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Journalists, academics establish regional media forum
Common interests: Tadashi Ogawa (second left), regional director for the Southeast Asia Japan Foundation, talks about the role of ASEAN countries with Isami Takeda (second right), an international relations professor from Dokkyo University, at a discussion during the inauguration of the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum in Jakarta on Sunday
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Common interests: Tadashi Ogawa (second left), regional director for the Southeast Asia Japan Foundation, talks about the role of ASEAN countries with Isami Takeda (second right), an international relations professor from Dokkyo University, at a discussion during the inauguration of the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum in Jakarta on Sunday. Other speakers in the discussion were The Jakarta Post senior editor Endy Bayuni (left) and Pranee Thiparat (right), an international relations professor from Chulalongkorn University.(JP/Seto Wardhana) (second left), regional director for the Southeast Asia Japan Foundation, talks about the role of ASEAN countries with Isami Takeda (second right), an international relations professor from Dokkyo University, at a discussion during the inauguration of the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum in Jakarta on Sunday. Other speakers in the discussion were The Jakarta Post senior editor Endy Bayuni (left) and Pranee Thiparat (right), an international relations professor from Chulalongkorn University.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
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span class="inline inline-center">Common interests: Tadashi Ogawa (second left), regional director for the Southeast Asia Japan Foundation, talks about the role of ASEAN countries with Isami Takeda (second right), an international relations professor from Dokkyo University, at a discussion during the inauguration of the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum in Jakarta on Sunday. Other speakers in the discussion were The Jakarta Post senior editor Endy Bayuni (left) and Pranee Thiparat (right), an international relations professor from Chulalongkorn University.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
As Japan, China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries rise and attempt to balance the supremacy of American power, some noted journalists and academics have agreed to establish the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum to try and influence good policy-making in the region.
Forum chief coordinator Isami Takeda believed that the group was the first of its kind to focus on discussions related to important policy issues.
'[The members] don't represent their governments so they can talk freely and also discuss common challenges,' he said on Sunday.
Organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, the forum also aimed to enhance networking among journalists through information sharing and discussions.
The Japan Foundation Asia Center is an entity supervised by Japan's Foreign Affairs Ministry, and it operates with the vision of deepening mutual understanding between the people of Japan and those in other countries through intellectual and cultural exchange programs.
In the future, the Media Forum plans to include young and emerging journalists in the discussions and to hold more activities and events.
'This is our very first meeting and we will conduct discussions once every year from now on. We plan to involve young journalists too, and we encourage them to join the conference,' Takeda said.
During its first meeting on Sunday to Monday in Jakarta, which holding is supported by The Jakarta Post and Tempo media group, participants from 11 country members, which are China, India, Japan and eight ASEAN countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In the first session on rising Asia and the new world order, journalists from Japan, India, China and the ASEAN countries shared their views on the rise of power in the region.
They discussed how rising powers in Asia could work hand and hand with the US and produce good policies that accommodated all of the ASEAN countries.
'We need a new balance of power involving the US, China, Japan, India and the ASEAN countries. The US used to be the superpower but it has hit its peak, and it is now starting to decline,' said Takeda, who is also a professor of external relations at Dokkyo University in Japan.
Takeda explained that a weakening economy and shrinking military personnel and weapons had caused US power to decline.
India's rising power, he concluded, was the result of many aspects, including its enhanced economy, increasingly advanced technology and the sheer size of its population.
'India has the second biggest population now and it will be the largest 10 years from now,' he said.
Takeda highlighted that ASEAN countries will benefit from the current situation.
'ASEAN countries are in the best position to negotiate with every big power [US, China and India] in everything, from diplomacy and economics to security. They benefit from their location and they can act as a collective force,' Takeda remarked.
Japan itself, according to Takeda, had a more realistic and aggressive foreign security policy. In 2013, Japan renewed its commitment with Southeast Asian countries to cooperate on maritime security issues.
The discussion went further to note that the media should not focus solely on the South China Sea dispute.
'The relationship between ASEAN and China does not only depend on South China Sea issues. We have trading, cultural and other relationships that actually make us stronger,' said Endy Bayuni, a senior editor with the Post.
He further stated that the press had its own role in influencing public and government opinion, and therefore it had to be smart and not allow itself to be seduced by politicians with goals or ambitions that were unrelated to the public good. Furthermore, Endy argued, the press should not commit the error of exaggerating the news.
'Media has the responsibility of informing the public about changes and to make sure that these changes do not lead to tensions, conflicts or wars,' Endy said.
The other sessions include global and regional perspectives on ASEAN toward the establishment of ASEAN economic community; countering the rise of extremism; building new maritime bridge in the Indo-Asia Pacific region; and role and future challenges of media in Asia. (rbk)
