TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Trump to deal press freedom in Asia a big blow
In the Asia-Pacific region, accessing independent and fearless news about regimes that are doing their best to stifle and destroy any form of free press is at risk of becoming more and more challenging.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Voice of freedom: Mech Dara, an award-winning Cambodian journalist who was arrested on charges of inciting social unrest, speaks to members of the media on Oct. 24, 2024, as he leaves Kandal provincial prison on bail in Phnom Penh. (Reuters/Chantha Lach)
I
f there is one area in which the Asia Pacific region is not particularly thriving, it is freedom of expression. This, I must recognize, is a simplified reading of a huge, diverse and complex region made up of dozens of sovereign nations, each with its own political system and culture.
There are certainly nations and territories that have embraced democracy and the liberties that come with that. At the same time, there are also a variety of autocracies and authoritarian regimes, including single-party systems.
Amid this diversity, generalizations should not come easily, and we should refrain from making them as much as possible. Yet the vitality of civic freedoms, including the right to independent media that is free of fear has mostly been questioned.
Freedom of expression and media freedom in the region are, unfortunately, facing further regression with the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
I am not talking about the shutdown of USAID, though it has been brutal, including in the area of good governance, democracy and human rights. Instead, I am referring to the imminent cessation of operations of Radio Free Asia.
Through an executive order, the Trump administration is gutting the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency of Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America. RFE/RL's funding has been reinstated after a federal judge's temporary ruling, but the RFA's annual budget of US$60.8 million is still in peril.
The news hit me deeply as I am a steadfast reader and follower of RFA, as are millions of people across the region.
