(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 6 December 2000 RSF press release: EU ASEAN Summit In Burma, twelve journalists are sentenced to die in jail. In Vietnam and Laos, there is no press freedom. Reporters Sans Frontières expresses its indignation at the presence of the Burmese junta at the Vientiane Summit. In three of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 6 December 2000 RSF press release:
EU ASEAN Summit
In Burma, twelve journalists are sentenced to die in jail.
In Vietnam and Laos, there is no press freedom.
Reporters Sans Frontières expresses its indignation at the presence of the Burmese junta at the Vientiane Summit.
In three of the 10 states taking part in the European Union and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vientiane (Laos), on 11 and 12 December 2000, there is no press freedom and dissident journalists face heavy jail sentences. In Burma, Laos and Vietnam, the State controls the press with an iron fist. In Burma, at least twelve journalists languish in jail in appalling conditions. This year, censorship has been strengthened considerably and for more than three months the main leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) have been prevented from communicating with the outside world. In Laos, the organising country of the summit, the only party controls all media and violently represses demonstrations in favour of the democratisation of the country. In Vietnam, an opposition journalist is still jailed while the authorities refuse to grant opposition personalities publication licences. In three other countries, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, particularly restrictive press laws do not allow pluralistic expression in the news. At least in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, the press freedom situation is relatively good, but journalists are still exposed to violence from the army and political and religious movements.
Burma: twelve journalists sentenced to die in jail
At least four journalists, San San Nweh, Sein Hla Oo, Win Tin and Soe Thein, are currently in very poor health. The Burmese authorities do not do anything to provide the necessary medical care. Since the coming to power of the army in 1988, three opposition journalists have died in jail under torture or from a lack of care. Burma is, with China, the largest prison in the world for professionals of the press. Twelve journalists are detained in insalubrious cells. Several hundred political prisoners are detained in Insein. The majority of the journalists accused of supporting the NLD were sentenced to heavy jail sentences. Burmese citizens face the same fate when they listen to a foreign radio station, when they have a fax machine without permission or when they use the Internet to spread “subversive” news.
This year, and above all since Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest, censorship has been strengthened. Two publications have been banned for two months for having quoted the names of General Aung San, father of the Nobel Prize for peace, and dissident writers. The censors have forbidden importation of publications mentioning the name of Aung San Suu Kyi. They also prohibited Rangoon media last November from mentioning the 5-0 defeat of the national football team against Indonesia. It is important to note that the most influential leader of the junta, Khin Nyunt, is personally involved in the selection of the team players.
It is furthermore impossible for reporters of the foreign press to work freely in the country. This year, at least ten of them have been put onto a black list of foreign journalists banned from Burma.
Laos: a people without a voice
In Laos, the organising country of the Summit, the State controls all the media and repression of pro-democracy militants is pitiless. The press and broadcasting media depend directly on the ministry of information and culture. The same applies to the English-language Vientiane Times and French speaking Rénovateur. Foreign journalists cannot work freely. Last March, two journalists of the Australian TV channel ABC were arrested and expelled by the police. They witnessed, by chance, one of the mysterious explosions which have troubled Vientiane for several months. Moreover, the Laotian authorities passed a law in October 2000 which imposes important restrictions on use of the Internet. Web users who spread information which could “cause the public inside and outside the country to have doubts”, face heavy sentences. This new measure makes Laos one of the greatest enemies of the Internet.
Significantly, the authorities have refused visas to cover the Summit to Laotian journalists working for foreign media. A reporter of Radio Free Asia, regularly criticised by the Vientiane regime, and a journalist of the Laos service of Radio France Internationale (RFI) were not allowed to cover the Summit. The first secretary of the Laotian embassy in Paris has even threatened the RFI journalist of reprisals and “to close the Laos service ” if he continued “to broadcast injurious news on the country”.
Finally, the press has made no mention of the pro-democracy demonstrations which took place in the country in October 1999 and November 2000. According to the Mouvement lao pour les droits de l’homme (Laotian Human Rights Movement), five of last year’s protest leaders were executed in prison.
Vietnam: no freedom of expression
Nguyen Dinh Huy, a journalist and dissident, has been jailed since 1993 in the Ham Tan camp. He was sentenced to fifteen years in jail for leading an opposition group calling for freedom of expression. In Vietnam all media are subject to the state and the communist party. Opposition personalities like General Tran Do, Doctor Dan Que and the venerable Thich Quang Do have seen their publication licence requests refused by the authorities. Recently, the minister of culture and information banned the book by Bui Ngoc Tan that relates the experience of a journalist jailed in North Vietnamese camps.
Foreign journalists are threatened or expelled when they try to work freely. In April 2000, a journalist for the French weekly L’Express was arrested and expelled when she tried to meet dissident Dan Que. Moreover, Radio Free Asia, which broadcasts in Vietnamese, is frequently jammed by the authorities.
Before the historical visit of US President Bill Clinton, the authorities reminded the media on several occasions to continue their efforts to “promote the building of socialism”. Parts of the Bill Clinton’s speech broadcast on television which addressed political opening and human rights were not translated. Finally, last October, the authorities threatened to close a news bulletin published by the Catholic Church.
Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia: Restrictive press laws
In Malaysia, the government of Mahathir Mohamad has once again used and abused the Printing Presses and Publications Act (press law) this year to gag the opposition media. Four publications were victims of restrictive measures no renewal or modification of their published licences by the government. Newspapers close to the Islamic opposition parties are the first to be targeted by censorship.
In Brunei, the Internal Security Act (ISA) allows the authorities to jail any person suspected of “anti governmental activities” for several years. This law has been used to arrest individuals who distributed pamphlets accusing the royal family of being implicated in the bankruptcy of a national company. The Sultan serves as prime minister, defence minister, finance minister, university chancellor, police superintendent and leader of the Islamic faith, and has held all the power since 1962. Even if there is no specific law against press freedom, the current political situation does not permit the development of independent media.
Finally, in Singapore, by means of the public press group Singapore Press Holding, that controls all publications, the government prevents the emergence of an opposition press. The State also acts through very restrictive internal security laws to impose strong self-censorship on journalists.
Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia: The press is a victim of violence
In Indonesia more than ten journalists have been attacked by policemen or religious activists since the beginning of the year. In this country that has, according to many, one of “the most liberal press freedom laws”, the government committed itself to protect this freedom so dearly won. But in May, President Gus Dur did not condemn the violence of his supporters against the Jawa Pos after the daily wrongly accused him in an article. In the Moluccas, West Papua and Aceh, the violence that has led to thousands of deaths since the beginning of the year has made the work of local and foreign reporters very difficult. Swiss journalist Oswald Iten, arrested in West Papua on 2 December, is still detained.
In the Philippines, two radio broadcasters have been killed since 1 January. Vincent Rodriguez was shot dead in May by fighters of a communist guerrilla movement. In November, an unidentified person assassinated Olimpio Jalapit in Pagaidan (Mindanao Island). Until now, the police have not arrested a suspect who was identified by several witnesses. Generally, the safety conditions of journalists working in troubled areas are gradually deteriorating.
In Thailand, two publication directors escaped murder attempts this year. The election campaign has been marked by violence against journalists and pressure from politicians to bias the media in their favour.
In Cambodia, on three occasions, the minister of information suspended for a month publications that “defamed members of the government” or that were “disrespectful” towards the king. Another dark shadow: the killers of six journalists murdered between 1994 and 1997 have not been punished. The same can be said of all the other infringements on press freedom grenade and rocket-launcher attacks, assaults and threats committed during the 1990s.
Recommendations
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the Burmese and Vietnamese governments to immediately release the journalists and editors currently in jail.
RSF asks Laos, Vietnam and Burma to allow the existence of press freedom without restrictions, authorise opposition publications and end censorship.
RSF calls on the Filipino, Indonesian and Cambodian authorities to continue their efforts to identify those who have murdered journalists, and to guarantee the safety of all those working in the profession.
RSF calls on the governments of Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma and Singapore to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which guarantees freedom of expression.
RSF calls on the authorities of Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore to liberalise their press laws and their internal security laws, that are obstacles to the development of a pluralistic media.
RSF reminds the ASEAN states that in a document dated 18 January 2000, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression stated that “imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious violation of human rights”.
Finally, RSF calls on European Union (EU) states, and particularly France, which currently holds the presidency, to demand that their ASEAN partners respect press freedom. The organisation requires that the sanctions mechanism established by the EU for countries which violate human rights be extended to ASEAN countries which do not respect freedom of expression.
