press". These are newsPaPerswhich are not owned by business houses

and which have a tradition of dealingwith issues that the mainstream papers

will not touch. At the same dme, the

Thmil media givewide coverage to

human rights issues and civilian issues.

Broadly speaking, the Sinhala and t}le

English media reports reflect the

perceptions of the Sinhala majorirywhilethe Thmil media representTamilnationalism. Neither questions theirrespective positions.

The Sinhala and English media bY

and large tend to suggest that the

government is winning the war. They do

this through various ways. One simple

system is to publish political speeches

and government news releases without

ever raising quesdons about the "facts" as

claimed in those speeches or rePorts.

Another interesting fact that came

out of the study done by the CPA is that

hardly any of the main lead stories in the

Tamil newspapers made it even to the

first page ofthe other two languagenewspapers. This is also true visa-versa.

The main news stories in the Sinhala and

English newspapers do not make it to the

Thmil papers.To understand the difference in

afiitude in reporting ofwar and peace, it

is interesting to study the reportage of

three mainstream Sinhala PaPers.This media observation covers the

period fromJanuaryto May 2000 when

the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka was

shifting intensely between the war and

efforts for peace.In February the Sinhalese newspaPer

Dinamina reported the visit of the

Norwegian Foreign Minister to Sri Lanka

under the heading "Political solution is

tlre onlywayof resolving conflia"' It

backed the move editoriallywith a

heading "Let us commit ourselves to

Peace" In the days that followed, it also

published two general reports with titles"Business Communityb Praise" and"Norway-LTTE mlla successfu l. "

However the newspaper up to March

did not report the protests launched by

various groups against Norwegian third

parrymediation.Following the capture by the rebels

of the strategically important ElephantPass army camp in northern JaffnaPeninsula in April, the editorial policy of

Dinarnina suddenly changed from

suppordng third party mediation for

peace to obtaining support for themilitary defeat of the LITE. Its news

reports and feature articles were devoted

to showing that other countries would

not allowthe fall of the entire peninsulato the rebels. Its lead story on April Sth

was 'A decision today on assistance from

India to Sri Lanka, disregarding the ill

':t:!r:€.r io:!'i!!:i!r:;:rl;%!!%S,%1i:#.i6:e*:%%%ii6fdi€gl:i

Anurudha LokuhappuararachiTanil Tigers: a war also fought in rrcdia

26 JouRN&rsM Ash 2002

-i.aunent given to India during the-\P regime". The editorial on rhe same:evwas critical ofthe main opposition-nitedNational Parry (UNP), whichr,,-as saying that the cause ofthe war was:.he failure to have a just national polirya:rd the failure in having a foreign policy*irh a long-term vision and understand-n o*-'

On May 19, Dinaminapublished a,ead news report, "India supports an:-ndivided Sri Lanka'; on May 23,-Russian support to the President toJestroy terrorism";and on May 26,-United States ofAmerica and India:rpress their opposition to the division ofSri l^anka into two".

OnMay 4, Dinamina published areport of a statemenr by rhe Presidentsaf ing, " I will defeat the Northern warbvwar itself" and carefirlly avoided anyrunher discussion outside this statement.

The independent Diuaina newspa-ler is projected as the vanguard ofSinhala nationalism and Sinhala Bud-dhism. Its policy, as to be expected, wasro oppose the facilitating role uncompro-misinglyand to support a militarysolution to the problem.

In building this position it projectsSinhalese as a'minority in South fuia-a country surrounded by enemies whoare plotting to destroy us as a nation'.The newspaper opposed the Norwegianmediation on two counts. That "as aresult ofthe Norwegian mediation we arelosing the friendship (oF) India and itrvould lead to antagonism with India'.Second, that Norwaywas being used by*re LTTE as "a cat's pav/' for its (therebel group's) purposes.

On February 2, Diuaina published areport which did not cite any sourcessaying that India has become upser as aresult ofthe efforts towards peace talks.This was to say that India was seriouslydisturbed by the facilitating role ofNorway. Two days later, it raised the

following question in its editorial "Are wegoing to fall in broad daylight, in thesame pit that we fell into in the darknessofthe night?" "The rulers in thiscountry should think seriouslywhether itis wise for us to obtain assistance oftheNorwegian Government, who is an allyand supporter of the LTTE," theeditorial said.

In another report published on thel3th, without giving the source of itsinformation the newspaper said that the"Norwegian Government has proposedthat in case ofa ceasefire, a force similar tothe United Nadons forces should beinvited"; There was no other reportanywhere about any discussion on thepossibility ofinviting any foreign forceimmediately following a ceasefire.

On Febrqary l9,"the Diuainaedit<irial titled "ThankYou, But... ",pointed to the LTTE activities inNorway as evidence to show that theNorwegian state was not suitable for thepeace-buildingtask in Sri Lanka. On the24th ofthe same month, in an articletided "World PoliticalTiends" thenewspaper said:

"Sending a group ofScandinaviansavage barbarians, who have pirates'genes in their entire blood sptem, agroup who converted the whole ofEurope into a graveyard, to Sri Lankadressed in robes ofpeace...

"The Scandinavian Vikings who are awhite skinned, white racist, nation ofpirates do not have any resources (in theircountry) other than drinking the milk ofthe rain deer feeding on snow. Thereforethe practice ofthese robber Scandina-vians for ten centuries has been toplunder Europe."

However, Diuaina, after repeatedlysaying that Sri Lanka should be allowedto solve its own problemswithout anyforeign intervention, immediatelychanged its position as soon as the rebelforces started advancing towards Jaffnaafter capturing Elephant Pass. Thenewspaper published a series ofnewsitems and articles supporting thesolicitation offoreign military aid by theSri Lanka Government.

Some ofthe headlines of the leadstories during the time: "38 countriesnow prepared to assist in solving thecrisis" (May 8); " American warshipsnow ready to assist Sri Lankd' (May 2l);"Israel comes to assist" (May 7); "Americaand India join hands to solve the North-EastCrisis" (May2l).

The Lanhadeepa daily newspaper,which is thought to have the highestcirculation in Sri Lanka, reponed newsabout the facilitating role ofNorwayimpartially and accurately from the endofJanuary to March. On the one hand,

JouRWsM Ash zooz 27

while reporting on the Peace efforts as

thBy*.i. taking place, it also reported

the various Protests against a third parry

mediation. On March 17, the headline

of its lead storywas "No Negotiations:

Suppress Terrorism! SaYs the

Mahanayakas to the President"' This

news report was based on a strong Pressstatement by the Four Chief Prelates of

the four Buddhist Chapters against

Norwegian mediation.This statement bY the Religious

leaders of the maioriry religious group in

the countrywas of such crucial impor-

tance that it could not have been

published anywhere than on the front

page and as the lead story ofthe day'-

Lanhadeepa also reported lengthily on

the agitation ofthe National Movement

Ag"iortGttotism in Colombo on March

1i and the protest launched bvJanatha

Yirnukrhi Peramuna on }{arch l6' It

irdud€d plrctogrePhs end loog emracrs

-l- frm &c rydcs- Throughout

\ttdd.fPdficPagcsofLffiwcdsnadwifiProte$sudsru "gi"qSirdPeflYrfidn-

tloflc rhc other nr"it$r€am Sinhala

vrys, I-orfu*E zalso Provided

ryea and oppomrnity to civil society

leaderswhowere in favor of third parry

mediation. During this PeriodLankadcqa c:rried a considerable

number of columns oPPosed to a

militarysolution and in support of a

political settlement' Some of these carried

iitle, such a. "(The) Peace process will

come to a standstill unless a bilaterd

agreement is reached"; "Can we disregard

tie Nor*egian Mediation?" "Refusal of

\Var is the Foundation for Peace", *\fhat

is the solution ifwe do notwant

Norway?" 'Approach to Genuine Peace"'

There were also articles and columns

critical of third ParrY mediation,

however.This balanced rePoning changed as

j*

soon as the LTTE advanced on Jaffna at

the beginning ofAPril. The SundaY

Lanhad.eepa editorial on April23 said, ,"Let's defeat LITE internationally'" This

was based on a rePort that said that Great

Britain was providing military training to

the LTTE, which aPPeared in an

American magazine nam ed XQInte lli-

gence Reuiew. This editorial said, " It is

very clear that a decisive victory cannot

be obtained with out stoPPing this

international sponsoring and suPPort

given to the LTTE. That LTTE cannot

be defeated merely by militaryvictories

obtained in the Northeast battlefield

alone. . ..." futicles and reports that

advocated defeating the LTTE with

Indian support instead of Norwegian

mediation also began to be published'

DuringAPril and MaY a large

number of rePofis tiat suPPorted

milita{v intervention by India were

published. Therewere several articles

r}at said tlrar sending back the Indian

pea.cekeeping force in 1990 was a

-i"ok . Th.te were also several articles

*rat claimed that "establishing diplo-

matic relations with Israel would be a

help in achieving a military victory '' The

news that therewere3T counties

fr.p*r.d to provide militaryiid to Sri

Lanka was given special importance'

Lankadeepat editorial on " Establishing

Diplomatic relationswith Israel is an

i-port"nt st p" said, among others, that

" Iiis essential to totallyannihilate LTTE

terrorism... this is no time for us to be

marking time"W'e must obtain modern

weaponi using all methods possible" ' It

is to the benefit of India too to come to

the assistance of Sri Lanka' This is

because India is also facing a threat from

theLTTE.. ' "Duringthis period (April -May) the

Indian factor became a main topic of

discussion in I'anhadeepd, with reports

and editorials being used to show that

"India does not suPPort an Elam in Sri

lankd'.LanhadeePatoo became an aPPend-

age of the military Propaganda campaign

to defeat the effort bY the LTTE to

capture Jaffna'The Lankadtepa editotial

on May 14, entitled " "Vajpai assures a

unified Sri Lanka" contained an appeal

for all to unite in defeating the LTTE'

The LankadzePa editorials of MaY 4

("ltt a Responsibiliryof India to suPPort

Sri Lanka"), aswell as one on MaY l2

("lndia cannot be forgotten in finding a

permanent solution') and another on

May27 ("Indias responsibilities on the

Problem ofsri Lanka') also continued to

emphasize the Indian factor.

The balanced rePorting and the

ability to cover all parties that was shown

by this paper at the time of launching of

Norways facilitating role was thus

reversed by the Pressure ofthe Jaffna war''Whatwer the editorial policies ofthe

three newspapers concerned, however,

what comes out is the lack of adherence

to basic iournalistic practices such as

proper attribution. Publishing stories

without citing sources, and lack of

accountabiliry have become major

problems addingto generallY Poorrepordng ofthe crisis.

Both editors and Publishers in Sri

Lanka point to the unavailabil ity of

training as a major problem. But lack

of accountabil ity is a major problem'

The Press Council is ineffective' A

new mechanism- A voluntarY Press

Complaint Commission is being

finalized by the Print media to

address this Problem. Until these

basic problems are solved, the print

media in Sri Lanka wil l continue to

play a negative role in creating the

environment that can solve what

everyone now agrees is the country's

main problem. I

Vlaruna l(arunatikke is the seretary of

the Free MediaMoueruent ofSri Lanha'

I Nrpnl

87 Kuxon Dxr

INCE THE restoration ofdemocracy in Nepal in1990, the landlocked

Himalayan kingdom has enjoyedone of the freest press in fuia.The freedoms suppressed duringthe 30 years of absolute monar-

chy suddenly re-appeared as newnewspapers were launched andcirculation boomed. New lawswere enacted, making private FMbroadcasting possible. Newnewspapers and magazinesinvested in modern equipment,and printing qualiry layout andproduction values approachedinternational standards. Thisbrought about a boom in adver-tising, and newspaper revenues

grew at about 25 percent ayearberween 1995-2000.

By 2001 there were six nationalNepali-language broadsheets inKathmandu. Seven FM starions werebroadcasting in the capital and another

I5 stations were broadcasting in otherlban centers and communities. Even

relevision was deregulated, with a private

satellite channel starting broadcasting in

n id -2001.

Reportinin the

MInfi[]t0Y

- - - " i t "a

r e . \ * _ =

Nepalese rcader: newspapr circulations have declined since the enurgercy

IIMIii:::: ::::::#lJouRN^usM Ash zmz 29

\'*"-*,i'

;sjexir$s#fddiii*,**:d6i%:lpjbi6s*3i*d.:f ibPi:;#!

Nepal publications: polite, but severe guidelines

Private mediawere at the forefront of

a new style ofindependent and objective

reporting. Despite restrictions on news

broadcasts by private radio and televi-

sion, most stations broadcast news and

current affairs. Many of these concen-

trated on political updates and covered

the growing Maoist insurgency in the

countryside, even printing commentaries

and columns by Maoist leaders.

The royal massacrewas the beginning

of the slide. The Maoist insurgents took

it as a chance to accelerate their struggle

to turn Nepal into a peoples'republic'

They used a three-month ceasefire

September-November 200 I to regrouP

and re-arm and launched a series of

attacks on army camps. A state of

national emergenrywas declared on

November 23, 2001 , suspending civil

liberties and curbing media freedom.

The guidelines from the Defense

Ministry about what can be reported and

what cantwere fairlybroad and couched

in polite language.The Ministry"suggests" that the media desist from

carrying items thatwould boost the

morale ofthe Maoiss, andwhich are

critical of the monarchy. But in reality

these guidelines have been used for the

arbitrary detention ofjournalists. By

April,70 journalists had been arrested;

30 JouRNrtsM Asn 2002

28 are still under detention. The first to

be arrested were the staffmembers of

three Maoist-sympathetic newspapers in

Kathmandu. Then the editor and

publisher of mo weeklies aligned with

the main opposition United Marxist-

Leninist parry and the ruling Nepali

Congress were both detained and

interrogated for 24 hours. Reporters in

the districs who had contacts with

Maoists, but who were not

sympathizers, also received similar

ffeatment.In mid-March, the edtor of a leftist

magazine, Mulyanhan, was detained by

police plainclothesmen just before he

boarded a flight to New Delhi. He has

been held for rwo weeks without being

brought to court, his whereabouts, the

reason for his arrest, and even who

arrested him have not been made public'

AII this has intimidated the Press,which has not shown too much of an

interest in reporting on the conduct of

the counter-insurgency qunPaign. The

government has declared Maoists'terrorists', and most media organizations(private and government) are happywith

printing the official version of events

which has turned out to be mostlY a

daily body count.The circuladon of especiallythe daily

newspapers has dropped dramatically

after the declaration ofemergency.

Independent analysts have criticized the

primitive media management bY the

military, and have even said that there

was no need to curb the media since

these were largely sympathetic to the

government's need to crush the rebel

movement.Most newspapers have unquestion-

ingly begun to use the word 'terrorist" to

describe the Maoists, although some use

it between inverted commas. There is no

overt censorship, but most editors

exercise self-censorship. The vagueness of

the media guidelines and the arbitrary

arrests ofsenior editors and publishers

have forced many to err on the side of

caution.There are examples ofjournalists who

have done bold and incisive rePorting of

the Maoist areas, rePorting on both the

brutal executions by the Maoists as well

as the civilian casualties in the military's

counter-insurgency operations. Their

work in these difficult times needs to be

recognized. r

Kunda Dixit was regional directorfor'Asia'

Pacifc of INTER PRESS SERWCE until

1997. He now edits d magazine in

I(athmandu.

PO$I.$ilITMBER II lII $NGAP||RE:

IE,WHJISTIAH

.tsy Jnves Govez

whether it is enough for the media to

accept government labeling of those

arrested and detained as "terrorists" and

then leave it at that.

There has been no attempt by the

PAP administration or the local media to

HE,HIJAB

llbaring the "hijab" (headscarf): the right to religious freedom

try to understand the motivations of

those detained and review the policies

that could have contributed to their

disaffection.

The Muslim communiryin

Singapore does feel that its concerns have

I SrNcapone

,Tf\flO irems made news

I following the events of

I September 11 in

Singapore. One was the arrest of

- 5 Muslims and the subsequent

detention of 13 of them without

:rial (December 2001) for

.llegedly being part ofJemaah

I slamiah-a militant network

:onnected to Osama bin Laden's

,l-Qaeda nerwork. The other was

:he issue of the hijab (headscarves-,r'orn by Muslim women) in

rarional schools in February

:002.Following the arrests, words like

':errorists", "militants" and "extremists"rt ere used widely to describe the group:rder custody in local media reports.

The media reported everything"intelligence sources" revealed. There wasan absence ofskepticism and qu.estioningof information released by the PAPadministration's Internal Securi ryDepanment.

Such reporting raises the question

JouRNALTsM Asq 2002 3l

rl

That the right to wear the hijab, i.s reoted in theright to religious fr*ndnm a$ mandated by th*Ccnstitutian wffi$ underplay*d by iuurnfilists.

not been given due consideration. There

is a general feeling ofdissatisfaction as

they are told repeatedly that they are not

to be trusted, that they are slow, and

bachvard.The PAP administration often claims

that the loyalry of the Muslim commu-

niry is in question. In such circumstances,

some of those arrested may indeed feel

alienated fiom Singapore sociery and may

feel a greater sense of kinship with

Muslims in other countries, especially

those whom they believe have been

similarlyvictimized.This understandable disaffection

seems to be one of the biggest motivadon

for the Muslims arrested and detained

without uial in Singapore. Identifying

themselves with a group with which they

feel a greater kinship, and seeing the

United States and the PAP administra-

tion working together, when the US

navy is based in Singapore, the members

of the groups arrested may have felt

compelled to right what they think is a

wrong.The PAP administration's claim and

the amplification bythe local media that

those arrested were merelY used bY

foreign powers for political purposes

ignores their grievances, and therefore

their motivation. fu longas the root

causes that prompted those arrested to

organize againstAmerican and other

targets remain, sowill the problem and

threat continue.Howeve! such concerns with

terrorism is not an issue only in Singapore

but also around the region. Analysts

suggest that peoplewho had become

32 JouRNusM Ash 2002

part of the militant networkwere those

disaffected by the policies against the

Muslims of their respective governments'

Hence, the domestic concerns ofthe

Muslim communiry need to be Part of

any policy thatwould deal with the

problem ofterrorism.From a mediawatch viewPoint, it

was also revealing to watch the PAP

publicity machineryget into gear on the

issue of the hijab. The local media

reported that parents ofseveral young

female studentswere demanding the

right to practice their religion by sending

their daughters to government schools

wearing headscawes,The local media interviewed various

PAP Ministers. NextPAP MPs joined in

to give their opinions' PAP Ministers later

added further weight to the MPs'

statemens. Then Muslim organizations

linked to the PAP administration as

statutory boards joined in tb condemn

the move.The oblection to the use of the hijab

in national schools was based on the

supposed need to preserve racial and

religious harmony' on the argument that

the presence ofthe use ofthe hijab

would impede national integration, an

argument which Paints the Parents'preference that their daughters wear the

headscawes as a deliberate act of

compromising racial and religious

harmony by putting a communal interest

above a national one.That the right to wear the hijab is

rooted in the right to religious freedom as

man&ted bythe Constitution was

underplayed bY journalists'

The mediawas instead PredictablYsupportive of the PAP administration

position. Some journalists in fact

admitted in private that theyhad been

ordered to report the issue from the PAP

administration's viewPoint.

Journa.lists whose rePorts misrepre-

sented the facts claimed that the editors

changed their stories. Some said they

were not responsible for the way their

stories were anfled, while others

admitted not knowing how the final

pieces, which nevertheless carried their

bylines, turned out the way they did. It

was not uncommon either for journaliss

to complain that their editors had killed

their stories.The reportage by the SingaPore

press ofthese rwo issues revealed

that while the media should be

careful and precise in their use of

religious terms as well as those

relating to Islamic militancY and

terrorism, this basic principle was not

observed.The media organizations of

Singapore should have required their

reporters and editors to rePort not

only the PAP administration's

viewpoint but also the viewpoints of

those groups that do not subscribe to

its position. Finally, the media should

have gone into investigative journal-

ism to verifr the information released

by intelligence agencies so as to Pro-vide the public independent rePorts

on the arrests and detentions. I

Jamcs Gomez is the foundzr ofThink Centre

(, sia).

[earninUfrom

$eptem[er ll:

EXP8v KuLqcHaon CHRrprpnr

I TunuNo

HE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 attacks onAmerica could havea positive impact on Thai media, participants in a seminarheld in Bangkok last October 10, 2001 said-the growing

professionalism ofThai media in terms of balanced news coverage,xhich in this case helped better present the Muslim world to Thaisociety.

In the seminar "The Role ofThai-\{edia in The'$?'orld Crisis", participantsagreed that the Thai-language dailies,while taking advantage of the Septem-ixr 11 incident to increase their sales*uough the usual sensational headlinesand provocative pictures, provided morespace for alternative views of the incidenttrom Muslim experts on Middle Eastand Islamicaffairs.

The seminar, organized bytheCommittee to Campaign for MediaReform and theThai Broadcast Journal-istsAssociation, was the first since theSeptember l l attacks on the\TorldTiadeCenter ofNewYork and the Pentagon in'Washington

which killed an estimated3,000 people.

The seminar speakers agreed thatthe development of informationtechnology especially the Internet has

,-ri

provided the mass mediawith alternativeviews andsources ofinformation on theincident which helped them shape theirnews coverage. Information from thEInternet, however, needed to be verifiedand should not be used as the mainmaterial in news stories.

Associate Professor UbonratSiriyuwasak of Chulalongkorn Universirysaidwhile the main sources ofinforma-tion ofThai media were still the westernmedia net'works and news agencies, theThai media have nevertheless exertedextra effort in giving news about theamacla and theiraftermath local contentand viewpoints.

" . . . The amack on America shows thatThailand does not lack resources as far asexperts on the Muslimworld areconcerned. The problem is that themedia in the past did not knowwho to

talk to," said Ubonrat, a lecturer at theFaculry ofMass Communications andconcurrent chair of the Commitree.

Apinan Buranapong, President of theCouncil ofMuslim Organizations ofThailand, said that theThai mediatcoverage ofMuslim affairs has been moreneutral and more careful in its choice ofwords when referring to Muslim peopleand Islamicreligion.

Apinan said the coverage ofthe anackon America in particular showed agrowing understanding and sensitivirybyThai media ofthe Muslim commu-nity.

\Zhile this represented a big leap inthe history of the Thai media since theend ofthe Gulf\Var crisis a decade ago,when reporting on the crisis wasdominated byUS-based media giantCNN, Prof. Ubonrat cautioned that theThai mediat coverage in general is stilllacking in peace advocary.

The lecturer said there is stillcomplacenry amongThai media on theimpact of their news presentation onsociety,

"\7e have to admit that the media areinclined to be sensational where possible.In this case they do it by reprinting orshowing photos and video clips showinghatred, aggressive sentiments, and the

JouRNAusM Asu 2002 33

. 1 *

Th*rffi wffis ffir*wtmffi ffiwffirffiffi#ffis ffi$tt*ffim'Thm* mmd$m

*ir.m*mm mt thm %#ffitm t6rffi# *&:mt mmg$iatffi ffi#ws wffis n*t

mnXy a* rry:mtt*n #f mPmme*, hut mlm*ms'm* ***a{*ty"

weapons of war," she said.Ubonrat referred to the constant

reshowing on television and in the

newspapers of the video clips and photos

showing the wo jet airliners slamming

into the \forld Tiade Center towers, and

of Palestinians displaying their jubilation

over the attacls.She said these images only served

to oromote hatred, social divisiveness

aniviolence. She urged theThai

media to give more emphasis to Peaceadvocacy.

"The media have asignificant role (to

play) in shaping public opinion toward

peace, and not to be swayed bY the

warlike views which are predominant in

US andwestern media."Ubonrat said therewas a growing

number of views among civic grouPs

namely Christian and Muslim groups in

support of peace, but that the media

have not given them prominence.Ubonrat also questioned the logic

behind the full live CNN broadcast

relay on Thai TV channels of US

President George Bush's September

20th speech in which he called on the

world to choose between America and

terrorists."\Vhile I agree that this is an impor-

tant world event worth reporting, do we

need to consume everything directed at

us by US media from without screening

them at all?" she asked.Patcharaporn Chomklin of TheThai

Broadcast Journalists Association

admitted that in the first few days of

television and radio broadcasts ofthe

incident, Thai TVwas overwhelmed by

34 JouRN usM AsrA 2002

the themes ofwar and violence, but that

a week later, that approach began to cool

down, as talk shows featuringThai

angles andviews of the incident and its

aftermath were featured.Patcharaporn admitted that competi-

tion, which is particularly fierce in the

radio and television industry remained a

major factor in forcing broadcast

organizations to go to those news sources

available at slotted air times. In this case,

she admitted that CNN was a handY

source of information, andwas initially

the only source of information on the

attacl<s themselves.Nevertheless, she said there was

growing awareness among Thai media

circles at the same time that selling news

was not only a matter of speed, but also

credibility.Nopporn Wong-anan of Reuters

while agreeingwith the need for the

media to diversifr their sourcestf

information to balance their news

coverage, said he understood why the

media in developing countries rely on

CNN and other western media giants.

Nopporn said the "CNN-effect" has

become an integral part ofUS foreign

policy formulation and assessment.

Nopporn said theworld-wide impact of

CNN news in reflecting US PolicY and

its state-of-the- art technology have made

the network a reflection ofAmerican

views the world -wide audience smnot

deny.Other participants including

Boontan Tansuthepweerawong from

the Campaign for PeoPle's Media

urged the Thai media to raise more

questions on who benefit from the

September I I incident and to trY to

draw lessons from past wars."The media have an obligation to

stay neutral in this confl ict, but that

should not be an excuse not to report

on views supporting peaceful solu-

tions or alternatives to wars," he said'

Phairoj Pholphet, General Secreary

of the Union for Civil Liberry said the

picture of a malnourishedAfghan child

represented just one kind ofsuffering in

Afghanistan."There are thousands of PeoPle

suffering as a result of famine over the

last decade who were never the subiects

of mainstream media reports. The

number of sufferers in Afghanistan is

much greater than those who died in the

\(orldTiade Center attacks, but no one

has ever asked why such a great number

ofpeople has to die ofhunger in that

country" he said.Apinan dso brought to the attention

of seminar participants, the credibiliry of

western-media reports that have already

decided that Osama bin Laden was the

mastermind of the September I I attaclc.

He urged the Thai media to try to

balance those reports with the views of

Muslims.He said the media needed to

understand the Muslim fight for justice

and to preserve their land and civiliza-

tion. which is allowed in Islam and not

considered as acts of terrorism. I

Kulachada Cbaipipat is the Country

Dire ctor of the Southeast Asian Press

Alliance

il0M0GHilZtDRTPORII]IG I]I A

GOU]IIRY l|T IIIUTR$IIY87 Cnnr-os H. CoxoeI PHrlrpprNrs

A FE\Tweeks after the

A September 11, 2001

I lattacLs in the United

-i3res, a small daily newspaper inJrgavan de Oro City in

l. I:ndanao, southern Philippines-,;lTed Sun.StarCagayan de Oro:il1 a story about the latest

;ounter-terrorism news in thatcity.

Policemen, according to the report,:ould use their ns5s5 - | repeat, noses- in ferreting out the Arabs in the:ommunity. The remark, allegedly maderv the police chief, was supposedly in:-sponse to a query on how the police;ouid know whether a person was of\fiddle Eastern origin and, as such and:resumably, a potential terrorist. Therremise of the question - that the police.r'ere now taking a closer look at theacrivities ofpeople ofArab features -n-as problematic in itselfr although in thePhilippines and pretty much elsewhere,rhe post 9/l I scenario created a not-so-iesirable environment for people who;ooked - or, in this case, smelled - Arab.E-'hat made the question a tad toodiscomfiting to some people, includingmyself, was the fact that the paperlecided to give the story prominenrseatment. The story stank but, true todre tradition ofmanypapers in the

dI

$rg: {

l**!.t:=_::::'1::5=:=:.===.::a===--=a=:, :::rat::;r a::-t !:a::ia:1:i;':at::!::*i;d9;:t;:rr:i!e;!i!:i.:,'.:1., rjr.

Childrcn studying the Qur'an: A biased press carios H. conde

JouRNusM ku 2C/|.2 35

Philippines,.it went to press.After the paper ran that story the

police chief denied making the state-ment. Some members of the local press,however, said that even ifthe policechiefdid utter it, it shouldnt have been

given that much importance because,according to them, he couldnt have beenserious. But the damage had been done:the people of Cagay^nde Oro Cirywereonce again subjected to the allegedinaniry of their police chief and theapparent recklessness of their newspaper.Surely, even on a slow day, there must beother stories worthier of bannerffeatment.

Some people might not like the ideathat a journalist like myself is criticizing apaper - a paper, by the way, that Iedited from 1995 to 1997. My point,

however, is that in the Philippines, themediat reaction to 9/1 I was, to Put itmildly, one ofbefuddlement. Ifany-thing, and perhaps because the magni-tude of the attacks was stupefying tobegin with, 9/l 1 brought out the worstin some members ofthe Philippine press.It was a time when perhaps the mostnatural thing for a paper to do was to fall

back on the mediocrity that has been thehallmark of much of the Philippine press,

Such mediocrity easily pushes to the

surface the biases ofthe press against

certain communities, particularly the

Muslims in predominantly CatholicPhilippines.

tcnoin0aumofiUTo be sure, the press cannot be

faulted for merely echoing what people

in authoritywere and are still saying.This is the exact argument advanced by

the editors of Szn.StarCagayande Oroin defending their story. And yet theneed for restraint, for introspection, for

good taste and for good sense is preciselywhat the public needs in times like this,not mindless acquiescence to popular and

36 JouRNilsM Ash 2002

1r+3!:,i9:iliiq$t'f{:i.':te;r! :r{:'ql::i t:::';i:l:trirliii t::i::t:::a'i::::ar':::;',iit

officid prejudice. they must be terrorists. They had beards

Elsewhere in Mindanao a fewweeks - theymust be terrorists.

after the aftacks, the public was inun-dated with media reports about police Sabfi'S CaSethis and police that eyeing suspected One panicular case was that of"Muslim terrorists" in this or that area. Muhamad Sabri, aJordanian who ran aThe police would announce that they Koran memorization school in Sultanwere Putting under surveillance certain Kudarat, Maggindanao. He was arrestedArabJooking people. Tiagically enough, sometime late last year on suspicion ofthe local press hardly questioned whether being a terrorist, although everybodywhat the police was doing was right.

'W'as knerv tiat he had been in Maguindanao

it within the bounds of civil liberry? Or for years and ye ars and was, in fact,

were the police just over-reacting? A married to a Filipino woman.couple ofArabJooking people were, in

'$?hile working with a major US

fact, arrested and much of the Philippine ne\Aspap€r on a story about Al Qaedaspress swallowed - hook, Iine and sinker possible linla with rebels in Mindanao, I- whatever it was the police had told had the chance to talk with Sabri and he

them. They didnt have the proper sruck me as an open, honest man. Like

papers - they must be terrorists. Thq' man,v Muslims, he had an dmost

had stayed too long in the country - insrincrive wariness about the media, but

Thmil# wffis {m fm*t sm*k ffiff i

l

snS * $ *e* rm * .$ ' i q r * :s * t { " " 4 $ L \ r i t $ L 4 L u v \ j

4

* *

mfummffi##

ffihA$*p-#m** #*d

vxmwm mh*sxt thm mttmmkw thmt rffiffir:y pw#ru$m wsh* ffi*tss*$q mn# t*r*# *f mu*h h*rroffiffi#*m$ty $m thmnt f t@ f f i r$3q,Er r s

E w r d 6

v M U t* smmk ffiffiffiwffiflffi m$rumruvfu#trffi-s**h ffiff i thm $rct*trffi#t.he did allow me and mycolleagues intohis school and office, where he talkedabout his thoughts on 9/ I l. (Sabri saidt}re attacks on the US were horrible, butwas an occasion for Americans toreexamine their governmentt policytoward other countries and peoples).

Sabri was arrested a fewweeks afterwe talked to him. Police raided theKoranic school and announced later tothe press that they had confiscated boxesof explosives inside the compound.Many residents in the area who wit-nessed the arrest swore to me, howeve!that they saw the police and the militarybringing in the boxes before the arrestwas made, suggesting that the explosiveshad been planted -- something not at allunusual in the Philippines.

I was tqmpted to write somethingabout Sabrit arrest but, being a freelancejournalist who waits for assignments fromthe magazines I regularly contribute to, Icouldnt find a peg for a Sabri story. But Iwaited for news in the dailies, both localand national, about the residents'assertion ofevidence-planting. Nonecame. To this day, Sabri is still locked upin a Manila jail. He is said to have beencharged with violating immigration laws.I wonder what happened to thesupposed explosives. At the time ofhisarrest, Sabrit wife was pregnant. I oftenwonder about her, too, and their.hif dren, I also sometim eswonder what&imd ofa person Sabri reallywas, whetherfrcn'es indeed a terrorist or a mere

ian missionarywho had made it

Philippines memorize Allah's word. Butall I did was wonder.

Sabri continues to be a faceless persdncaught up in the turmoil after SeptemberI l, and as far as I know, nobody haswritten anphing about him. And as faras I know, too, a number of other peoplewas arrested after the 9/1 I attacks andnobody has written anphing aboutthem either. But I have read a story onthe front page of one of the Philippinedailies about a so-called sex patch thatmenopausal women couldwear so theirappetite for sexwould notwane.

The culture ofthe Philippines hasbeen shaped by the fact that Filipinos, asone American writer once put it, lived ina convent for 300 years and in Holly-wood for 50, The same goes for thePhilippine press, whose judgment andprejudices are influenced bywhat the'W'est

deems as news or, worse, the trirth.

lchoingwestem nGiliaIn general, Filipinos are raised not just

to appreciate the diversiryand, in manyinstances, the magnifi cence of \Testerncultural tastes and concepts - a factwhich has led to vast confusion amongthem, includingjournalists. I amconvinced of this after 9/11. Much ofwhat the Philippine press printed andaired after the attacla was nothing butthe regurgitation, more often self-igfiteous, of the'Westetn media,

There was in fact such an absence ofalternative views about the amacks thatmany people who got sick and tired ofsuch homogeneiry in the Philippine press

decided to seek answers elsewhere, suchas the Internet. Within email groups andmailing lists, a debate was raging, theissues ranging from whether the UnitedStates "had it coming," to whether it waseven appropriate to raise that point whenthe world was grieving.

'lTithin these

virtual communities, ideas swirled andclashed but the beaury of it was thatsome people, like myself, got enlight-ened. Outside, there was total silence.No, let me correct that: there was noise,but it was coming from only one side.

No wonder the Philippine press wasbefuddled after 9 I 11. Again, the arradcswere such that many people thought demore important questionwas not "Whodid this?" but "\Vhy did it happen?"Except for a few columnisa, nobodydared to question the official version ofwhat happened and, more imponandy,why the attacks happened in the firstplace. As a result, nobody looked beTondthe'Western press's version of events'With

our minds conditioned by the ideathat terror can only come from Islamicextremists out to destroyAmerica, webehaved like the editors of Sun.SurCagayan de Oro: we surrendered to ourbiases.

Ihemedia'stoleThe media definitelyhave a role to

play in the fight against terror. But thisrc)e does not ody entd) rcpeadng to thepublicwhat officials are saying. The presshas a far more crucial role than being amouthpiece. It should, for example,strive to inform the public, to enlightento help Muslim youth in the

JouRN UsM ArH zmz 37

*h",*tt;rrrr " Wa

Destroyed mosque, southern Philippines

them so they can make informeddecisions about the things that matter tothem,

It didnt sound like it but I was tryingto sound sarcastic with that last remark. Iknow that the Philippine press knows itsrole. But you will be surprised to knowthat many journalists in my countrywould probably retort with "Oh, really?"to my supposedly sarcastic statement.Many, indeed, would probably retortwith "Sowhat?"

In late May last year, the Abu Sayyaf

38 JouRN^usM Asr^ 2002

kidnapped people (including threeAmericans, two ofthem still in theirhands to this day) from the Dos Palmasresoft on the island of Palawan. Shortlyafter midnight ofJune 1, the banditsdescended on a town in Basilan calledLamitan. They occupied the hospital andthe church in the parish compound.There, they terrorized patients andhospital staff, even ambushed a convoyofunsuspecting Scout Rangers. A fewhours after the siege, the military came infull force, surrounded the hospital and

Phi l iDDine Journal ism Review

rained bombs and bullets on thecompound. Some died, including thebodyguard ofthe parish priest, andscores were injured. Just when all themilitary *'ould do was go in for the kill,rhe troops mysteriously disappeared fromrheir posa around the compound,allorving the bandits to slip through aback gare and to disappear into thewild,fieir hostages in tow.

Residens led by the brave parishpriest, Fr. Ciri.lo Nacorda, who himselfrvas kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf

inl994,later made known theirsuspicion that something fishy happened*rat day. They suspected that the AbuSayyafgot the ransom money fromcontractor Reghis Romero II, one oftheDos Palmas hostages. Fr. Nacorda and theresidents raised such hell that the Senateand the House were forced to launchrheir own investigations into the incidenttiat turned into a fiasco. The groundcommanders were later transferred toother posts while both the House andSenate committees still have to finalize*reir findings.

Many journalists, both from printand broadcast. were able to cover theaction in Lamitan, panicularlythebombing by the military of the com-pound. To be fair, the Philippine pressdid well in reporting what happened-although, again, much ofthe informa-rion was coming from the military. Theallegations by Fr. Nacorda and hisparishioners were given ample space. ButI suspect that it was only because theyhad decided to bring their case directly toManila and only because Congress hadtaken special interest in the case. Trueenough, as soon as the committees startedro keep quiet about their supposedinvestigations, the press reported less andless on the incident.

limitedGouolageThe one thing, however, that struck

me most about the mediat coverage ofthe Lamitan fiasco was the fact thatmuch of the coveragewas being done bynational - not local- reporters whocovered the hearings as well as thedefense beat. There was a dearth ofindependent stories from journalists wholived in that part ofMindanao-journalism who were supposed to knowthe situation better and who presumablywould have excellent sources for arivetingstorysuch as this one. Anexplanation for this came in January this

u t

year, when theAmericans started comingto Zemboanga City for their militaryexercises with Filipino soldiers.

By late December last year, it wasalready clear that the Philippines wasgoing to be the next front in the UnitedStates' so-called globa.l war on terrorism.This war would be manifested in themilitary exercises called Balikatan (whichmeans, Iiterally, shoulder to shoulder),wherein the US would deploy morethan 650 soldiers, about 160 ofwhomare members ofthe Special Forceswhoare expected to do field training exercisesright in enemyterritory in Basilan, oneofthe lairs oftheAbu Sayyaf.

The rationale for the Balikatan, asPresiden Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo hasrepeatedly made clear, is for the UStroops to impart their skills and knowl-edge to their Filipino counterparts, thebetter to vanquish theAbu Sayyafonceand for all. It also involved the grantingof a militaryaid package to the hopelesslyill-equipped Philippine armed forces tothe tune of $ 100 million. The Bdikatan,which officially opened in lateJanuary,was going to be a very important exercisefor the US, which was obviously tryingto plug the holes that terrorists likeOsama bin Laden could escape through,and for theArroyo administration, whichneeded the support of the Philippinemilitary, which she could only get if sheallowed US ffoops to come to Philippineshores. The exercises came dangerouslyclose to violating a constitutional ban onforeign troops in Philippine soil, but thatdidnt really seem to matter to PresidentArroyo.

At any rate, a cenual question soonemerged: Is it really true that sophisti-cated equipment is the only thing thePhilippine militarywould need to defeata ragtag band ofless than a hundredbandits that officials had described as"tired and hungry'? Shouldnt the US, ifit is sincere in stamping out terrorism in

this part of the world, be more concernedabout the siicerityand professionalism ofthe Philippine military in its supposedfight against the bandits? Ifit is,shouldnt it be concerned also aboutallegations that the reason the AbuSayyafremains scot-free is because someelemens in the military actually colludedwith it - a notion that has never beensufficiently dispelled up to this day?

llo local mcdia attcntiorThe Phil ippine press, as expected,

did not bother to raise these points.

It took the Boston Globe and the

Finnish newspaper H elsingin

Sanomat to do that. A few days after

their reports came out ( in which the

reporters managed to confirm the

allegation that ralsom had been paid

by some of the Dos Palmas kidnap

vict ims and that part of the moneY

went ro some militan- officialsl. rhe

New York Timcs followed *-irh irs

own report. Then the Vashington

Port mentioned it in a repon of irs

own, and Timc magzine der-oted e

page to i t . But not a word. as of

February 12, from the Philippine

Press, excePt for a report byan

independent news agency based in

Mindanao called MindaNews, whor

report, in turn, was based on what

the Boston GIobe and Hckingin

Sanomat had dug up.

I am not entirely sure why our press

did not give any attention to the l-amian

incident vis-i-vis the US-Philippine

military exercises. But I can hazard a few

guesses.'W'as it because my colleagues in

the Philippine press deemed the story as'bld,"

which means that, regardless ofits

relevance in light ofnew events, it

deserves to stay in the morgue? Or did

they think that the US side should have

more interest in it than our side, the logic

being that it was US troops who came to

the Philippines to begin with?

IouRNALTsM Arh ZOOZ 39

Or is the Philippine press so mkenwith the Arroyo administration that it isdeliberately keeping silent insofar as themilitary exercises are concerned? But thatwould not jibe with the many editorialsin the Philippine press that havecriticized ths 6xs16i565 - and iftheycriticize editorially the exercises, surelylooking into the Lamitan incident onceagain is logical? But, as I have said, noattention from the local media. At leastnone so far.

The most plausible answer is that thelocal journalists who are supposed toknow the storywere not keen on doing itbecause they were not keen on exposingit in the beginning (Fr. Nacorda didmuch media-hopping beFore the localpress noticed the Lamitan folks'complaint against the military), quitesimply because the press in the commu-nities in the Philippines is too often toocozywith the military.

On anygiven day at the armed forces'Southern Command press office inZamboangaCiry for example, youwould see there most of the correspon-dents of the biggest Manila newspapersand the stringers for wire services. That iswhere they hang out. That is where theyget their daily dose of "news" from themilitary and that, too, is where they

process it.They have grown so accus-tomed to the setup that many of thecorrespondents spend most of their timein the press office, with militaryofficialssometimes literallylooking over theirshoulder as theywrite their stories. Youmust wonder what kind of stories thesejournalists have been churning out dayin and day out under the circumstances.

This is not to cast aspersions on those

iournalists, many ofwhom ate myfriends. It's just that the military couldnthave wished for a better setup for it to beable to push whatever agenda it has. Thisis worsened by the fact that provincialcorrespondents and stringers of the

40 JouRNALTsM Ash 2002

t

national dailies are some of the worst paid

and most exploited - if not abused -

members of the Philippine press. Most of

the correspondents rely for their income

on the number of column inches their

stories would get. It has come to the

point that, in the past, and because some

wire agencies require a certain body

count in order for a story on an incident

to be used, these stringers would bloat

casualry figures.

MostlymilitarysortcesThis closeness to and reliance on the

military as anybeat reporter knows,surely affects the way a journalist handlesthe news - or what passes for it - thatemanates from the press office. I think Iwould not be entirely off the mark if Isay that this coziness is one of the majorreasons why, as surveys havedetermined, the main source of newsfrom Mindanao is the military. Thisexplains why in the eyes of the world,Mindanao is such a dangerous place.This dynamics is also the reason, Isuspect, why reporters in Mindanao didnot give the Lamitan incident deeattention it deserved.

The point in all this is that theresponsibiliry of the journalist inz. timelike this has become even bigger. A

\outna\st not on\y shou\d strive to getthe story accurately, his job is alsoimbuedwith purpose - that of beingable to impart to the public not just thecold facts but also the nuances andcomplexities of a beat as complicated as,say, Mindanao.

The more the'West strives to stampout terrorism in all parts ofthe world, themore local journalists should try to makesense of this movement and providespace for local voices, dissenting orotherwise.'We must not succumb easilyto the convenient temptation of thisanimal called objectivity, which, as thegreatAmerican journalist I.F. Stone once

said, is nodring but the regurgitation ofthe conventional wisdom of the day and,as such, tends to dull the critical thinkingofjournalism. More than ever, makingsense ofwhat is happening in the worldand ofwhat the'West led by the US istrying to do is of paramount importance.

I'm running the risk here of beinglabeled as, at the veryleast, unsympa-thetic to the US and the\fest. Nothingcould be farther from the truth. I amwith the civilized world in seeking anend to terror. I am being defensive now.And I should credit PresidentArroyo forthau she declared a few days ago thatthose who question the presence ofAmerican soldiers in the Philippines arenot Filipinos. Shewas telling Filipinosthat the world after September I 1,2001 . has become black and white-that, as her idol George\( Bush hadsaid, either I am for her or against her,that either I am for the Americans oragainst the Americans. There cannot be amiddle ground, according to her. If I amnot sold on that philosophy, then I mustbe a non-Filipino and an Abu Sayyaflover, she said.

The role ofthe media today, whenterrorism has becdme increasingly sophi-sticated and more barbaric, is precisely tomake sure that Filipinos are not reducedto apeoplewhose ideaof patriotism ismerely to mke srdes in a debate.ln thistime ofso muchwar-mongering, of thehtal attraction of violence as away toresolve differences, our role as journalists

is not to reduce the complexities of oursocieties - the same complexities thatbreed hatred and contempt and rage -

to such simplistic notions as black andwhite, pro- or anti-American. Otherwise,we would be no different from the bigotsand the zealots that struck fear in theheart of humanity on that awful day inSeotember 2001. r

Cmlos H. Condc is afeelance joumalist.

tlii

I

\,

OFANINT

D MUSLIMSHE,PHI PI

ISLM

By RurnCRcoco-Gunn

I Pgrr-rpprNes

EPORTING on a culture other than onetown presents tremendous challenges to a

iournalist, even to a recognized veteran in

ihe profession. The task becomes even more

daunting when the journalist is reporting on the

day-rc-day events of a long drawn-out conflict

berween majority and minority cultural commu-

nities. A reporter's ethnic biases tend to surface, and

despite carefully chosen words and politicaily

correct terms. Reporters and journalists are only

human, after all, and do not operate in a social or

culturalYacuum.Likemanyotherprofessionals,

they are shaped laryely by the norms and stan-

dards of their own culture. That culture is the j

mirror which provides them the yardsticks or

norms bywhich to appraise other people.

Reportage on Muslims or on eventsassociated with Muslims in the Philip-pines has promoted a negative image ofthe Muslims as among the dregs of theearth. Kidnappers, bandits, corruptpoliticians and all other undesirablecharacters in society are invariablyassociated with the Muslims of southernPhilippines. It is no surprise that thepeace agreement signed between theMoro National Liberation Front(MNLF) and the Philippine governmentgenerated wide opposition from varioussectors of Philippine society. The majorityFilipino population, basically Christiansand steeped in generally negativereportage on a'troublesome" minoritypopulation like the Muslims, is expectedto react adverselyto any perceived favoror special treatment accorded the latter.

I hope that instead of inciting thoseon the other side ofthe fence to defendor attack, journalists ofwhatever faith orconviction will report events associatedwith Muslims with a deeper understand-ing and appreciation of the Muslims as apeople. This understanding couldeventually pave the way to a fruitfuldialogue in which each culture will"shine in its uniqueness..."l

Wnat h lslamlPopular literature on Islam indicates

that it is the most misunderstood religionor way of life not only in our predomi-nantly Catholic country, but also inmany parts of the wodd. Islamic zealotsclaim that this is the result ofa'W'estern-oriented, Zionist oudook. Exuemismamong some Muslims has been explainedas a reaction to such influence.

ManyMuslims in the Philippines

consider this claim as fact. They see theeffects of such'Western influence in theway some Muslims today bel-rave. \fithcable television and an American-influenced mass media, manyMuslims in

the Philippines,like the majority

42 JouRNusM AsrA 2002

a ot'

population, have succumbed to a highlyconsumerist-oriented lifestyle. Even .

traditional rites ofpassage are marked bycommercialized and'Western-orientedthemes like white wedding gowns inIslamic wedding rites held in restaurantsor hotels.

Perhaps it is best to start with theprinciple that clearly distinguishes Islamfrom Christianity. The principle ofsepararion of the church and state, whichis basic in Christianity, especially amongRoman Catholics, is not applicable inIslam. This is because Islam is not only areligion, but also a totd wayof life. It is aholistic and integrated way of life inwhich decisions regarding every aspect oflife are ideallytnade on the basis of itsbasic tenets.

Islam provides guidelines for everyhuman activity, from the most sacred(e.g. praying) to the most worldly (like

answeringthe calls of nature). Muslimswho engage in economic activities likebuying and selling, and the accompany-ing activity oflending money areenjoined not to assign a high margin ofprofit or interest lest these activities beconsidered riba (usury/usurious) andtherefore haram, (forbidden).

Theword Islam comes f,rom nvofuabic root words:'talm' which meanspeace, and "silm", meaningsubmission, A"Muslim" is one who peacefully submitshimself/ herselfto thewill ofAllah, themo$ beneficent, the most merciful andjustAlmighty. Islam stands for "a

commitment to surrender one's will tothe Vill of God" and to be at peace withthe Creator and with all that has beencreated by Him. It is through submissionto the Vill of God that peace is broughtabout.2

Ideally, a Muslim is one who lives inharmonywith his/her Creator and his/her fellow creatures, There is no compart-mentalization in the Islamicwayoflife, asIslam provides the guidelines for every

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The Muslirs ol the Philippines: Reprling'the d

act ofa Muslim or true believer. Ih aMuslimt lifesryle is incorporated the fivepillars that are the sine qua non of Islam:l) shahadah, the profession offaith inone God (Allah) and no other, and in theacknowledgement of great prophet inIslam, Muhammad (peace be unto him);2) salah, the practice of praying five timeszday;3) zakat, obligatory alms giving forall income-earning Muslims; 4) sawm, orfasting in the holy month of Ramadhan;and the 5) performance ofthe hajj, or

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pilgrimage to the holy land ofMecca.The realization ofthese five pillars

and adherence to the six articles offaith(iman) within the Muslimt lifetime isrheir passport to an eternal life in thehereafter. The six articles offaith are: I )beliefin Allah, the EverJiving, All-knowing, and the All-powerful Creatorand Proprieto r of all;2) belief in the-l.ngels; 3) belief in the five divinescriptures revealed and sent down by.{,llahwhich includes the Qur'an, the

Islamic Holy Book sent down toMuhammad (peace be unto him); theTorah, or OldTestament, sent down toMusa (Moses), (peace be unto him); theInjeel, or NewTestament sent down toIsa (Jesus), (peace be unto him); theAz-Za6oor, the Psalms, sent down toDawood (David), (peace be unto him);and the Sheets of Ibrahim, (peace beunto him);4) beliefin the Prophets orMessengers, 25 ofwhom are mentionedin the Qur'an; 5) beliefin the final day

Lo .s * :

ofjudgment; and 6) belief in the Al-

Qdrt, the belief in theAllah as theAll-knowing and All-wise Creator. This lastarticle of faith provides human beingsthe capability ofachieving good deeds,knowing that life and death are in thehands ofAllah. the Exalted.

These articles of faith show that thereare many things Islam shares withChristianiry, among them the belief inthe divine scriptures and in the prophets(like Moses and David). In Islam, Jesus is

JouRNAUsM Asrr 2002 43

honored as a prophet of God like theothers before him (Moses and David),but it is Muhammad who is consideredthe last Messenger of God.

These pillars and articles of faith arenot as well-known among non-Muslimsas the impression that Muslims have"strange" practices, which include thetaking of more than one wife (polygamy)

and the practice ofdivorce. Since thesepractices collide with the standards ofRoman Catholicism, many non-Muslimsin the Philippines perceive the Muslimsto have "baser" behavioral standards akinto the instincts of lower species in theanimal world. These non-Muslims donot realize that the practices of polygamyand divorce are not basic in Islam- i.e.one can be monogamous and still be aMuslim. Like many Christians, Muslimshold dear the value ofrighteousness inthe path of God, which means living alife of peaceful submission to His willand performing acts which are just andnot oppressive to fellow human beings.To Muslims, these basic values which areincorporated in the five pillars and the sixarticles of faith are far more importantthan the acquisition of more than onewife or the predilection for divorcingone's wife.

'lfhile manyMuslim men indeed

take more than one wife, the practice isnot a fulfillment of any basic principle inIslam. Historically, the practice ofpolygamywas warranted during the earlydays of Islam when Muslims wereprosecuted for their new religion. Thismeant that all able-bodied Muslims hadto fight to defend their faith, leavingtheir wives, daughters, and older male

relatives behind. ln many cases, the menwho fought in these wars got killed. Anolder man in the community (who had awife and substantial means) might offermarriage to awidow to protect andsupport her fatherless family. Of course,we hear of publicized abuses of this

44 JouRN^LNM AsB 2002

practice, including the conversion ofsome Christians to Islam just to"legitimize"their practice of maintainingmistresses.

lllho are mc Muslims in hGP[ilinninesP

Specialist who have written exten-sivelyabout Muslims in the Philippinesagree that there are at least I 3 ethno-linguistic groups indigenous toMindanao that have adopted Islam astheir way of life.3 These are:

> The Maguindanaoan (people oftheflooded plains) ofthe provincescarved out of rhe once vast empireprovince of Cotabato, Maguindanao,Sultan Kudarat, North and SouthCotabato),

> The Maranaw (people of the lake) ofthe Lanao provinces,

> TheTausug (people ofthe current)of the Sulu archipelago,

> TheYakan ofBasilan Island,> The Sama oftwi-tawi and its

islands,> The Badjaw, also from different

islands in the Sulu archipelago> The Kalagan ofcentral Davao,) The Sangil of SaranganiSay,> The Iranun who live on the bound-

aries ofthe Cotabato and Lanaoprovinces,

) The Palawani and Melbugnon ofPalawan,

) The Kalibogan ofthe Zamboangapeninsula, and

> TheJama Mapun of Cagayan deSulu island.

In addition, there are a growingnumber of Muslim converts all over thePhilippines. They come from the variousethnoJinguistic groups in the countryfrom Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. In

1996, their number was conservativelyestimated at 95,000. This group could

constitute rAe l4rh group of Muslims inthe Philippines todal'.

Ofthese groups, only three are themost numerous and the more politicallydominant: the Maguindanaoan, theMaranaw, and the Tausug. Severalpolitical leaders ofnational prominencehave come from these groups, like thelate senator Mamintal Thmano (aMaranaw), former congressman MichaelO. Mastura (a Maguindanaoan) andformer governor Nur Misuari of theAutonomous Region of MuslimMindanao (ARMM), aThusug.

In the Philippines, the terms"Muslims"and "Moros" have been usedintenchangeably to refer to the variousethnolinguistic groups described above.Howevet as we will explain later, the rwoare not exactly the same, The termMuslim is a religious identiry ofone whosubmits himsel/herself to the \7ill of God(also described earlier). On the otherhand, the term Moro or its plural Morosconnotes a political identity. The termwas originally used by the Spanishcolonizers when they discovered tharIslam was the way of life of many of thenative populations in Mindanao. Itwasused in reference to the Moors ofMorocco who were the colonizers of theIberian peninsula for more than sevencenturies.

The Spaniards suffered heavily intheir bloodywars against the Moorsberween the I Oth and I 2th centuries.Expectedly, theywere resentful of any .group they met that had a similar way oflife to that of their enemies. Thus, theyused the word Moro to refer to thebrown-skinned natives in Mindanao andSulu in the same derogatoryway theyviewed the native Filipinos forwhomthey used the epithet Indio.

\7ith the rise ofself-assertive -consciousness as a distinct people amongthe Islamized natives of Mindanao andSulu, as expressed in the organization of

the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF) in the late 1960s, the termMoro soon gained a favorable connota-tion among young Muslims. To them,Moro is an expression oftheir distinctive-ness as a people who have consistendyresisted foreign domination. Usedtogether with the Malayword Bangsa, asin Bangsamoro/Bangsa Moro, the termconnotes a nationality distinct from thatofthe majority Filipinos who are mainlyChristian by religious orientation.

Ihe historicsl c0lttextThe coming of Islam to the Philip-

pines antedated the Christianization ofthe country by more than a century.Islam came togetherwith theArabtraders who were active participants inthe long-distance bulk trade commonduring the lOth to l2th centuries.Historical accounts show that before

_ * l

Spain claimed to have "discovered" thePhilippines in 1521, Islam had alreadytaken root in many places in the country,especially in Sulu and in mainlandMindanao.

The Spaniards came to the islandsthey later on called the Philippines as aconsequence of their government's searchfor wealth to replenish their drainednational coffers. The bloody wars withthe Muslim Moors in the Iberianpeninsula had been costly. It was thus ashocking surprise to the CatholicSpaniards to find out that in this newland they "discovered" there were peoplewho adhered to the same faith as that oftheir colonizers, the Muslim Moors.

This historical encounter ofthePhilippine "Moors" with the Spaniards ascolonizers provided the backdrop for aslanted, highly biased depiction oftheMuslims in the country by the Spanish

chroniclers in Ferdinand Magellantentourage.'This biased depiction wassustained even after the Spaniards had toleave the country in favor ofa new groupofcolonizers, theAmericans. A reading ofBlair and Robertsont History of thePhilippine Islands will show how thisimage has been perpetuated -- evenexploited -- to achieve the ends ofdomination and colonization of anotherwise free and self-determiningpeople.

Unlike Christianiry which camewirhthe colonizers who conquered the nativeswith the sword and the Cross, Islamcame to Mindanao and Sulu as aconsequenc€ ofthe culcural and eco-nomic interactions between the Arabtraders (who came from as far asYemen],and the indigenous populatioru. Sorne ofthese populations alreadv had rheir o.nrsystem ofgorrrnment a-nd a rh:i'rfuE

Lois Hal li;i;Idi*$leie;%.:*i!.1ir:e

JouRN LrsM Asu 2OO2 45

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economy. The dominant Muslimpopulation in Mindanao, for example,had their sultanates which historianshave recognized as quasi-nation stategovernments with a hierarchical andhighly stratified sociery. This implies thatIslamwas not imposed from the outsideby force but rather through friendlypersuasion, as could happen in a typicalbusiness transaction.

An extensive trading network, from

Java in the west to China in the Northwas already in place in Mindanao andSulu before the coming of the Spaniards.One ofthe thriving trade centers was

Jolo, now the capital town of Suluprovince. All the other Mindanaosultanates (e.g. the Magindanao andBuayan in the Cotabato RiverValleyareas) were politically linked to Muslimstates from Borneo to the Moluccas.Moreover, even until the l gth century,the sultanates were still actively pursuing

46 JouRNAUsM Asn 2002

international relations with the Dutchand the British.

llloro resistanGG to colonialismDespite the Spaniards' relentless

'trusade" against the Moros, thly failed

dismally to subdue and proselJtize them.Nor did theysucceed in establishingsovereignty over Mindanao and Sulu.The Moros resisted the colonizers fiercely,even if this meant the evenrual disinte-gration oftheir socio-economic base,which was trade. The Spaniards' galleonsprovided a naval blockade oftheMindanao and Sulu trade nenvorkwhich had prospered through thejunkets used bythe Moros'tradingpartners, the Arabs and the Chinese.

The Spanish colonizers imposedcertain land tenurial arrangements likethe encomienda system in many parts ofLuzon and the Visayas, but nor inMindanao and Sulu. Butwhen Spain

ceded the Philippine Islands to theUnited States through the Tieary of Parisin I 898, Mindanao and Sulu wereincluded despite protests from Muslimleaders and the reservations ofsomeAmericans.

Through the Tleary of Paris, the newAmerican colonial government arrogatedto itself not only the control but also theownership ofall lands in the Philippinearchipelago. The treaty paved the way forthe Americans to impose legislationwhich concretized American hegemonyin the country, especiallywith regard toland ownership. These laws wereenforced in the Islamized areas ofMindanao and Sulu, thus encroachingupon the dominion ofthe sultanates.

Under the sultanates, land was heldin trust, with the sultan as the mostpowerful "trustee." Under the Moros'customary law or adat, land cannot beowned absolutely. Aperson can only

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be a steward, a trustee of land which isGodt creation. Usufructory,rather than absolute ownership rights,prevailed during the time of thesultanates.

Under the American colonial regime,however, laws were passed enjoiningpeople to register or title the lands theyoccupied. The Land Registration Act of-:'02 was one example. Under this act,arL,irizens had to apply for aTorrens titlema :e lands they tilled or occupied. Asrrb$Equent act, promulgated in 1905,

nm",'ided that all lands not registered inI r'lrl q'ould become public lands. Since:-,e !{uslims did not adhere to thepractice of titling their lands, they didnot bother to register their lands underthese land acts. Consequently, these lawsbecame the instruments bywhich theMoros and the other non-Muslimindigenous populations were disenfran=chised oftheir lands, thus reducing themto being "resident strangers" in their ownhomeland.

lmerican colonial mlicyIn 1913, theAmerican colonial

government began to implement a policyof establishing agricultural colonies in thesouth, allegedly to encourage landlessfarmers from both Luzon and Visayas toimmigrate to the less populous areas inMindanao. From 1913 to 1917, sevenagricultural colonies were opened inMindanao, namely, Pikit, Paidu Pulangi,Pagalungan, Glan andTalitay in theformer empire province of Cotabato and

Momungan in Lanao province.In these colonies. the Christian

setders were mixed with the Islamizednatives purportedly to promote "goodworkingrelations" between the twogroups. Actually, the colonial govern-ment used this policy as a smokescreenfor its divide-and-rule policy among thefeisry Moros while at the same timedefusing peasant unrest in Luzon.Moreover, many of the "beneficiaries" ofthe migration programs to Mindanaowere the "undesirables" and tough guysin either Luzon or the Visayas. FormerCongressman Mastura of Maguindanaoprovince's first district once remarkedthat "Mindanao is the promisedland ofthe undesirables of Luzon and Visayas."

To top all the effrontery of theAmerican colonial government's movesagainst the Moros, the Christian migraTrtswere entitled to larger tracts of land (16hectares compared to the natives' 10,which was reduced later to eight). This isnot to mention the use of a predomi-nantly Christian Philippine Constabu-lary Force to quell any form ofdissentfrom the Moros. \Vith these realities inmind, it is impossible to conceive ofnative and migrant populations living inpeaceful coexistence, let alone having"good working relations" with each other.

From theAmerican regime until thegrant ofindependence to the newPhilippine Republic in 1945, theMuslims in the Philippines have beensubjected to a system ofgovernment thatdid not consider their disdnctiveness as a

people and their way of life. Feelings ofresentment continued to be fanned byflames ofdiscontent over the centralgovernment's condescending treatmen tof the Muslims or Moros. But the centralgovernment had inherited this attitudefrom the colonizers'perceptions of theMuslims as "bandits and outlaws." Thiscondescension, coupled with poordelivery of basic social services to thealready depressed communities of bothMuslims and non-Muslim indigenousgroups in Mindanao, had been evidentas early as I 899 until 1 9 I 3.

The American colonial governmentplaced Mindanao and Sulu, or"Moroland," under military rule, andfrom then on it became a "Moro"

province under a military governor. In1 9 14, "Moroland" was placed under aDepartment ofMindanao and Suluunder a civilian (American) governor.Starting in 1920, while ChristianFilipinos became public servants inpreparation for independence, the"bandits and outlaws" of Mindanao andSulu were placed under a Bureau ofNon-Christian Tlibes which in turn fellunder the government's Department ofthe Interior. During the Common-wealth, this bureau was abolished andreplacedwith a Commission forMindanao and Sulu which was directlyunder the supervision ofthe Office ofthe Philippine President. Until the1950s, Mindanao and Sulu were treatedas a "special" region.

By the late I 960s, the restiveness of

JouRNALIsM AsrA ZOOI 47

.

:

48 JouRNersM Ash 2002

s

the discontented Muslims had givenbirth to a movement which wouldgalvanize the unity of the culturallydiverse Muslims in Mindanao and Suluinto open defiance ofwhat theyperceived as "national oppression' - theMoro National Liberation Front(MNLF). For the Muslims, thiswarwasa jihad (holywar) against an oppressiveand unjust government in order to attainthe right to self-determination in theirown homeland, The battlecry then was"Victory or the Graveyard". Recruitswere told to fight to defend theirhomeland and their religion. The MNLFnow honors those who died fighting inthis war as martyrs.

On the other hand, the non-Muslimsperceived this war as a concrete manifes-tation oftheir stereorypes ofMuslims as"blood-hungry bandits and outlaws. "

The prejudices that have been handeddown from the time of the colonizers,both the Spaniards and the Americans,found some "confirmation" in the bloodyencounters between the MNLF and thegovernment forces. These encounterscost the lives ofthousands ofpeople,both Muslims and Christians, not tomention the massive destruction ofproperry in Mindanao and Sulu.

Wfiats in a nameflFew might dispute Shakespeare's

verse arguing that a rose would smell assweet given any other name. But amongthe Muslims in Mindanao and Sulu,labels and names are significant markersin their identity as a people, and thusshould not be taken lightly.

For instance, many journalists use*te label "Muslini' liberally to refer toany item, food, design, or dance that isassociated with the variousethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao.Newspaper reporters and correspondentsare wont to describe dresses or anycostume using motifs and handwoven

cloth from either the Maranaw orMaguindanioan as "Muslim-inspired"

designs, or worse, as "Muslirri' dress. Thehandwoven tubaw, the square piece ofcloth traditionally used as headgear byMaguindanaon men, is quite popularamong Manila-based journalists. Theyalways refer to it as a "Muslim" scarf Thesingkil, which has been popularized hereand abroad bythe Bayanihan DanceCompany, is alwap referred to as a"Muslim"dance or one of the numbers in

the Bayanihan's "Muslim'suite ofdances. Even restaurants which do notserve pork advertise their food as"Muslim chow" And the languagesspoken by the 13 groups of Muslims inMindanao and Sulu are called"Muslim'dideca!

As already explained, the wordMuslim connotes a universal religiousidentity. A Muslim is a Muslim anywherein the world, although globally speakingthere is no monolithic Islamic commu-niry. Muslims follow the same five pillarsand six ardcles of faith, no matter whattheir sect is (Sunni, as the Philippine andmost SoutheastAsian Muslims are, orShi'ite, as the Iranian Muslims are). But

they are ofdifferent cultures, speakdifferent lenguages and have diverseethnic customs and traditions. The use ofthe term Muslim to describe the kind ofdress, food or dance debases the deepreligious meaning attached to the wordsince onlyan individual is capable ofsubmission to God'swill. \7hen theword is attached to a rype of dance, it

becomes downright blasphemous, asMuslims are enjoined to shun worldlypleasures like dancing, especially ifitmeans close contad between the sexes.

GsnuadlclionilllcflnsPerhaps the worst abuse of the word

Muslim is its use as a marker for acriminal: a thief;, a kidnappet or a corruptpolitician. AMuslim has to submit to the

JouRNusM Ash zOoz 49

will of God and follow the path ofrighteousness as spelled out in the fivepillars and six articles offaith, so how canone be a Muslim while violating the willof God? The phrase "Muslim kidnapper"or "Muslim criminal" is, at the least, acontradiction in terms.

As editor in chief of a CentralMindanao-circulated bi-weekly tabloidfrom 1991 to 1995, I ran into countlessarguments with my reporters about theuse of the word Muslim to identify asuspefi in a crime.

Some ofthe reporters in my officethen worked as stringers or correspon-dents for national dailies and even forinternational news agencies like AgenceFrance Presse or Deutschland PresseAgentur, the German news agency.Before they filed their wire reports, rheywould ask for my help in cleaning theirstories. I would see to it that words like"Muslim" were not abused, such as whenthese were attached to the name of asuspect in a crime. But I would alwaysget exasperated when the story saw printin the national media. \Vhen suspecrshave names likeAbdul orJaafar orAlikhan, theywould invariably bedescribed as "Muslim"rebels, thieves, orwhat have you. \Vhen the controversyover the use of the word was discussed innational meetings ofthe Philippine PressInstitute, Manila-based desk editors were

, quite cavalier about it: ". . .but it (theword Muslim) sells the story, you know!"

Such attitudes are r'?ical expressionsof prejudice that dates back to the timethe colonizers set foot on Philippine soil.\7hen Muslims are depicted as blood-hungry bandits, it is easy to justify amassive militarycampaign to removethem from the face ofthe earth.

On the other hand, when Muslimsare told that a predominantly Christiangovernmentwants to decimate thembecause of their religion (lslam), itwillnot be difficult for them to hate

50 JouRNALTsM Ash 2002

Christians. Religion cuts deep into aperson's identity as a member ofacommuniry of believers. \Vhen anenemy is defined in terms ofreligion, it iseasy to wage a war against that enemy.

A significant number ofMuslims inthe Philippines believe that their being a"minoriry'' is a consequence ofcolonialdomination by external forces like theSpaniards and theAmericans. Both thesecolonial forces encouraged migration toMindanao as a technique for the'pacification' of the 'wild and violent"Moro tribes. Thus, for these Muslims,the term minoritized populations (torefer to them and the indigenous groupsin Mindanao which did not becomeeither Christian or Muslim) is moreappropriate.

Despite these questions on thepolitically correct term to use to refer toMuslims in the Philippines, the factremains that Islam has become a religionof only a fraction of the entire Philippinepopulation. Estimates ofMuslims in thePhilippines range from five to tenmillion, although this number could beconservative, given the growing numberof Balik-lslam (Muslim converts) in theentire country. Again, even in thereporting ofstatistics on the Muslimpopulation, there is a prevalent percep-tion among Muslims that this rype ofdata could be manipulated for thebenefit ofthe ruling majority. Someextremists would consider as 'ttatistical

genocide" the diminution ofthe Muslimpopulation by an office that is runmostly by Christians.

Then and ilow: rG[orting lslamflndillu$lims

The historical accounts presentedearlier explain the source ofthe distinc-tiveness of the Muslims in the Philip-pines as a people with their own culturaland political identity. This is theBanpamoro's basis for asserting their

right to self-determination. They haveexpressed this right in various ways, fromarmed struggle to participation inpartisan politics in order to gain influencein national policy and decision-making.

From the start of colonial domina-tion, the portrayal of Muslims and Islamhas been derogatory. As I noted earlier,this was necessary to perpetuate thecolonizers' dominion over the indigenouspeoples of the country. Unfortunately forthe colonizers, the Muslims, or Moros asthey called them, were made of sternerstuffthan their counterparts in thenorth. They continued to resist foreigndomination.

But what the colonizers, especiallythe Spaniards, mayhave failed to do interms ofproselytizing the Muslims, theymight have succeeded in promoting animage ofthe Muslim as the dregs of theearth. The pacification campaignswhere Christianized "lndios" from Luzonand Visayas were deployed to fightagainst the Muslims in the south left alingering image ofthe Muslims as infieles(infidels/unbelievers). To reinforce thisimage, the Americans used education and"democratii' political processes likepassing laws to bring out the differencesbetween the Christianized Filipinos andtheMuslims.

Governor General Leonard'Wood,the fi rst American military governorappointed by the U.S. president toadminister the Philippine Islands, used torefer to the Muslims as "bandits andoutlaws." He ordered the killing ofthousands of insurgent Moros on rhejustification that "a good Moro is a deadMoro." On one page ofthe multi-volume History ofthe Philippine Isknd"sby Blair and Robertson, is a picture of agrimJooking man holding a l.cis (abladed weapon common to the people inMindanao and Sulu) with the followingcaption:'A savageJooking Moro."

After the colonial years, the Muslims

Tfuw wffi'., ffi***rdsr:ffi t* t*-:* M*r* rumt6*n:m$ixtsr w&scmm *f tfumm *f $**#*ss$*xt *nsffipffi nmt *ffi ffi .

* sr**p*r:*mn"t#* rmtf-:wn

in the south found themselves under thecontrol of a Manila-based, predomi-nantly Christian government. At thesame time, heary migration took place inonce Muslim-dominated lands inMindanao. Most of these migrarionswere sponsored bythe Manila govern-ment, especially under the military-administered Economic DevelopmentCorps (EDCOR) program. (Refer backro the discussion on historical context.)Pressures generated from the intermin-gling of populations in Mindanao asdescribed earlier resulted in violentclashes and anti-government uprisings insome afeas.

Perhaps the most "notorious" oftheseanti-government uprisings during thepost war years was that staged by DatuHadji Kamlon in Sulu starting in theearly 1950s. The national media thenused to describe Kamlon in the worstpossible way "bandits" are pictured. Infie Catholic neighborhood where I grewup, the word "Kamlon" was synonymousro a monster many Boholanos call atinggalung. Mothers used to disciplinehyperactive and errant children bywarning them of the coming of atinggalung called Kamlon who woulddevour naughty children.

The war in the 1950s involving theMNLF and Philippine governmentforces was invariably referred to in bothnational and local media as a seccessionistwar. Even well-meaning Mindanaoexperts use the term "seccession" to referto the ultimate goal of the MNLF as an

armed group. But, as manyMNLFmembers argue, the Moro people inMindanao and Sulu never considered thePhilippines their nation. They citehistorical accounts that show that theyused to enjoy their own system ofgovernment and economy under thesultanates. It was only the Tleary of Paristhat unilaterally included the lands ofMindanao and Sulu in what is nowknown as the Philippine territory. Thewaq according to the Moro nationalists,was one ofindependence rather than ofseccession or separation.

This war of independence claimedthe lives of an estimated 50,000 and ledto the displacement of more than200,000 people from their homelands inMindanao and Sulu. More importantly,the war perpetuated the legacy ofhatredspawned during the colonial regimes. Anundetermined amount ofproperry andinfrastructure was destroyed as a result ofthe war. But more importantly, the warleft deep scars ofbroken relationshipsand friendshipswhich turned intoanimosities.

ln 197 6, the tipoli Agreement wassigned berween the representatives oftheMarcos government and the MNLF. kwas meant to resolve the MNLF-GRPconflict. The Agreement paved the wayfor the creation ofrwo autonomousregions in Mindanao (Regions IX basedin Zamboanga andXII in CotabatoCiry). Reportage on these eventswasgenerally favorable to the government, asthe media were then under strict

goYernment control because ofmartial law.

The peace negotiations that startedwith the overtures of President CorazonAquino to MNLF leader Nur Misuari adecade after the signing of the TiipoliAgreement eventually led to a longdrawn-out peace process which contin-ued until the presidency of Fidel V.Ramos. On Septembe r 2, 199 6, thepeace negotiations finally ended with thesigning of a peace agreement between d'rePhilippine government and the MNLF.This agreement led to the creation of theSouthern Philippines Council for Peaceand Development (SPCPD) and thedeclaration of 14 provinces and ninecities in Mindanao. Sulu and Palawan aspart ofthe Special Zone for Peace andDevelopment (SZOPAD).

On fie reportage on the peaceprocess, Philippine mass media leavemuch to be desired in terms of theircrucial intermediary role as facilitator or asvehicle of accurate information about theprocess. Media persons, print andbroadcast journalists alike, should beaware of their influential role and take itseriously. This means that they have todo their homework- i.e., preparethemselves extensively before anycoverage ofthe peace process.

For instance. in the case oftheMindanao peace process involving theMNLF, both print and broadcast

iournalists must have read about drehistorical basis ofthe Mindanao conflictand the Philippine governmentt policy

JouRNAusn Aih 2m2 5l

guidelines for peace negotiations' This

kind ofpreparation would at least reduce

the possibiliry of propagating inaccurate

information to the public about the

peace process. The peace process is a

process, not an isolated news event, and

should be covered or reported as such.However, many journalists fall into the

trap of reducing the complexities of the

process to simple answers to the four'!?'s

and H ofnewsreporting.This qpe ofsimplistic rePortage on a

complicated process was documented in

a case study I did last year for thePhilippine Democrary Agenda project of

the Third \7orld Studies CentetUniversiry of the Philippines at Diliman'The case studyshowed how mediareportage on the Peace Process is affected

by such factors as the following:

1) The media person's attitudes

towards the "other" protagonist in the

conflict;2) The media's orientation toward

news as a perishable commoditY;

3) Media owners' "silent" influence

on what news should be broadcast or see

print, resulting in a conscious self-

censorship among media practitioners;

and4) Media persons'orientation of news

as events father than Process.

The first factor is a consequence of

the long-held prejudice of the majority

Filipinos (Christians) against the

Muslims. As for the second factor, it is

shown in many journalists' procliviry for

sensationalized reporting. It is this factor

which make reporters and desk editors

alike insist on using the word Muslim to

idendfr a suspect. In some rePorts, the

word is attached to a criminal, as in the

screaming headline "Muslim bandits raid

Ipil town."This, of course, is the kind of

news that sells.The other constraint to efforts

tZ JouRNAusM AsrA 2002

_ r',i

toward achieving a balanced rePort on

the series ofactivities involved in a peace

process is the conservative capitalist

orientation of most media owners, 'While

they do not give explicit warnings to

their workers on what news to air or

print, they do make subtle suggesrions

on the kind of news and how this is to be

presented by their media organization.

Consequently, some kind of self-

censorship happens; the media owners

themselves need not worry about

censorship since the reporters do it for

them. One media practitioner explained

that this is part oftheir strategy for

keeping their source oflivelihood intact

and ensuring the safery of their family

members.Given the complexiry of the Peace

process, reportage on it becomes tedious

in the hands of iournalists who have

been trained to gather news using the

four'Ws and one H as their main guide.

Their reports tend to reduce the

ramifications of the process into a

simplistic coverage ofwho, what, when,

why and how. There is no attemPt to

explain the process that led to the peace

negotiations, and finally to the peace

agreement itself.

llon-tiluslim ioumalistscouGfinu ltluslims

The following are dot and dont's for

non-Muslim journalists covering events

and processes associated with the

Muslims in the Philippines. It is by no

means an exhaustive list, and reporters

who are consideredveterans on "Muslim

Mindanao"issues maywish to contribute

to it.I suggested earlier that those who

report on the Mindanao Peace.process need to go back to the

historical background of the so-calied

Muslim-Christian conflict. TheY

need to examine not only one source'

but all possible sources of informa-

tiortr about rhe circumstances that

engendered the war in Mindanao.

Doing so n'i l l help the journalist ask

sensi r ive and inte l l igent quest ionswhen they inten'ierv in[ormants from

both sides ofthe conflict ' I consider

this the number one imperative for

anyone wishing to understandthecomplexity of Mindanao culture and

history, and its significant population

of Musl ims. In addi t ion, thejournalist must read up on the

var ious cul tures of the I3 Musl im

ethnolinguistic grouPs. No two

grouPs are the same' even if some

speak mutually intell igible languages(like the Maranaw and Iranun of

Lanao and Corabato provinces,respectively).

Regarding the use of politicallY

correct terms, perhaps there is a need to

be highly conscious o[the distinctlons

between terms denoting religious

identity and those used to refer to

cultures or groups ofpeople. Reporters

need to knowwhen to use the word

Muslim and cultural terms like

Maguindanaon costume or language'

More importantly, theyshould be extra

careful when describing people who are

suspects in crimes. For instance, a

reporter can cite the suspect's name and

place of origin or birthplace' His or her

religion is immaterial in a news report,

unless the reporter just wants to create

more divisions in an already fragmented

society.Part ofa journalistt training is

orientation on the ProPer dress and

decorum when doing interviews or

coverage. There is no substitute for

following these guidelines, especially

when covering Muslim-dominatedcommunities in Mindanao' Part of

becoming a Muslim is being alwaYs

modest in one's dress. This does not

mean that non-Muslim iournalistsshould wear the veil when they cover

"Muslim" Mindanao. They maywant to try putting on a veil, as somereporters for national dailies andtelevision networks have done. Butwhile they may not wear the veil,they should avoid wearing anythingthat wil l invite undue attention fromtheir informants or the communitiesthey are reporting on. This guidelineapplies even when they cover non-Muslim communities.

lledia's clucial loleLike other concerned sectors of

sociery journalists playa crucial role inforging peace in a world that seems to bepreoccupied with violence. But unlikeother sectors, iournalists can either makeor break the peace with what and howrhey report events and activities,especially in something complicated like apeace process. More so ifthis involves aprotagonist, the Muslims in Mindanaoand Sulu, who have been maligned forrersons not entirely of their own making.

The media's vital role in promoting

peace was noted by Noel Copin,president ofthe Paris-based pressadvocary group Reporters sansFrontieres, in the keynote speech hedelivered during the I 7th VorldCongress of the Internationd CatholicUnion ofthe Press (UCIP) in 1995 inGraz, Austria. The following excerptfrom Copint article sums up myintentions in writing this paper:

"The greatest chancefor us, journalists,

is our possibility to gobeTond allfontierc, physical and rnoral,

andto eliminatefearand hatred among hurnans. . . Oar duty,

corresponding to thischance, is to tell what we haue seen.

The rolz ofthe journalistit not to re/nain on one side ofthe

barricade to incite others tod.efend or anack. h is to tell the truth i,f

bothsidzs. Atthe baseofioumalism, there is or there should be

undcrstanding oftheotber, . . " (undzn c o ring s upp lied)

"Telling the tquth of the other"necessitates some kind of an innercleansing ofour prejudices, biases, our"moral fiontiers" as Copin calls them.Ti'anscending these and not allowingourselves to take one side ofthe fence toeither defend or attack will pave the wayfor more sensitive reporting, therebypromoting, instead of breaking, thepeace. This, I believe, is the noblest idealjournalists can aspire for. I

Rufa Cagoco-Gui.arn is an associate pro-

fessor in the graduate progratn in publicadministration and director of Center forPeace and Deueloprnent Studies atMindanao State Uniuersity - GeneralSantos City, Philippines.

NOTES: Fa t ima Mern iss i , l s lam and Democracy

(1992).

: Khursh id Ahmad, "Ed i to r ' s In t roduc-t ion , " in Mawdud i , Abu l A ' la . TowardsU n d e r s t a n d i n g l s l a m . " 2 n d e d .( l s l a m a b a d , P a k i s t a n : I n s t i t u t e o fPo l icy S tud ies , 1979) .

: Pe ter Gordon Gowing, Mus l im F i l ip i -nos : Her i tage and Hor izon (Quezon

City: New Day Publishers, 1979).

Lu is Lacar , The Ba l ik . l s lam Movementi n t h e P h i l i p p i n e s ( a n u n p u b l i s h e ddocument , 1997) .

Turner and R.J . May (eds . ) M indanao:Land o f Unfu l l i l l ed Promise (QuezonCity: New Day Publishers, 1979).

George, 1980.

t May, loc. ci t .

Rufa Cagoco'Guiam, "Media Ties withNGOs/POs and Rebel Groups in theConiext of the Mindanao Peace Pro.cess,"Kasarinlan (1997) 12 and 13.

Noel Copin, 'Only Truth Leads toPeace," (keynote address del ivered atthe 17th World Congress of the UCIPin Graz , Aus t r ia , 1995) .

REFERENCES CITEDrhmad, Khurshid. "Editor 's Introduction," int, ' lawdudi, Abul Ala. Towards Understandingslam. 2nd ed. lslamabad, Pakistan:rstitute of Policy Studies, 1979.

3agoco-Guiam, Rufa. "Media's Ties with'rGOs/POs and Rebel Grouos in the Context:f the Mindanao Peace Process." Kasarinlan.r publication of the Third World Studiesinter, University of the Philippines atI liman, Quezon City. (i997) 12 and 13.

Copin, Noel. "0nly Truth leads to Peace,"keynote address del ivered at the 17thWorld Congress of the UCIB Graz, Austr ia,1 995.

Gowing, Peter Gordon. Mus l im F i l ip inos :Heritage and Horizon. Quezon City: NewDay Pub l ishers , 1979.

Lacar, Luis Q. "The Balik. lslam Movementi n t h e P h i l i p p i n e s , " u n p u b l i s h e dmanuscr ip t , 1997.

Maju l , Cesar Ad ib . The ContemporaryMus l im Movement in the Ph i l ipp ines ,Ca l i fo rn ia : M izan Press , 1985.

May, R.J "The Wild West in the South: ARecent Political History of Mindanao," inMindanao: Land of Unfulfilled Promise. MarkTurner, R.J. May and Lulu Respall Turner, eds.Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1992.

Mern iss i , Fa t ima. l s lam and Democracy ,1992 n A

JouRNAusM Asr^ ZOOZ 53

l|ANI

ruNIHE

,By MeN KtvseNc

I CnMaootn

Canrbodian W carpraman at uprk problefiF

of training and elhicsWomen's Media Centre of Cambodia

HE year 2001 was a dark period for Cam

bodian iournalism. Many journalists

violated their own code of ethics, some

intentionally and others unintentionally' Some

journalists ftaced imprisonment, or death threats

fro- go.r.rtment officials either because of their

lol'rrrrllirrn work or because of various forms of

malpractice. Some were also beaten by government

thr'ri, ,tot because of their articles, but because they

had-extorted money from government officials'

Most journalists stil l wrote stories based on one

,or'rr.i. Lack of resources and research also ham-

pered their work. Still other journalists faced

i"*ruit, for articles they had translated from other

newspapers without citing the sources of the

articles.Some government officials also berated and insulted

iournalistJThere have also been complaints from local 'iournal-'irtr rh"t they find it hard to get information from officials-

*ni"n i, *t y, they say, they usually report only one side of a

sory. Manycases'ofwhat amounts to unbalanced reporting like

these were reported in the so-called opposition newsPapers'

No legal action has so far been taken against officials some

ior.rrri"tiri claim threatened them with death' but a number of

journalists face court cases for the stories they wrote that were

ilegedlywithout balance, or have been jailed for alleged

blackmail.Many Cambodian journalists have been working to

consolidate democracyand to make the government more

ffansparent and accountable, to rid the nation of corruPtlon'

".rd to fo.t., equiry and growth, but because-of the way other

journalists h"t. b..n behaving, they have so far not achieved

these aims.However, there was a point in 2001 when journalists who

had different political tendencies tended to stop using their

,r.*rp"p., "r,icles

to attack each other' Instead they turned

their attention to scandals in the government'

IundingUoblemsThe biggest problem.iournalists in Cambodia faced in the

year 2001 -rias

mostly funding and tight market conditions'

<4 l^ lourrrsv Asrr 2002

- a !

ffixt*nti*m xs ffi **'irxlm, mn* $*$T1* j*tJs"slm$rxts w*r*gmi$wd ir: tr*ffi3 f*n m$*mg*d$y *xt*r-txn;g ru"t*r"3*y fnmrn apa*!vmt* *#$t'3$;ffi sty" Thn** *th*n *ms-xtb**imr:j*e.".xs"$'3ffi$ixtx w*r* mi** 3mi8*d f*r thwar !nv*$vmm*nt& p*!its*nl is$t-l*.

in

The market for newspapers inCambodia has become smaller andsmaller. Most Cambodians are poor.Instead of buying newspapers, many rentthem at a price cheaper than theirpurchase cost per copy. One other factorthat has led to the shrinking of themarket for newspapers is that mostCambodian people cannot read. \fhilereading is alien to them, all of a suddenthere has been a boom in the electronicmedia. rVith six local television channels,people prefer watchingTV to readingnewspapers because they do not have topay for it, and moreover can watch all thefilms theywant. Like other peopleconcernedwith the problems of dailysurvival, they do not care very muchabout what is happening in other partsof the world.

But many readers have also lost theirtrust ofnewspapers because a lot ofstories they read are not about anythingofrelevance to their lives. Instead theyhave seen too many stories attackingofficials who were having affairs with thisor that person, only for the papers tosuddenly stop their investigation becausethose same officials have bribed journal-

ists.Many young Cambodians j umped

into journalism because theywanted tobe part ofa profession that is supposed tobe the fourth power in sociery which is anew concept for them. Many of them,howevet do not have any training in

iournalism.

Some newspapers are one-personaffairs, with only one person functioningas reportet photographer and editor.Limited budgets do not permit thehiring of more people, and thus hinderprofessional growth. Among theconsequences are stories based on rumotand the failure to verify details with othersoufces.

Many journalists also misquote theirsources and do not know how to protectthem. As a result, many officials areafraid to talk to iournalists. Somejournalists find it hard to build upsources, and this is one of the reasonswhy they tend to use material whichoriginally appeared in other newspapers,merely adding to them some of their ownideas. Many journalists also use materialwithout even mentioning its origin, and-these can be seen widely in local radioand ne.rvspapers.

Gorruil[lacticcClear cases of malpractice occur when

journalists try to get money (usually

around rwo US dollars - just enough tofill their motorbikeswith petrol) from thepeople they cover. This practice has beencorrectly described as extortion, becausethe journalists concernedwould not runthe stories theywere supposed to writefor their newspapers unless the organizersofa press conference or similar pressevent paid them. Still others regularlypraise government officials, but if theylearn of anywrongdoing, would

demand money from the officials inexchange for their suppressing the story.Some journalists are aware that this is aviolation ofjournalism ethics, but theystill do it because they say they need themoney to survive.

The journalists who say this pointout that they do not earn much fromthe newspapers they work for. Theirlow salaries are the consequence of,among others, the lack of advertisingin most newspapers as well as their lowcirculations. Some Phnom Penhnewspapers, for example, print onlyI,000 copies per issue, which may noteven be daily, but are usually weekly.

Extortion is a crime, and somejournalists were jailed in 2001 forallegedly extorting money from aprivate company. Three other Cambo-dian journalists were also jailed fortheir involvement in a political issue.

The publisher and editor-in-chiefof a local Khmer language newspaper,the Bahong News were detained for sixmonths in 2001, which Cambodianlaw allows. But instead of charging thetwo journalists with offenses related totheir work or for malpractice, the courtcharged them with robbery. Cambo-dian law also allowed the court tocharge the journalists with defamation.A similar case also happened to acorrespondent for a local newspapercalled the Euening News, which isbased in the coastal town ofSihanoukville.

JouRNALrsrl Asrt2OOZ 55

In.the first case, many journalist

associations intervened. Nothing came

ofit, and even the secretary ofstate

for information who provided bail for

the journalists could helP them.

In the code ofethics of the League

of Cambodian Journalists, it is clearly

stated that league members should not

do anything degrading to the

profession and violative of journalistic

ideals, but league president Om

Chandara admits that sometimes he

had to allow his reporters or provincial

representatives to write articles praising

,o--. gou..t-ent officials in exchange

for small amounts of moneY' He said

he knew that it was shameful, but

claimed that there was nothing he

could do. Journalists, he said, had to

choose between being penniless and

having a little money.According to Chandara, the

incomes of local journalists is very low.

This is one of the manY reasons whY

iournalists had to leave journalism

for the wire serv ices do not accePt

money from government officials.

Those who work for b ig Cambo-

dian organizat ions st i l l do, but are

able to conceal i t , un l ike those who

work for small newsPaPers."

llot low salafie$ alonGHowever, the president of another

journalists' association, Pen Samithy,

argues that the corruPtion of somejournalists is not totally due to low

salaries. He cites the case of journalists

Nem Bunhuot and his editor-in-chief

who were jailed for alleged moneY

extortion. Nem Bunhuot was not

poor, and was in fact well off."Those who really need moneY to

survive do not demand much; a couPle

of dollars is usually enough for them,"

says Samithy, who implies that in their

case it is at least understandable.On the other hand, the govern-

ment seems to have made it standard

practice to keeP almost anY kind of

;:,:,::.:.=::..a:.;:aa=.a=

Prinp Minister Hun Sen: sorre iournalists arecorrupt

h t t p : / / news .bbc . co .uk /h i / eng l i sh /wo r l d /as i a 'pac i f i c / news id -1 45000 /145702 s tm

ethics aside. Some iournalists do not

even have regular salaries, and instead

work as volunteers flor their newsPa-

Pefs."'We want our iournalists to be

more professional and to resPectjournalism ethics, but we do not have

money," said Chandara."Only those who are work ing

Some euents in the Gambodian media in 2001(Compiled by the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists)

lanuary:> A gang whose members

claimed to be students andrn te l lec tua ls l i v ing in Buddha 'stemoles th rea tened to beat uP

lournal ists who did nbt wear theirDress cards when covertng ademonstrat ion in front of theNat iona l AssemblY.

> Foreign Minister Hor Namhongthreatened to sue an Engl ish'language newspaper, the CambodiaDaily.

> A distr ict governor in PhnomPenh threatened on the Phone toki l l a journal ist who disclosed hisland invo lvement in land 'g rabb ingand the i l legal sale of land..

> A reporter working for the

Khmer language Bakong NewsPa'per claimed that a governor ofCambod ia 's nor thern Prov ince o fKampong Chhnang th rea tened tok i l l h im.

> The Referendum NewsPaPerwas closed down for al legedinvo lvement w i th the so 'ca l ledCambodian Freedom Fightersmovement .

IGDruAry:> A grouP of journal ists in the

northern Province of Battambanghad a f ight over moneY receivedfrom the owner of a slaughter'h o u s e .

> Cambodia's Prime MinisterHun Sen said journal ists are also

cor rup t and tha t some govern 'ment off ic ials have been hostagedby journa l i s ts .

> The pub l isher o f the PhnomPenh NewsPaPer c la imed tha t thegovernor of Phnom Penh hadthrea tened and insu l ted h im ont h e p h o n e .

Illarc[:> A cor resPondent o f the

Evening News NewsPaPer based incoas ta l S ihanoukv i l le was ja i led fo ra l leged ly ex tor t ing 150 US do l la rsfrom a karaoke club.

> The Khmer /deal NewsPaPerwas summoned bY court in connec't ion with a defamation sui t f i led bya senator, Meng Rit ta.

56 JouRNilsM Asn 2oo2

information from journalists. Manyjournalists who do not have goodcontacts with the officials of PrimeMinister Hun Sen's government find ithard to get information. Althoughmuch of the information journalistsneed to report on government do notthreaten public security, manyofficials are reluctant to provide thepress with it, fearing that they might getinto trouble once their bosses find out.

For example, Prime Minister HunSen's statements are supposed to bebroadcast publicly but people in hiscabinet provide copies only to statemedia, those journalists working forthe wire services, and certain reportersthey know.

Irked by inaccurate reporting andthe conflicts among local journalists, inlate 2001, Prime Minister Hun Senwarned journalists to wait for anotherone thousand years to become a realfourth power in Cambodia. He alsosaid some journalists were corrupt and

, 1 8

that some government officials hadbeen hostaged by journalists.

However, there are also iournalistswho work hard to expose the wrong-doings of government officials, butwho as a result find themselves indanger. In one case, a journalistworking for the most popular Cambo-dian newspaper, Rasmel KampucheaDaily, was threatened for writ ing anarticle revealing a district governor'sinvolvement in land-grabbing fromfarmers and then selling the landillegally. No legal action has been takenagainst the official.

tGwspanel$ classifiGdOut of 187 newspapers in Cambo-

dia, only a small number are viable.Ten are dailies. Some of them come outevery week, and most of them comeout irregularly. Many appear only onspecial occasions like the New Year or ahigh-ranking government offi cial'sbirthday. For example, some are

published du{ng the King or Queen'sbirthday, or the Prime Ministert. Suchoccasions enable them to print thegreetings of certain government offi-cials-in some cases without the ofiicidsconcernedt knowing it. The officialslearn oftheir supposed greetings onlywhen the newspaper presents them thebill.

Cambodian newspapers can beclassified into "advocary," anti-govern-ment, and independent newspapers.

The "advocacy" newspapers do notcriticize government to achieve change.Instead they attack government officialswho refuse to pay them in exchange fornot running the story. The journalistswho do this say they know it is notprofessional to do this, but that theyhave no choice, and that in any case, it isa natural characteristic ofpoliticians tomanipulate the media for their political

PufPoses.The anti-government newspapers

function as mouthpieces of the opposi-

lnrll:> The publisher of the Bankong

Newspaper and his editor. in-chiefwere jailed for allegedly extortingsome 500 US dollars from a localcompany. They were charged withro0Dery.

> An owner of a construct ionsi te br ief ly detained four journal istsworking for three di f ferent localn e w s p a p e r s .

lrnc:> Three journal ists were put on

t r ia l a long w i th o ther members o fthe so-ca l led Cambod ian FreedomFighters movement for the sameoffen ses.

hty:> S ix journa l i sm assoc ia t ions

and c lubs issued a s ta tementask ing the government no t toimp lement the sub-decree dra f t by

min is t ry o f in fo rmat ion .> The Thai embassy in Cambo.

d ia lodged a lega l compla in tbefore the Cambodian foreignmin is t ry aga ins t MoneashekaKhmer Newspaper (Khmer Con-science) and Rasmey AngkorNewspaper (Light of Angkor) forinsu l t ing the Tha i monarchy .

lrgrst:> Sam/eng Yuvachun Khmer

Newspaper (Voice of Khmer Youth)was charged by mun ic ipa l i t y cour torosecutor with the offense ofrunn ing inaccura te a r t i c les .

> The Information Ministryordered the conf iscat ion of theoppos i t ion leader 's book ca l led" l i o h f n f l r r q t i n e "

ScrtcmIcr:> The Eng l ish- language Cambo-

d i a D a i l y N e w s p a p e r l o s t a c o u r t

c a s e t o f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r H o rN a m h o n g a n d w a s f i n e d 3 0m i l l i o n r i e l s ( a p p r o x i m a t e l y7 , 7 0 0 U S d o l l a r s ) b y a m u n i c i -p a l c o u r t .

> So ld ie rs in Bat tambang beatup a journa l i s t named Chey Darafor al legedly extort ing money fromloca l v ideo games shops .

llcccmtcr:> The information Ministry

ordered the closure of the Cambo-dia Dai ly Newspaper for 15 days,bu t a comoromise was reachedsome f ive hours later.

> Cambod ian Pr ime Min is te rHun Sen sa id newspapers inCambod ia have to wa i t fo r another1000 years to become a realfourth power.

> The Evening /Vews Newspaperwent bankrupt and consequent lyhad to shut down.

JouRvusrt.tsr:01: 5-

',t;1411,"t1

#1.ffifi{

i!ir. ,1$,, -' - 'r"#.

Phnom Penh: A linited readership lor the press

tion parry. Many journalists in suchnewspapers are universally hated bygovernment officials, but some ofthemare among the few journalists in Cambo-dia who have received some training injournalism.

The independent newspapers areforeignJanguage newspapers based inCambodia, such as the English-languageCambodia Daily newspaper and thePhnom Penh Posu the FrenchJanguageCambodge Soir, and a few Chinese-language newspapers. Their reporters arepaid enough, which somewhat ensuresthat they are not corrupt.

lournalists' ossoGialion$There are six iournalists' associations

in Cambodia. They exist to assistjournalists, but their assistance has beenvery limited due to the lack of coopera-tion from journalists, and because there isno press council to help guide them.Mostly, they intervene only after aproblem has already occurred. Cambo-

58 JouRNALTsM Asr^ 2002

dian journalists lack protection, andthe associations cannot give it to them.

The six associations are the Leagueof Cambodian Journalists (LCJ), theClub of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ)'

the Cambodian Association forProtection ofJournalists (CAPJ), theKhmer Journalists' Association (KJA),

the Association of Khmer Press forLiberty (AKPL), and the Independent

Journalists Union (IJU). Only the firstthree are still active.

The three active associations havetheir own way of dealingwithproblems. Normally they workseparately in addressing the problemsfacing journalists, but one thing theydid together was to protest against aninformation ministry draft sub-decreeon the press. The decree was deemedinadequate in defining the phrases"state securiry" and "governmentsecret", and journalists expressedconcern that once it came into effect,the government would use it either as

Chris Tenove

a pretext to arbitrarily arrest anyjournalist who dares criticize them,especially those from the oppositionnewsPaPers.

One of the most controversialprovisions ofthe draft sub-decree isArticle 4. It required news organiza-tions to obtain a license from theministry of information every twelvemonths, which would further burdenjournalists who are already on thebrink ofbankruptcy.

Another provision of the draftsub-decree is that a foreign journalist

could onlywork in Cambodia once heor she has accreditation from his or hercountryt embassy in Cambodia. Thiswould affect those who are hiredlocally by, for example, Agence FrancePresse to work in Phnom Penh.

Journalists also expressed concern thatthis would affect expatriate journalists.

Journalists have also protestedArticle 5, which states that "the presshas the right of access to information

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in government-held records, except forany information which causes harm tonational security...", and Article I 2which states that "the press shall notpublish or reproduce any informationthat may affect national security andpolitical stability. The employer, editor,or author of the article may besubjected to a fine of5,000,000 to1,000,000 riels without taking intoaccount possible punishment undercriminal law."

Some journalists say that the terms'national security and politicalstability" are vague and need to beclearly defined. Journalists also say thatthey should not be punished underpenal or criminal law for their articlesbecause if theywrote something thatan individual claimed was not true,then they reserve the right to makecorrections afterwards.

Each association is now gauging itsabiliry to improve journalists' profes-sional and ethical behavior. Um Sarinof the Cambodian Association forProtection ofJournalists (CAPI)expressed optimism that the Cambo-dian press can overcome its presentproblems.

'Although there are still problemsIike unbalanced reporting amongCambodian journalists, overall, theyare free to express their opinion andfree to findt the truth." said Um Sarin.

Cambodian journalists need moreprotection and training so that theycan get on the right track and thisyillhelp reduce the mistakes that occurredin 2001 from happening again in2002 and beyond. There have beencalls for journalists to be more patient,

#ffi*y ff i *$tt$t

and that they respect journalismethics. Some journalists have appealedto foreign journalism organizations tohelp them address their problems.

Pen Samithy of CCJ suggeststhat Cambodia should have aninst i tu t ion to moni tor journal ismpract ice. This should be done stepby step. For example: f i rs t we haveto ask a l l journal is ts not to namecrime victims or perpetrators whoare under I 8 years o ld. Later wehave to announce that , there are,sey,20 newspapers which wil lab ide by th is ru le, whi le the restcan sti l l improve their observanceof it. This would have an effectmostly on advertisers.

But we cannot have a code and askall journalists to abide by it if we donot have a body to enforce it. Thirdlptherefore, there should be a presscouncil to help journalists respectjournalism ethics. Journalists also needhelp on management and finances to -

make sure their newspapers can surviveand stand on their own. This helpshould come from a local body.

Samithy said that one could notjust appeal to journalists to stop theirmalpractice because morality is whatwe cannot just force someone torespect. \(e need time to make theperson aware of his or her mistake.

'All big institutions are plagued bycorruption. Corruption is not amonopoly of journalists. But it wouldbe good ifwe can reduce corruption inour ranks, and we have to do thisahead of other government institu-tions" said Pen Samithy. "Nowadays,some people even say that to be a

tm

journalist is only a litde better than tobe a beggar."

The ministry of information ispartly to blame for certain practices byjournalists. The ministry accuses jour-nalists of malpractice onlywhen theywrite stories critical of the ruling party.It does not care who else journalists

attack-or whether their acts were inline with journalism ethics or not.

In order to stop wrongdoing byjournalists, there is a call for signifi-cant contributions to help journalists

instead ofjust punishing them. Forexample, to set up a cheap printinghouse to help some newspapers, as wellas a press center where journalists canmeet, access the Internet, use comput-ers, and send and receive e-mail.

A lot oftraining through short-termed courses or seminars have beenprovided journalists, but most ofthose who attend the courses couldnot go into journalism because thereare not many news organizations toaccept them, Or some attend thecourses to understand what.iournalismis, but do not really mean to enter theprofession. Some training courses havebeen conducted by the Royal Univer-sity of Phnom Penh and the Cambo-dian Communication Institute. Thesewere fwo-week to six'month longcoufses.

Journalism training does helpjournalists. One of the results of suchtraining is that some of those who havebeen so trained are at least able to writebalanced reports. r

Men Kimseng is Cam bodian conespondentof Agence France Presse.

$s

JouRwsn ,tsn Zmf 59

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East I'innr President )hnana Cusmo and rcporter: sonp activistsbecanc journalisls

Jenny Duggan, Bob Howarth and Di Coll ins

JOUNilALI$M IIIIIGI87 Lurns LuwRnsoI EmrTrmon

\\f ITIEN EastTimor gained independence, a grouP ofyoung

\ X f people,who had been activists in the independence

Y Y struggle, started publishing aweeklymagazine.{nitiallythey received money from a funding agency. They began their work ina newsroom the UNTAET (United Nations tansitional Administra-tion in EastTimor) lent them. Another donor organization gave th€mcomputers, printers, scanners and a vehicle, as well as financial assis-tance for staffwages. Then the contributions came to a halt. Themagazine was forced to let some of its staffgo because there was nolonger any money to pay them their wages. The equipment in theoffice needed to be repaired, but there was no way of repairing thembecause there were no spare parts.

However, the young people perse- of the magazine's writers looked for work

vered with the magazine. '\fhat

they in other places, such as workwith NGOslacked in wages they made up for in or working on UNTAET:fundeddeter.mination. They used their own projects. As a consequence, they couldmoney (moneytheir familygave them) onlyworkpart-time for the magazine.

to keep the magazine in business. Some The magazine did not have an

60 JoURNTNM Ash 2002

editorial board. The staffrarelyheld aneditorial meeting. Because the staffdidnot have any journalistic training, themagazine was not very professionallydone. On the business side, themagazine was initially published thanlato the foreign aid, but did not have anybusiness plan or any ideas about the costsinvolved in publishing. No one wasresponsible for marketing the magazineor for looking for advertisers except themembers of the editorial staffthemselves.

The weekly magazine soon became amonthly publication, then a tri-monthly.It eventually ceased to exist because itseditor decided to return to his village tobecome a farmer. However, there wereother groups that wanted to contributeto the local media. Hopefully there wereother donor organizations or peoplewilling to lend a helping hand.

The media are often praised forplaying an important role in the

i:':i' i7,,,:;'; )- ̂ ,'2

t"

transition to democracy. In EastTimor, itis hoped, information can be dissemi-nated, and people can communicatewitheach other through the media, However,at this time, such expectations ofthe EastTimor media are unrealistic. At themoment the EastTimorese media are toooccupiedwith survival to do what isexpected ofthe media.

The problem of the print media inEastTimor is a fundamental one-limited funds. Howevet lack oftrainingis also aproblem. Most newspapersconsist of betwe en 4 and l0 journalists,

most ofwhom became journalists

without much knowledge ofjournalism.Then there is the business side, which

Incomes are ve"ry low. Consequently themedia are not a prioriry for the EastTimorese, Furthermorg, there are theadded obstacles oflangage andliteracy. Some 34o/o of the EastTimorese are illiterate.

During the Indonesian occupation,when the economywas relatively stable,there was only one daily newspaperSuara Timor-Timur (STT) 2 (published

since 1993, it changed its nameto SuaraTimor Lorosae in 2000) . It was not veryprofitable. \fhen the newspaperwasSu a ra Ti rn o r- Ti rn ur it had a itrculation of1,500. Most of its readers were Indone-sian nationals (civil servants and traders)who had stable incomes. After theyleft

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UN's Sergio Vieira de Mello and East TimorForeign MinisterJose Rams-Horta: A coun-try in transition

Jenny Duggan, Bob Howarth and Di Col l insEast Timor,media readershipdeclined. Apparently, the EastTimorese cannot replace theIndonesians as media consumers.

Media consumers mu$ havestable incomes and be capable ofconsuming media. In EastTimor. those who meet th€se

most publications do not seem to takeseriously enough.

Almost all the print media in EastTimor are strugglingto survive, hopingthat there will be enough money to printtheir newspapers and pay their journal-

ists, or to just cover their operationalexpenses. In this context, ofwhatrelevance are journalism ethics for themedia in EastTimor? It is a 'luxury' tobe concerned about journalism ethicswhen the main concern for almost all ofEastTimor's media is survival-will thenewspaper be published tomorrow, willjournalists be paid, will people buy thenewspaper? Journalism ethics (covering

both sides, being faia checking and re-checking information) become irrelevantwhen the simplest tasks ofjournalism,such as meeting deadlines and getting alayout done, are difficult enough for themostly untrained media practitioners ofEastTimor.

Managing the media in East Timor toensure their continued existence is animpossible task. The prospects for self-sustaining media are almost zero, not tomention *re business prospects or thechances ofmaking a profit. How can the-press and journalism develop ifthere isno profit from newspaper sales, or fromadvertisements? Any discussion aboutthe maintenance ofa code ofjournalismethics in EastTimor, adopting standardsto measure the ethics of media andjournalists who work in economicallyand politically unstable environments iscleuly impossible.

The first problem that must beovercome bythe press in EastTimor isthe tiny public of the media. Thepopulation of East Timor is 800,000.However, as many as 100,000 are livingas refirgees in'W'estTimor.r Under theadministration of the UNTALIeconomic development remains slow.

criteria are mosdy expatriates working forUNTA-ET and international NGOs.There are approximately 10,000 of thesepeople - more than the circulation ofallthe print media in EastTimor. Theyhave high incomes (US$5,000 - 10,000a month) but they are not the potentialmarket and theycmnot replace themarket. which leftwith the Indonesiannationals.3 lfith such a smdl potentialmarket for media consumption, the highnumber of newspapers in EastTimor issurprising. But these newspaperssurvive onlybecause of support fromfunding agencies. Without this assis-tance they would surely stop printing.

In fact manyformer SuaraTimorTimur journalists who have experiencedmodern press management (S77has

worked in co-operation with Kompas-the largest daily in Indonesia) areunsuccessful in managing their ownnewspapers.{ Compared with the period

Jorrur Arr lffi: 61

of Indonesian occl.tpation, when therewas onlyone newspaper, the expansionofmedia in EastTimor is overwhelming.But ofwhat use is the increased number

ofprint media in EastTimor to thelocals? Until now, onlytwo dulies, SuaraTirnor Lorosae arrdTimor Pasr,5 areconsidered to be professional. The othernewspapers are regarded as mere NGOpamphlets.

Apart from the Suara Timor Tirnurjournalists, most of East Timor's journal-

ists are former university and NGOactivists. Their baclground in activism isstill very strong and influences their styleof reporting and writing. They suddenly

chose to become journdists, despite thefact that they lack experience andknowledge about journalism. They are

filled with the spirit of opposition. In

the past they opposed the Indonesiangovirnment/military. Now they arecritical of UNTAET ETTA, and theforeign NGO's operating in Dili. Theyalso question the commitment to

democrary of EastTimor's political elite.

Journalists/Activists in EastTimorbelieve that the purpose ofjournalism is

to give voice the suffering of the EastTimorese. They believe that only that

rype ofjournalism is valid, especiallyduring the transition period. The qualityof EastTimor's print media is weakenedwhen this aggressive spirit is notcomplemented by journalism skills.

Journalism becomes pamphleteering.How can the EastTimorese get informa-

tion about the work methods of thepolitical elite including UNTAET whatis their mandate, what are theirworkprograms and their failures, etc.?

Journalists need to be critical, but not

necessarily aggressive to obtain thisinformation. East Timorese journalists

have a tendency to write "opinionated

news." These opinions of the paper and

the journaliss are often more prominent

than the informantt opinion.The problem ofthe "NGO journal-

ist" has also threatened the solidaritv

among$ Fa$Timorese journalists. Atthe fust Timor lorosa'e JournalistsAssociation @-lA) Congress6 on 10-14

January 200 1 , the "professional"journalists quesdoned the anendance bymany "amateur" journaliss. fuound 140journalists from 14 media organizationsattended this Congress, including fromdistricts outside Dili. If one divided thejournalists into two groups, professionaland amateur, so that only those deemedprofessional could attend the Congress,the number of attendees would havebeen less than 40.

Problems relating to the status ofjournalists as professional or amateurpersisted after the Congress. Not longafter the Congress ended, there was arumor that some ofTLJA membersintended to form a new "professional"journalists' association to compete withTLjA (which was in sympathywithNGO journalists)7.

In theory, there is nothing wrongwith establishing another journalists'

Name o f Pub l ica t ion

;.i;ii.:ilitwtlat i;1

A i n a r o

62 JouRNusM Asn 2002

R a d i o S t a t i o n s i n E a s t T i m o r

Radio UNTAETt'.36di61,,RTX'':,1: . -:1,:,1.r11'l . I

i. ' ',:.,'. '- ::

Radio Fal in t i l Radio: Radio,,Comm0nidade (Los. Pa,los)

Radio BBC,Ra.d]o Australria '1,: , i: ,

RTP (Portugis)

116g,,ivoice,of Ameriea]

,:;!iltxi!i::;'ts:!r*!:i:$:l"lqq:;iaf:t.ej6*f,$litl-a1il1l*i*}.:'qr8'i9:|:i

association. Howevet EastTimor is too

small a country for more than one

journalists' association. According to

rumors there were many reasons behind

the idea. The main reason was that most

of the TLJA founders were not "profes-

sional" journalists. As such, some

members of theTLJA leadership did not

consider the association to be a real

professional association. These rumors

could not be verified because ofa lack of

communication and distrust among

TLJA leadership.In fact there was even

reluctance to talk about the rumor.

Otelio Ote, amember of theTLJA

leadership, denied that he planned to

create a new journalists' association, but

:e did admit that there were internal

:roblems inTLJA. Ote said that there

'o'ere different opinions amongst the

E:i:;rship about the meaning of":,r : -essional j ournalists".T

irhough the professionalism of

ni-:r'TLJA members has been ques-

u:n.i. there has actually been a lot of

rruL:--ing and journalism workshops

,m::-Jed by East Timorese journalists,

*'r*::ler in EastTimor, Indonesia, or

vre: ofier countries in the last three

ntri:;. Some EastTimorese journalists

r-rr:i.ome to understand the principles

ir,i ,: ::nalism and modern Press manage-

me::- However, the economic situation

dd*:s :ot lend support to these principles,

in: .: rs difficult for the iournalists to

rnplement their new knowledge.

EastTimor is currently in its third

lndonesian nilitias in 1999.

year ofpolitical transition towards self-

governance. News and information have

become even more necessary. The only

cheap form of media with relatively easy

access is radio. According to the results of

an Asia Foundation Survey,s the medium

most accessed in EastTimor is radio.

Radio UNTAET is the most popularstation. Following are the print media.

SuaraTimor Lorosae is the most popular

newspaper in the country.There is only one TV station in East

Timor, Televisaun Timor Lorosa'e(TVTl),however, it can onlybe accessed

by people who own television sets, or

www.unesco.orglwebworld/ news/991 203-timor.shtml

approximately 8 o/o of the population.'\Tidespread

access to radio has yet to

be in EastTimor. EastTimor's moun-

tainous terrain has made it difficult and

very expensive to set uP transmission in

every district. At the moment Radio

UNTAET can onlybe heard in the

districts of Dili, Baucau and theirenvirons.

At a gathering of East Timoresejournalists meant to draft a declarationestablishingTLJA in December I 999,

Jose Ramos Horta, Vice President of *re

National Council for Timorese Resistance(CNRT), whowas responsible for media

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Scenes from a violent past: l,lewspaper oflices and television studios were destroyed by pre

JouRwsri ,tq1 :'X,: 6]

policy, said, "My philosophy when itcomes to the media is to let a thousandnewspapers and, radio stations blossom".

As he had hoped, East Timornow has tens of media outlets andseveral radio stations. However, it isnot clear how many will continue, andhow many can play a significant role inEastTimor affairs. -J7ith a total circula-tion ofless than I 0,000 for all ofEastTimort print media (excluding

UNTAET publication This Timor), ifhalf ofthe papers in circulation were readby 5 people, then only around 25,000people read newspapers.

The birth of much of EastTimortnew media organizations in both printand radio resembles the birth of a "test

rube baby''. Many new media outletsemerged because theywere attracted bythe offer offunding and not because

theywant to respond to the peopletneeds and interests. Grants fromfunding agencies and donor countries toEastTimor have produced instantjournalists and instant media who lackboth long term motivation as well asstrong principles.

This is understandable. EastTimor isstill in a transitional stage. It has yet torecover from the destruction thatoccurred following its independencefrom Indonesia. There is not yet anysupport for the growth and developmentof media. Assistance through grantscertainly helps in the meantime, However,it is also creates dependence instead ofhelping develop a robust media.

Mass media run by activists, whopossess high ideals is a promising start.However, becoming a journalist for thesake of idealism is not enough. Amongst

these joumaliss, there are some who seejournalism as a "part-time job". In theend theywill choose another field, andsome will realize that they are not suitablefor journalism. As a result, the totalnumber ofprin/radio mediawill lessento a number more appropriate for theneeds and capaciry of the market.

Mediat role in educating andmobilizing the public is very important.But, that role can only be fulfilled if themedia are credible and are able to reportand interpret events in accordance withjournalism ethics. East Timor's mediahave a theoretical understanding ofjournalism ethics. However, they are yetto translate theoryinto practice. I

Lukas Luuarso is basedin Indonesia andisa member of the board of directors of theSoutheast'4sian Pres Alliance.

Data from Easi Timor TransitoryAdmin is t ra t ion (ETTA) , approx imate ly70/o oI East Timorese.are unemployedor do not have a permanent income,60/o o t the popu la t ion is l i v ing be lowthe poverty l ine.

0n March 26. 1999. members of theI n d o n e s i a n - s u p p o r t e d m i l i t i a g r o u pstormed the offices of Suara Timor-Timur, the main dai ly newspaper,smash ing equ ipment and the premisesin retal iat ion against what they saw as'antagonist ic ' report ing. Suara Timor-Timur was a private newpaper owed byoro . lndones ia bus inessmen Sa lvadorSoares and was the main source ofloca l p r in t news under Indones ian ru le .After the August 30 Referendum, thepro- in tegra t ion mi l i t ia to rched whatwas left of the offices of Suara llmor-Timur. The print ing press and otherproduc t ion equ ipment were comple te lydes t royed.

A l l o r in t med ia in D i l i i s wr i t ten inIndones ian , the two da i l y papersSuara Timor Lorosae and Timor Postinclude several English art icles,however these have fai led in gett ingexpatr iates to buy the newspapers.One part of East Timor's print media'sincome comes from foreign fundingand advert isements from UNTAET,

NG0's and foreign businesses, at themoment these adds offer enoughf inanc ia l he lp fo r D i l i ' s p r in t med ia ,however UNTAET's duties and theDresence o f in te rna t iona l NG0 's w i l lshort ly end. This threatens theexistence of Di l i 's media. See lrawanSaptono, Laporan Program Konsu l tas iMedia di Timor Lorosae (Report on theMedia in East Timor) for The AsiaFoundat ion , May 2001.

One group of former Suara Timor Timurjourna l i s ts , under the ed i to r ia l sh ip o fSa lvador J . X imenes pub l ishes thedaily, Suara Timor Lorosae. Anothergroup publishes the Timor Post. Toth is moment bo th papers a re s t i l ldependent on fo re ign fund ing .

Timor Post is currently publ ished threetimes a week under the editor ship olHugo da Costa and V ice Ch ie f Ed i to rOte l io Ote .

The Congress , wh ich was a t tendedby speakers and observers f romsevera l count r ies , fo rmula ted aCode o f E th ics and a work p ro .g r a m . V i r g i l i o d a S i l v a G u t e r r e s ,ed i to r o l La lenok , a Te tum- languageweek ly , was e lec ted pres ident . Thecongress c losed w i th a ceremonyw h i c h o r d a i n e d o n e o t D i l i ' s r o a d s

wi th the name "Press FreedomA v e n u e " ( A v e n i d a d a L i b e r d a d e d el m p r e n s a ) , i n h o n o r o f D u t c hj o u r n a l i s t S a n d e r T h o n e s a n dT i m o r e s e j o u r n a l i s t B e n e d i t oG u t e r r e s , b o t h k i l l e d d u r i n g t h ep o s t - r e f e r e n d u m v i o l e n c e i n 1 9 9 9 .

According to Otel io Ote, in the lastTLJA Congress, many of the part ici .pants were not journal ists. Some highschoo l s tudents who pub l ish 'wa l l -

b u l l e t i n ' a l s o p a r t i c i p a t e d i n t h eCongress and voted in favor of Virgi l ioGuterres (Lalenok's Editor) for thepresidency. Ote classif ied them as"activist journal ists" since they werenot "p ro fess iona l journa l i s ts " in thestr ict sense. As a matter of fact, i t isno t easy to descr ibe wh ich journa l i s tsare pro fess iona ls and wh ich are no t inEast Timor. l f we use the expert ise asva l id c r i te r ia fo r p ro fess iona l i sm, thenmost of East Timor's journal ists arenot p ro fess iona ls . Sat r ioAr ismunandar , Repor t on Mentor ingEast T imor 's Journa l i s ts Assoc ia t ionprogram, Southeas t As ian PressAl l iance (SEAPA)-UNESCO, Ju ly 2001.

Natronal Survey of East TimorCncerning the Knowledge of Voters(First Report), The Asia Foundation-USAID, May 2001.

64 JouRN{rsM Ash 2002

MHilA 0IutER$lllPffilt MII|IA IllDtPHll|EilGt:SOME QUESTI ONS,Bv DnRuNeE HtRuruRur

I THnrleNp

SSUMING the need forindependent and accountble mass media that are

at the same time able to providerelevant information and toreflect the diversiry ofviews infree socities -

Is ownership a central factor in themass mediat independence?

Do concentrated ownership, thegrowth of monopolies, restrictedcompetition, financial dependence, and aregime ofpress regulation distort thecapacity of the media to provideinformation, and reduce media au-tonomy?

A recent'World Bank study of datafrom97 countries found that, on theaverage, governments control thirtypercent ofthe top five newspapers andsixty percent ofthe top television stationsall over the world, and own seventy-twopercent ofthe largest radio stations.

InThailand, the study found thatthe countryt top five newspapers ar€ onehundred percent privately-owned- butthat eighry-percent of the televisionstations are owned by the state.

The'World Bank study also suggestsmonopoly control over information, orleast high levels ofstate ownership, hasreduced the effectiveness of the media in

individuals, public or private, to controlinformation will reduce the effectivenessof the media in improving the economic,political, and social conditions thatobtain in the countries where they mustfunction.

Economic pressure and competitionamong the media themselves on theother hand raise the following questions:

* Can advertising revenue fromconcentrated private sources alsoinfluence content?

* Does competition among privately-owned media firms make for effectivemedia?

The same'World Bank studyindicates that state monopoly overnewspapers and television stations issurprising high. In the Bank's survey of97 countries, 21 ofthem, (all develop-ing) have government monopolies overdaily newspapers, while 43 countries (40developing) have state monopolies overtelevision stations which broadcast localnews,

However, any kind of mediaownership can hinder the capaciry ofmedia practitioners to control mediacontent. In manycountries, policymakers tryto control the media contentthrough concentrated ownership. r

Darurue Hiranruh is dzanfficulty ofcom-munication arts ofthe Uniuersity oftheThaiC ham b er of C omm erc e and d'irecto r ofAS ilt\lMass Communication Studies and ResearchCennr(AMS@R).

THAI NEWSPAPER: The price of privatencdia ownership.

monitoring, reporting, and influencingpublic sector behavior. Analysis of the97 countries in the same study estab-lished that media in countries with highlevels of state ownership are much lessfree, as measured by media freedomindexes.

This situation, it can be said, oftenffanslates into continuing state corrup-tion, inferior economic governance, lessdeveloped financial markets, fewerpolitical rights for citizens, and poorersocial outcomes in education and qualityoflife.

At the same time, we can say thatprivate ownership can also restrict mediafreedom because monopolies or concen-trated ownership ofthe media industrywhich enables a few organizations and

JouRNus\r Aqr lrl:: 5i

Anotherki nd

Meilla Goncontratlon?.By MnrYtN TtNc

s. tl

il#t , ,

ffimffim,g m4n*x #ffiffiHong Kong newspaper:

ProBeijing or antiwww.scmD.com

I HoNc KoNc JounNnlrsrs Assocnrrorl

one or two local newspapers, and that thenumber of dailies in Hong Kong sufficesto assure the free flow ofinformation. Ishall argue that is indeed the case-butonly for news of little sensitivity to theChinese government, which now hasauthority over Hongkong.

Elimination of 'Bigltt urin0'nGwslalGrc

Before the 1990t, Hong Kongnewspapers could be placed in one ofthree categories according to its politics:pro-Beijing, pro-Thiwan or neutral.Howevet theTaiwan camp faded out ofthe scene in the mid- I 990s when theSingTao Daif, at one time one of Hong

Kongt most influential newspapers,abandoned its pro-Thiwan politics.

This was accompanied by the closingof many smaller dailies sympathetic with,and one even subsidized by, theThiwangovernment: Kung Sheung Daily News(1925 - 1984), \Y'ah KiuYat Pao (1925- tggS), Hong Kong United DailyNews (1992 - 1995) and Hong KongTimes (1949 - 1993).

The daily newspapers that were leftin Hong Kongwere either pro-Beijing orneutral.

Hong Kongstill gets someTaiwannews from these remaining newspapers,but the quantity is much less than whenthe pro-Taiwan camp still existed.*** Itcould be argued that, considering howclose Taiwan is to Hong Kong and howimportant it is to Hong Kongt economy,the quantity of news aboutThiwan isdisproportionately low in the HongKong press. Also, most of theTaiwancoverage is straight news reporting with "

little independent analysis.For example, the Hong Kong media

cover cases ofphysical confrontation in

FpfHn Hong Kong Special Administrative Region claims to be

I the media hub of the region. The figures support this claim.I Hong Kong is served by approximately 60 newspapers, over

700 other periodicals, and six electronic media organizations whichproviding news broadcasts.

The vigor is also embodied in thelocal print media. At the end ofyear2001, Hong Konghad 15 masscirculation dailies.* Among them, l0Chinese-language newspapers coveredmainly local and overseas general newsand two specialized in business. Of thetwo main EnglishJanguage newspapers,one was a general broadsheet and theother a tabloid-size financial daily.Another broadsheet is the China Daif(Hong Kong edition).**

On the surface, that seems to suggestthat there's a great deal of diversiry in theHong Kong press, which should be agood foundation for a free press. It seemsespecially true when one argues that a'Western

city is usually covered by only

66 JouRNilsM Ash 2002

Thiwant Legislative Yuen but rarely gointo the reasons behind tlose conflicts.During the presidendal election inTaiwan last year, much of the foreignpress tried to weigh its importance in thedemocratization process for GreaterChina, but the Hong Kong press paidlittle attention to that angle. In onerecent case, a regular column in a popularnewspaper byMr. Raymond'W'ong, amedia criticwho is one of the few HongKong analysts ofThiwan, was replacedby an academicwho writes aboutrelations beween China and HoneKong.

Business ls ftingAnother trend in Hong Kong is the

shift of ownership from individualnewspaper people to business groupswith diversified investments. Before themid-90 s, almost all the eight neutralnewspapers were owned by newspaper-men. Now, newspaper people own only4 out of I I newspapers with no explicitpolitical affiliation. The others arecontrolled either by businesspeople orbusiness groups.

The table attached shows that65o/oofthe mass circulation dailies in HongKong are held by a listed company or bythe chairman ofa listed company.Updated information on the others is notpublicly known. Among these listedcompanies, only the holding company ofthe Oriental Daily News,the Sun and theApple Dailyhave no direct or indirectinvestment in China.

tff/hen a newspaper becomes part of abig group or when it is part of a listed

company, *re business opportunities thatChina offers can become a factor in newscoverage. To put it in a different way, anewspaper could easily become a pawnor a bargainingchip for Hong Kongbusiness people's investment aspi rationsin China. Few newspaper proprietorswant to see their publications antagoniz-ingChina.

The shift by Sing Tho Daily in themid-1990s is aease in point. Anotherexample is the case ofMr. \filly Lam, aformer China editor of theSouth ChinaMorning Post (SCMI). After a number ofHong Kong rycoons metwith President

JiangZemtn in early2000, Mr. Lamasserted in a column that some rycoonswere kowtowing to China politically inorder to gain a commercial edge inChina.

Mr. Robert Kuok, the patriarch ofthe family that controls the newspaper,was one of the tycoons, and he wrote aletter that was published in the SCMPrebutting Mr. Lam's assertion. Monthslater, Mr. Lam was sidelined and heeventually resigned from the newspaper.

Outside of the neutral newspapers,four dailies are in the pro-Beijing camp,namely, Th Kung Pao, \Ven'Wei Pao, HongKong Comrnercial Daily and China hi|(Hong Kong edition). In addition, wehave rwo business newspapers. One ofthem, the Hong Kong Economic Joumal, isowned by a former business journalist.The other, rhe HongKongEconomicTimes,is run by former journalists fromone ofthe pro-Beijing newspapers.

The lack of emphasis on editorialindependence explains why there is very

little criticism of China in the HongKong press today. But that doesnt meanthe Hong Kong press has nothing incommon with the'$?'estern press.

Maftet 0riuen LegacyThe Hong Kong media share some

similarities with its counterparts in the'West.

One of the most remarkable is thefierce competition for market shareamong those non-political affiliatednewsPaPers.

This unfortunately leads to the riseof sensationalism, a significant legary ofmarket-oriented newspaper. It isespecially true ofthe top three sellingnewspapers in Hong Kong. As a matterof fact, the Oriental DaiQ News, theApph Daily andthe Sun,which occupy

70 o/o to 80 % of the market share, gotmore complains from readers than othercompetitors.

It is exacerbated by the homogeneiryof the Hong Kong readers. Unlike themarket in the United Kingdom or theStates, the line separating market for themass newspaper and the elite newspaperis blurred.

Given the market structure, theproblem of sensationalism will be with usfor some time. It needs to be balanced bynon-government media monitor groups.In the long term, we must cultivate amore critical readership through mediaeducation. And we must do it quicklybefore our newspapers and our readersbecome set in their habits. I

Mah Yin Ting chairs the Hong KongJour-nalists '4ssociation.

* The 15 mass circulated dailies in Hong Kong are: Apple Daily, China Daily, Hong Kong CommercialKong Economic Journal, Hong Kong Economic Times, Hong Kong iMail, Ming Pao Daily News, OtientalDaily, South China Morning Post, Ia KunE Pao, The Sun and Wen Wei Pao.

"* China Daily (Hong Kong edit ion) publ ished local ly after China resumed sovereignty of Hong Kongihat the newspaper focuses more on China news, i ts circulat ion also queried by individual analystsloca l newspaper in Hong Kong.

Daily, Hong Kong Daily News, HongDaily News, Slng Pao, Slng lao

in July 1997. Apart from the factwhether i t is a mass circulated

*** l t is worth mentioning that the pro-Beij ing newspapers provide more prominent space in covering Taiwan news. However, thecontent is in l ine with the Chinese propaganda strategy.

JouRNAuslr nsu 2002 67

,-lir:--"--t-,-.]

MajorShareho lder(s)

Kerry GroupLimited(34.28%)

-OrientalDai ly News-The Sun

Apple Da i ly

Ming Pao

Lam Wei Chenand Family(65.1,7%)

-Sing TaoD a i l y- Hong KongiMai l

Chairman TiongHiew King(63.3916) ChinaStrategic( t0%)

Chairman Lai:Chee Ying,Jimmy(5e.et%)

Globa lCh inaTechnology(74.5%)

China StrategicHoldings Ltd.(65To)

Emperor Int ' l(34.94%) whichis the majorshareholder ofEmperor (ChinaConcept)

IABII O] PUB1IGATIOilSllt H0ltG K0ilG.

South ChinaMorning Post

Hong KongDai ly News

Sing Pao

"As of Feb. 8, 2002, as published in the HongKongEconomicJournal

68 JouRNMsM Asr^ 2002

Stock marketcap i ta l i za t ionof ho ld ingcompany inthousands ofHK$*

Revenue ($K) Di rec tlnvestment inM a i n l a n dC h i n a

H o l d i n gC o m p a n y

1,968,74r(12 months upto 30/06/01)

2,445,876 1 ,181 ,533(6 months up to30/09/01)

Oriental PressGroup Limited

7,714,789 218,20r(6 months up to30/9/0r)

Next MediaLimited

573,323(6 months up to30/9/01)

PrintingCompany

Ming PaoEnterprizeCorporation Ltd

648,490(6 months up to30/9/Ot)

Print ingCompany (TheGroup soldmost of theshare recently.)

Sing TaoHoldingsLimited

237,773 (6months up to30/9/0r)

EmperorTechnologyVenture Ltd

Ihefiann$Bs,$Bt$,rFG$,$Bt$,n$0$rrr

r

By Reuvnx RnsuroI Meuvsn

T-I ARLY IN 1993, a new

H English-languagedailyI-l newspaper was launchedin Malaysia. It was called the

Sun, and it went so far as to

clone the logo of the famous

British tabloid of that name.The Sunwas owned bythe Berjaya

Corporation of tycoon Vincent Thn.Tucked amongThn's extensive holdingswas a single publishing license, grantedyears earlier for a minor entertainmentpaper called l/rw ThrilL subsequentlyrenamed the Malaysian Pasr, andabandoned and languishing ever since.

Resolutely resurrected as the Szz, thenew daily tabloid positioned itselfas athird-parry alternative ro rhe nationtdominant English-language dailies, theStar md the New Straits Times (NSI).In Malaysias notoriously restrictive pressenvironment, the Szz was the first newnational daily in the quarter-cenrurysince the Starwx born. Regardless of itsownership, the new paper presenteditselfas a feisty independent voice,unafraid of non-partisan politicalcover4ge.

As a marketingploy, this mayhavebeen only necessary in an environmentcontrolled by establishment heavy-weighs. Insofar as it intruded intoeditorial decision-making, however, it was

trF#

I

PrirB Minister Mahathir tffi;:ffiIffiof economicsht tp: / /news.bbc.co.uk lh i lengl ish/wor ld/as ia.

p a c i f i c / c o u n t ry_ p r o f i I e s / n e w s i d0_; ; H::,t;

to prove disastrous.The early 90s were politically

portentous times for Malaysia, with thecountry's then-finance minisrer, AnwarIbrahim, poised to affirm his ascent rothe depury presidency ofthe ruling parryand hence, by consequence ofprecedent,the depury premiership of the nation. Inorder to do this, Anwar had to oustGhafar Baba, then the deputy presidentof Umno (the United Malays NationalOrganisation) and depury prime ministerto DatukSeri Dr. MahathirMohamad.

Thnt Berjaya Corporation was widelypejceived as among those closely linkedto the ambitious young politician, andThnt new newspaper was naturally seenas within Anwar's sphere of influence. Ifthe Saz had wanted to shock itself into anew readership, then, it couldnt havedone better than to run a headlinedeclaring Mahathirt support for Ghafarin the run-up to that yeart partyelections.

It was, as with so many of these

I

A lot lirelier

JouRNAUsM Asra 2002 69

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ffioor f r r f f io [v roF{ t ( . , .h @tur t * )d6 H€ou€ is ts * BB CEO&tu5"F|@N.f*dil!@kh&

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pivotal events, a mistake. Mahathir hadscrupulously avoided picking favorites inwhat had become an acrimoniouscampaign, dividing his parry onquestions ofage and competence. At onepress conference, however, he was askedwhat would happen if he were incapaci-tated for any reason. He replied, a littletestily, that should anysuch thinghappen to him, he would obviously besucceeded by his current deputy.

Somehow, on the Sunt front page thenext day, this became the headline: "PMBACKS GFIAFAR".

The upshot of this lapse ofjudgmentwas the removal ofsome half-a-dozensenior editors and the hiring of a newteam under Andy Ng, who supervised amonthlong shutdown during which theSaz was comprehensively redesigned,repositioned, and, in early 1994,relaunched into a nation that had in themeantime celebrated Anwar Ibrahim'svictory over Ghafar Baba and consequenrnaming as Malaysiat depury primeminister.

The timing could not have beenbetter for the new paper, since the firsthalf of the 90s marked Malaysiat biggesteconomic boom in modern history,Swimming purposefully in the risingdde, the Sun under Ngwas able toincrease its circulation from under 8,000in that first awkward year ro ten timesthat by 1999.

This gain was mostly at the expenseof the New Snaits Times,whose circula-tion dropped bysome 40,000 copies inthat time, but was nonetheless alsoattributable to the Szz's formula ofplain-spoken (though much less cavalier),consumer- and youth-oriented journal-ism delivered in a tight, light, urbanepackage.

Looking good in 2000, the Sunreceived another surge of interest withthe entry of businessman Tong KooiOng, whose Nexnews Corporation held

70 JouRN^LrsM Ash 2002

$]

an active interest in the Malaysianbusiness weekly he Edge.

(The Edge haditself written thebiggest success story in Malapiat mediaindustry. Launched in 1994 as a businessmonitol theweeklyturned a profitwithin six years on the sffengths ofimpeccable editorial standards, top-drawer design and focused marketing.)

\TithTongt gambit for the Suncamea brief interregnum duringwhich theEdge's top editors collaborated with Ngand his team. The result was trulyinnovative among Malaysian dailynewspapers. The Szz positioned itself tospan the divide between the print andelectronic media, tapping liaisons withthe welter of e-media sources newlyenabled by the Internet revolution.This deepened the newspaper's contentand broadened its generational appeal,and helped it gain some mileage invirtual Net-marketingwith no Webpresence of its own nor the wherewithalto set one uP.

The Sun's circulation climb steeo-ened; the landmark of 100,000 copiesper day beckoned ever more tantalizingly.Then the deal betweenTongt Nexnewsand Thnt Berjaya fell through. Many sawthis more as a consequence ofthr: tangledweb ofpolitical connections in Malaysia'scorporate media ownership, than of anyinherent flaw in the deal as a businessmodel.

Decoupled once again, the Edgewenton to firrther its plans for regionalexpansion to Singapore and Hong Kongwhile the Sun returnedto building itscirculation through lively journalism andcreative marketing.

Then, like a bolt from the blue, camelast year's Christmas Day Massacre. Inanother ofthose incomprehensible lapsesofjudgment, the Sun'sDecember 25issue front-paged a report claiming tohave uncovered a plot to assassinate thecountry's prime minister and his depury(by now ofcourse, no longer Anwar butAbdullah Ahmad Badawi).

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It proved to be what we Malaysianscall "coffee-talk" - not uncommon, butunfounded; perhaps genuine insentiment, utterlyvaporous in substance.That someone mayhave said somethingto this effect may have been true. Theeffect itselfi however, was not. On suchrazor's edges do Malaysian editors placetheir trust. The Selz's topmost editorialmanagers resigned immediately, theirexperience allowing them to pre-emptwhat must have seemed inevitable theminute the phones began ringing thatmorning.

By the New Yeat it was clear that theshakeup this timewould be considerablymore comprehensive than the last, SeniorBerjaya Corporation executives steppedin to conduct what quickly turned out tobe the virtual stripping of thenewspapert entire editorial floor. Morethan 400 journalists and otherworkerswere let go.

.The spectacle ofa valiant Malaysiannewspaper imploding after seven years'struggle and the expenditure of USD50million was dilated by sideshows: tradeunion protests against non-payment ofbonuses, honk-if-you-care placard picketsby the gates; the rumor that the newmanagement was going to install afishpond by the fronr door for goodluck, substituting for 40 reporrers asmanyfish.

But the Sunwasnot done. Crucially,owner Vincent Thn and bidder TongKooi Ongseemed to have arrived at adeal that will allow them ro shareoverlordship of the newspaper, thus pre-empting any recurrence of controversyover ownership. The third new editorialteam in the Sun's eventful first decade hastaken over, led by veteran sZainonAhmad, RNadeswaran and PhilipKaruppiah. Theyhead a team ofbarely adozen reporters, working on relaunchingthe Sun as a free newspaper.

Nadeswaran's longexperience as a

a . " : .E:-*EGIrsryr# *true,w, - -C***SW

;ffif,. Elifu.-Ihffi wffiffii ffinewspaperman includes editing theshortlived Klang Valley free tabloid theLeaderinthe mid-90s. He constructed acommunity-based papeq with strongeditorial attention to consumer affairsand municipal management. Its crucialadJoadingwas not enough, however,andthe Lea*rlasted barely two yearsbefore being immolated in the fuianfinancial crisis.

'With more mass-transit systems

havingcome online in Malaysia's biggestconurbation since then, andwith the-success of Metro in London and Paris andTodayin Singapore, the.lzz's newmanagers mayreckon that the ad-drivenfree-paper model now has a better chanceofsuwiving.

In the meantime, the Szrz's recentfloundering has given a fillip to the NewStraits Times, which has chosen this yearto remake itselfunder newly installedG roup Editor-in-ChiefAbdullahAhmad. Having halted the circulationslide that had marred the.A/SZs previousI 3 years under his predecessor AbdulKadir Jasin (now chairman of nationalnews agency Bernama), Abdullah hasdec)ared an objecttve of retutilngthenation's oldest newspaper to irs earlier

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circulation of some I 80,000.He wisely refrained from declaring a

circulation war against rhe Star, now

uncontested as Malaysiat leadingEnglish-language newspaper, wifl x rhiir-circulation approaching 300,000 - asmuch as both the Starand dre .\.Sfcombined 20 years ago.

The Srars success has proved rhegrowth of Malaysian newspaperreadership and the continuing heakh ofthe news market, despite the manycomplex travails assailing the press. It isthis, perhaps, that drives entrepreneurssuch asMncentThn andTong Kooi Ongto continue looking to local media as abusiness venture despite the burdensomepolitical baggage that goes with theterritory.

Malapian entrepreneurs, o<eortives andmedia practitionen alike agree on the long-term potential ofa society ofseadilyadvancing education in an economyreooveringwell from recession andpoised toprosper in the funue. Such optimism helpthe Malapian pras industry contend withthe endless ver<ations ofthe oresent. I

Rebman Rasbid is a colurnnist ofthe Melaysian newsTaper New Srraits Times.

JouRNesM AsA 2002 il

BMNffiGOilOMIG$By Jnves GovezI Srucnpone

HE aspiration for freer media requires that the necessarylegal, social and political environment is present as variables to support its developmenr. The economic dimen-

s ion is impor tan t . Bu t space c rea ted by economic inves tmenta lone can be taken away, o r can shr ink eas i l y in the event o fan economic downturn i f the o the r p i l la rs fo r med ia deve l -opment a re no t in p lace to ensure press f reedom and inde-pendent med ia . That seems to be the S ingapore case.

'S7hen the People's Action Party including its flagship English daily,

(PAP) government announced in June the Straits Times and Chinese, Malay2000 that it would issue additionalmedia licenses to the government-linked companies Singapore Press

lies of SPH in print media andMediaCorp hegemony in broadcastseemed poised for new internal

was giving way to some sombereconomic realities.

Soon after the new licenses were

issued, SPH launched MediatVorks * a tion proiect it was also announced thattelevlslon arm to manage two new the cable TV industry monopolized bychannels, one in English and the other Singapore Cable Vision, which has thein Mandarin. It further implemented exclusive license which expires onplans to bring out rwo print publica- 2002, would be reviewed. The expirytions, Project Eyeball (ayuppie lifestyle of this exclusive license coincides withtabloid) and Streats (a daily giveaway a ban on private ownership of satellitepaper). It also launched a web portal - dishes that lapses this year. These,4siaOne, which hosts the online developments spiraled into discussionseditions of the group's six newspapers, about the need to introduce media

72 JouRNAusM Air^ 2002

Holdings (SPH) and MediaCorp so channel, CityTV. The Singaporeeach could start additional broadcast- BroadcastingAuthority also granteding and print projects, there was much MediaCorp rwo digital televisionoptimism. The long-standing monopo- (DTV) licenses allowing it to install

and Thmil papers.MediaCorp introduced the free

tabloid Today and an additional sports

DTV sets in buses and run a commer-cial DTV service. MediaCorp furtherannounced plans for aregional24-

correspondents and local journalistsfrom the home countries.

At the start of the media liberaliza-

competition laws to check anyaggressive behavior among me diacompetitors. It was announced thatthe Ministry ofTiade and Industrymay look into such a law.

Meanwhile, there was an attemptby some concerned Singaporeans to setup a media watch group to raisestandards and encourage fair reportingfollowing the issuance of newspaperand television l icenses. In directresponse, the PAP administrationcountered that it wil l prompr irs ownappointed media watchdog, *rePublications Advisory Committee, orPAC, to be more watchful over localpapers and to report regularly ontrends in reporting. Meanwhile, theMedia Group at the Feedback Unit -

a government department set up bythe PAP to solicit responses on variousissues from the public- set out to alsodiscuss current media developments.

The PAP government, whileissuing newlicenses, continued tointroduce legislation to control foreignbroadcast and print media frominterfering with local politics. Theyclaimed that they needed to ensurethat in the light of many foreignreporting agencies relocating toSingapore, the reporting of Singaporenews, especially of polit ics, is done bylocal media and not foreign. Theextent ofregulation to controlinformation flow even went as far aslegislating for guidelines restricting theuse of the Internet and SMS duringelection periods in 2001 . Althoughthere were reactions from the foreignmedia and a couple of local NGOs tothe PAPt measutes. there was apredictable silence from the PAC andthe Feedback Unit. There was littlereaction by members of rhe public or

competition. The imminent presence hour news television channel, Channelof more media products in the market NewsAsia, to be carried by cableled commentators to immediately operators and go Asiawide on Seprerfi-claim that internal comperit ion among ber 18. Plans included Internetthe media groups would result in freer broadcast envisioned to cover Europe.media in Singapore. By the end of Staffing in various overseas bureaus2001, however, the initial enthusiasm was increased, with Singaporean

the local media to rhese moves.Nevertheless, the expectation that

the media will be freer, even thoughmisplaced, was strong. This view washeld even though the laws surround-ing media control were not changed.Proponents of this view premised theirobservations on "increased" coverage ofcivil society initiatives, oppositionparty activities, and alternative lifesryleissues in the addidonal news "space"created by the new media products,For the owners and managers of thenew media products, the inclusion ofalternative news was seen as a necessaryingredient in selling media products inan increasingly crowded market.

Additional media products alsocreated more jobs and brought inyounger journalists. This new bloodbrought in alternative news, even iftheir older and senior editors still re-wrote their stories or dismissed some ofthem as not being "hard" news. It wasa common complaint among theyoung journalists that the stories rheyfiled were often re-written andsometimes "tamed" beyond recognitionby their editors. Partly in pursuit of a"better" job and partly because ofgreater freedoms, more local journalistsmoved to regional and internationalmedia companies. MediaCorp lostseveral of its newsreaders to the BBC.CNBC and CNN.

But at no time was media liberaliza-tion premised on a freer media. If any-thing, the reason for introducing localcompetition anchored on the presenceofa large advertising revenue pie. It isthis foundation, on which the launchof more media projects was based, thatis now crumbling and the additional"space" in the new media products, asa result, stands to suffer a serback.

In Singapore, the economicdownturn has hurt adverrisingrevenues - the lifeline of the media

industry. That there were already signsof a media downturn came with theclosure of Singapore Press HoldingtProject Eyebal/. Started with muchfanfare as an "lnternet" newspapertargeting the young professional, thisendeavor that had both a print andInternet version folded within a year,citing business reasons. Its high newsstand price of S$0.80 did not go wellwith readers and the number of copiessold per day remained low throughoutits existence.

It was somehow ironic that soonafter, the private citizens' media watchinitiative to monitor media reports inSingapore also folded in September2001. The project, entit ledMedia-Watch, was registered as a non-profit organization inJune 2001 andwas hoping to raise US$ 122,000 forits operations. However, fundinginstitutions stayed away, claiming thatthe work that Media\7atch was aboutto embark upon was political. Seniorworking journalists dismissed the needfor any media monitoring by claimingthat they were already professional.Thus, Media\Tatcht first and onlypublic statement was about the short-lived Project Eyeball.

Two months down the road, morebad news was to hit the industry. InNovember 2001, SPH announced thatit was axing 96 staff members.AsiaOne Ltd- its web arm -

announced that it had tolay off23 ofI 1l employees and de-list itself,Seventy-three of380 jobs from itstelevision broadcast unit, Media\7orks,were also axed. The bulk of iob cutswas atTV'Works, the English lan-guage channel of Media'W'orks. InDecember 2001, its free tabloid,Streats cut its publication from 7 to 6days a week.

In January 2002, MediaCorpannounced that its mostly spor[s

i

television channel City TV was beingshut down and some of its programstransferred to other existing channels.It cut seven percent ofits work forceby laying off 200 employees andcutting the salaries of remaining staffmembers in a bid to cut costs. In thiscontext, the initial euphoria that sug-gested new competition laws for mediawas needed has died down. Neirher isthere talk of introducing competit ionto the monopoly held by SingaporeCable Vision for cableTV. An addi-tional and little known fact is thatmany tinyweb-based projects to provideentertainment and alternative news thatsprung up suddenlyin wake of theInternet boom have just as quickly died asthe dotcom bubble burst.

The impac t o f r he economicdownturn on Singapore media isc lear . The addi t ional space createdin the media that featured a l terna-t ive repor tage is shr ink ing. In thatsense even the l im i t ed ga in ,without legal reform for a freemedia, is unl ike ly to grow fur ther .Those la id-of f are younger journal -is ts wi th new ideas; the o lder andconse rva t i ve ones rema in . I n t e rmsof ru les there have been more ru lesthan real f reedoms for the media.

Unless fiere is another economicupsurge, there is unlikely to be more mediaproducts to emerge in the Singaporemarket in the shon run. Given that thenecesary legd, social and political variablesare not in place to support a free media,Singapore is likelyto continue ro lagbehind in this area. I

A slighdy different version ofthis article appeared in the January2002 issue of the lrrawaddy,theThailand-based publication ofBurmese exiles.

James Gomezis thefounder ofThinh Cente(,4sia).

JouRNALTsM fsn2}O2 73

rounot i I l

2001a dismal yealforiounalistsA CCORDING ro the Commirree to

AProtect Journalists (CPJ), 2001 sawthe death of 37 journalists, I J more thanthe year before, At least 25 of them weremurdered,

Eight journalists died in Afghanistanin 2001 , the most number of deaths in asingle country since 1999 when tenjournalists died in the strife-torn Africancountry ofSierra Leone.

Another journalist, Marc Brunereau,succumbed to severe wounds sustainedtlvo years before. A free-lance reporter,Brunereau covered the Afghanistan warfor several years.

The number of deaths increaseddramatically in the country because ofthe United Sratesled retaliatory attaclsagainst theAl Qaida nerwork, the allegedperpetrators of the attacla in the US lastSeptember I L

CPJ noted, howwer, that the journalisrckilled lastyear did not cover combat.

Second most targetedTN ADDITION to the journalistsIcovering the war in Afghanisran,journalists covering crime and corruptionwere the second most targeted in 2001 .

CPJ Executive DirectorAnn Coopersaid, "Journalists covering the war inAfghanistan showed extraordinarycourage, but we should also rememberthat journalists around the world whouncovered corrupt, illegal acts, and graftat high levels of power were murderedwith impuniry."

'\Whaher the perpetrators are paramili-tary goups in Cambodia or corupt officialsinThailand, the message is dear: journalisswho reponon illegal activitiawill receiveadeatlr sentence," Cooper said.

CPI also noted that while most

journalists killed covering conflict weremurdered, the same pattern was also seenin the Philippines.

In 2001, two journalists were killedas a direct result of their work in themedia. Rolando Ureta ofDYKR inAklan province and Candelario Cayonaof DXLL in Zamboanga City, Philip-pines, were both killed for airingcomments critical of local government,police, the military, and other groupsinvolved in illegal activities, Ureta died

January 3 and Cayona, on May 30.

Journalists jailed and released-fHE PAST four years saw a steadyI decline in the number ofjourndists

arrested and jailed, However, thatnumber rose dramatically from 8l to1 1 8 in 2001 , CPJ noted that the arrests,which occurred after the Septemberattacla against the United States inEritrea and Nepal, were not reported inthe media.

China, alreadyholding the mostnumber ofjournalists in jail for the pastthree years, arrested and jailed anothereight journalists in 2001, bringing thetotd to 35 imprisoned journalists.

Fortunately, some journalists werereleased in 2001 , including t\Yorecipients of CPJt International PressFreedom Awards. Ethiopia released eightjournalists after an intensive campaign bythe organization's Africa program.

Another positive dwelopment in pressfreedom was also noticed in Yugoslavia, Sytra,and Sri lankawhere journalists experienced afreer environmentto repoft the newsthan inprwiousyears.

lll ore iou nalisrs i a ilGdn CCORDING to Reporters Sans

A.Frontiers (RSF), the number oF

iournalists killed in 2001 remainedalmost the same as 2000. However, thenumber of journalists .jailed, attacked orthreatened and censored rose sharolv.

RSF noted an almost 50 percent rise ineach category compared to the previousyear's statistics. Almost 500 journalistswere arrested and jailed in 2001 , anincrease from329 in 2000.

More than 700 journalists wereattacked or threatened last year.Bangladesh has the most number ofattacked journalists with more than I 30.Member factions of the ruling parrycommitted almost all ofthe attacla.

RSF also noted that attacks againstjournalists were occurring more often andare "almost never investigated in serious,sustained ways." This trend, says RSF,has become "no surprise that the feelingof impuniry enjoyed by the perpetratorsgrows stronger."

Insanca ofpress censorship alsoincereased last year with the suspension ofalmost 400 media organizations. Turkqf'sgovernment audiovisual monitorirg ag.nryRTUK temporarilysuspended more than100 television andradio sations andpresagencies. Inciting to violence and infringe-ment ofstate securitywere the main re$onshhind the dosures.

Despite the rise in press freedomviolations, RSF reported that nojournalists were killed in Africa and theMiddle East for perfiorming their dury.

tt[[ iournalisls oldercdilG[0]teil,Tf!7O Far Eastern Economic

I Reuiew(FEER) reporters have.|- been ordered deported from

Thailand last F ebrvary iz,reports theCommittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).In letters to Prime MinisterThaksinShinawatra last February22, CPJ andReporters sans Frontiires (RSF) expressedconcern over the threat ofdeportationagainst journalists Shawn'Wl Crispin and

r Thailand

74 JouRNALTsM AsrA 2002

RodneyTasker. The American Crispin isalso .EEERI Bangkok bureau chief whilethe Englishman Tasker is also presidentof the Foreign Journalists Club ofThailand.

The Thailand-based journalis$ weredeclared a threat to national securiry aftertheir article entitled'A Right RoyalHeadache," which discussed tensionsbetween the king and the PrimeMinister's office, were published in the

January 10 issue of the magazine. Thearticle used comments King BhumibolAdulyadej made in public about thePrime Minister that were seen as criticalofhis office.

TheThai government claimed thatpress laws in the country forbid thecriticism ofthe monarchy. FEERs

January I 0 issues have been confiscatedand are banned from the country.Copies ofthe March 2-8 issue of TheEconomist,which also made references tothe Royal Family, have also been banned.

Reports from Thailand say deporta-tion procedures would begin only aftertheThai interior minister signs a formalorder. CPJ thus requested the PrimeMinister to ask Interior Minister PurachaiPiemsomboon to reject the deportationorder of the two journalists and disavowa government blacklist ofjournalistswhich the W'orld Press FreedomCommittee reported also includes thenames of 44 other foreign journalists.

RSF also revealed in a letter to thesecretary-general ofASMN (Association

of Southeast Asian Nations) that a group:r-lLa.i senators. who analyzed the: ftnsrve ardcle, did not find it critical ofthe King and thus found no basis todeport its authors.

Howevet a CPJ report said thatPiemsomboon claimed the matter was animmigration issue and not the result ofanimosity between the Prime Ministerand the magazine. He also called formedia to stop speculating on the link

between the t'aro issues. Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra has denied anyknowledge of the deportation order.

The journalists received revocationnotices of theirThai visas last February22, the same dayThai newspapersreported their inclusion in the blacklist.

The magazine's management isappealing the order.

A joint statement by theThai

Journalists fusociation (TJA) and theSoutheast fuian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

also expressed concern and denouncedthe use oFthe blacklist to prevent jour-nalists from performing their duties. Thestatement also demanded the removal ofthe journalists'names from the allegedlist, which it said could have a "negative

impact on Thailandt international imageas a democratic and media-free country".Other press freedom organizations alsovoiced the same sentiments.

In addition toTasker and Crispin, PhilipRerzin and MichaelVadkiotis, publisher anddilrr. of FffiRrespectively were also placedon the country's bladdisr

Programs Gease [roadcastingT)ROGRAMS produced by theI Nation Multimedia Group wereordered off the air by the ThailandDefense Department last March 5because the news programs aired criticalcomments againstThailandt PrimeMinister, said Reporters san FrontiEres(RSF) and the Committee to Protect

Journalists (CPj). The Departmentalleged that the comments "unreasonably

criticized the government." Various pressfreedom organizations, including theConfederation ofThai Journalists (CTJ)

and the'World Association of Newspa-pers-World Editors Forum flWAN-\flEF),have expressed concern oYer thecensorship.

FM 90.5 managementwas told todiscontinue broadcasting radio programsproduced by the group after the

rotrncl

a:

programs aired an interviewwith Sq. Ldr.Prasong Soonsiri. Soonsiri, one of PriqeMinister Thalsin Shinawaua's sff ongestcritics, criticized his handlingof rhe FarEatem Econornic Reuiew issuq whereintwo journalists were ordered deponedafter writing a story that discussedtensions between King BhumibolAdulyadej and the Prime Minister. (See

related story) FM 90.5 is a government-owned company.

The radio program's affiliate cablenews program aired over UBC 8-NationTV, which airs simultaneously as theradio program, was cut short due totechnical problems, said CPJ. Anotherradio news program called "LokYam

Chao" ("The \TorldThis Morning") wasalso banned after it aired quotes from theFEERaniclelastJanuary 10. The host ofthe program said that the government"appeared" to have ordered the ban.

A Nation statement claimed politicalinterference was behind the censorship ofthe programs. It also threatened to ceaseits political coverage and commentaryunless "political news production will befree from all forms of interference,directly or indirectly."

Deputy Premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudhsaidthe sation stopped broadcasing theprograms because it alegedlyhas not paid itsfrequency allocation fee.

A SoutheastAsian Press Alliance(SEAPA) report said that the House ofRepresentatives would investigate thegovernmentt alleged mishandling ofmedia, including its interference in mediaaffairs and the violation of the basicrights and freedoms ofthe people. A callwas also made to study on how toimprove the relationship between thegovernment and media. A petition filedby theThai Journalists Association, ThaiBroadcastJournalistsAssociation and treCommittee to Campaign for Media Reformlast March l I prompted the invesrigacion.

The Nation Multimedia Group is

JouRN^LrsM Asta2OO2 75

-

one of the largest and most independentmedia organizations in Thailand.

r Taiwan

Magarine cofi os Gonfiscatod-frHE National Securiry BureauI NSB) ofThiwan ordered rhe

conftr."tion ofan issue ofa weeklymagazine last March20, said Reporterssans Frontibres (RSF). The NCB raidedthe offices of Next and confiscated160,000 copies of the magazinet March2l issue before it could be distributed.claiming the edition "endangerednational security."

However, some copies still managedto appear on newsstands after themagazine's staff printed another set ofcopies at an undisclosed printer.

The issue featured an article on theexistence ofsecret bank accounts ofalormer presidenr to finance spyingmissions in China. The moneywouldalso be used to bribe diplomats inparticular countries.

NSB also searched the home of theauthor, Hsueth Ching-Liang. NSBclaimed that charges may be filed againstboth the magazine and Ching-Liang.

Asimilar article appeared in theThiwanese daily China Zzes but NSBofficials said it would not confiscate norfile charges against the newspaper.Officials said that it had pre-approvedthe article before it was published.

r East Timor

Ireedoms not tully Itotccted itlG0nsuuti0nA CONSTITUTION for EasrTimor

-A*"r recentlyadopted, but the mediamonitoring organization Article l9 notedwith concern that its provisions onfreedom ofexpression and ofthe press'hre seriously flawed."

Although the Constitution respecrs

76 JouRNALTsM Asr^ 2002

these freedoms, only information that hasbeen deemed "impartial" will be allowed.Such a condition could weaken thefreedom stipulated in the provision.

Although some restrictions tofreedom of expression are permissibleunder international law Article 19tfi.rrther reading of the Constitutiondprovisions revealed that lawmakers couldabuse it to enact stringent defamationlaws against journalists criticizinggovernment officials.

r Indonesia

Ausualian ioff nalist lanncdTN LETTERS ofconcern, threeI internarional press freedom organiza-tions denounced the banning ofanAustralian journalist from working inIndonesia last March I 0.

The Committee to Protect Journalists(CP), Reporters sans Frontibres (RSF)and the Southeast fuian Press Alliance(SEAPA) expressed concern over thenon-renewal of the working visa ofLindsay Murdoch, a foreign correspon-dent for the Sydney MorningHeraldandrhe MelbourneAge.

\Tithout a working visa, Murdochhas basically been banned fiom perform-ing his duties in the country.

Indonesiat foreign department,Deplu, offered no official explanation fornot granting Murdoch a visa but wastold that rwo articles he hadwritten theprevious year prompted the recommen-dation to reject his application. Thearticles reportedly angered the Indone-sian military.

The first article appeared on May 14.It reported an incidentwhich involvedan armed forces soldier murdering a babyin a FreeAceh Movementvillage. Theother article discussed the fate of 130EastTimorese children in orphanages in

Java, Indonesiawho had been taken fromtheir families in a'WestTimorese refugee

camp. The children were allegedly notallowed to return to their families afterEast Timor gained independence.

Deplu denounced both articles asfabrications.

CPJ said, "This action is a clearattempt to punish Murdoch forwritingstories that criticize government policies".RSF noted that this is the first time sinceformer Indonesian President Suharto wasousted that a iournalist has been bannedfrom working in Indonesia.

Deplu had previously requested theSydney Morning Herald to find areplacement for Murdoch when he triedto renew his visa last November.

However, complaints from themanagement of the newspaper,Murdoch, Australian Foreign MinisterAlexander Downer and AustralianAmbassador to Indonesia Richard Smithcompelled Deplu to extend the validiryof his visa to March 10,2002.

The department hoped that thethree-month extension would allowenough time for the newspaper to findanother journalist to replace Murdochwhichwas not the case,

Murdoch reapplied for his visarenewal in Singapore but instead receiveda multiple business visa for one year. Hehoped that the visawould authorize hisreporting in Indonesia. However,Deplus Director of Information andMedia'Wahid Supriyadi warned him thathe would be deported should hecontinue reporting in Indonesia.

SEAPA noted that Deplu onceprohibited journalists from reporring inAceh, Maluku and Papua inJanuary200 I . It also noted a trend in Southeastfuia towards the banning of foreignjournalists. It cited incidents inThailandand Malaysia in which foreign magazinesand correspondents were confiscated or .blacklisted.

Murdoch had been reporting onIndonesia for the past three years. I