Articles by Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
Defamation a criminal offence under new penal code
(SEAPA/IFEX) – SEAPA has expressed alarm over the media situation in East Timor after Prime Minister Mari Altakiri signed an executive decree approving a penal code that criminalises defamation. On 6 December 2005, government spokesman Rui Flores issued a statement saying the penal code drafted by the Ministry of Justice had already been signed by […]
Thai prime minister drops defamation lawsuits against media tycoon
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 6 December 2005 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dropped all defamation lawsuits against his staunch critic and founder of Manager Media Group, Sondhi Limthongkul, following the King’s advice against using lawsuits to silence critics. Thaksin’s principal lawyer, Thana Benjathikul, said he was instructed directly by the prime minister to terminate all six […]
Play censored, artist’s work altered for references to death penalty
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) withheld a license from a local theatre group to stage a play about the execution of a drug courier until it revised some scenes and took out all references to the death penalty, the English daily “Today” reported. The play “Human Lefts” was supposed to be staged at […]
King sets example for Thai leaders, saying criticisms must be tolerated
(SEAPA/IFEX) – Speaking for the first time on political and free expression issues that had seen his name invoked by many opposing camps, Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej said on 4 December 2005 that he is not infallible and is open to criticism. As highly anticipated as it was, the King’s speech still surprised Thais by […]
Civil court dismisses former national police chief’s defamation suit
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 30 November 2005, Southern Bangkok’s civil court dismissed a civil defamation lawsuit filed by a retired senior police officer against 17 people, including a women’s rights activist, senior journalists and publishers of six local dailies, and an ex-army officer. The lawsuit, which sought 2.5 billion baht (approx. US$60,441,210) in damages, was filed […]
Journalists’ union protests new broadcast regulation
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia’s largest journalists’ trade union, is protesting a new broadcast regulation, saying the restrictions and censorship introduced under it are a betrayal of the country’s national reform movement for a free and democratic society. In a statement released on 2 December 2005, AJI said regulation 50/12 dealing […]
Courts say Thaksin is a public figure who cannot be exempted from press scrutiny
(SEAPA/IFEX) – On 24 November 2005, a judge in Thailand’s civil court held that the kingdom’s prime minister is a public figure whose performance in office can be fairly scrutinized by the press. In this light, the judge amended a gag order on a bitter critic of Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, freeing the media personality […]
Thaksin critic threatened by Royal Guard general for “dragging king’s name into politics”; authorities order cable TV operators not to air his programmes
(SEAPA/IFEX) – The outspoken founder of a local multi-media group this week got a personal “warning” from the commander of Thailand’s Royal Guard, who urged him to desist from citing the King’s name every time he criticized Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. On 16 November 2005, Manager Media Group founder Sondhi Limthongkul, who hosts a political […]