(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Certeza Severino, Jr, RSF expressed its concern about the increase in censorship and intimidation against foreign publications in ASEAN member countries. “The integration and economic development of Southeast Asia, which your organisation promotes, also depends on the free circulation of information,” noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Certeza Severino, Jr, RSF expressed its concern about the increase in censorship and intimidation against foreign publications in ASEAN member countries. “The integration and economic development of Southeast Asia, which your organisation promotes, also depends on the free circulation of information,” noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. RSF also urged Severino to intervene with the Thai and Malaysian prime ministers in order to help reverse the restrictive measures taken against the “Far Eastern Economic Review”, “The Economist”, “Newsweek” and “Time” magazines as soon as possible.
According to information obtained by RSF, Malaysian Deputy Minister of the Interior Chor Chee Heung has announced his government’s decision to block or delay the distribution of the latest issues of the international magazines “Newsweek”, “Far Eastern Economic Review”, “The Economist” and “Time”. The minister explained that the measure followed the magazines’ publication of “erroneous news about the situation in the country,” notably concerning the presence of al Qaeda members in Malaysia. “The Economist” is reportedly being targeted for publishing an article about the situation of immigrant workers in the country.
In Thailand, the government has decided to expel Shawn Crispin and Rodney Tasker, two Bangkok-based journalists from the “Far Eastern Economic Review”. The government first added their names to a list of “undesirable” foreigners. Immigration officials then confiscated their passports and revoked their visas. They are threatened with expulsion, but their lawyer has appealed. Crispin, an American, and Tasker, an Englishman, are not allowed to work until a final decision on their appeal is handed down in thirty days. After asking them to apologise for “insulting” the king, Thaksin Shinawatra’s government threatened to prosecute the two journalists for threatening “national security.” The prime minister also asked the American ambassador not to interfere in this “internal affair.”
Many organisations and personalities have asked the Bangkok government to reverse its decision to expel Crispin and Tasker. On 28 February 2002, a group of Thai senators expressed their view that an allegedly incriminating article in the “Far Eastern Economic Review”, published on 10 January, was not critical of the king, and therefore there was no reason to expel the two journalists.
Since early 2002, the Thai government has regularly harassed the “Far Eastern Economic Review”, blaming the magazine for publishing articles about the difficult relations between the prime minister and the king.
