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Jakarta Post

Free press, free society

Indonesia can claim that it is the largest democracy in the region and that its government is making attempts to promote democracy in the region, but the record shows that journalists are now living more dangerously. 

Editorial board (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, February 26, 2021

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Free press, free society

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omment sections in the media can sometimes be problematic. Often, they are the repository of some of the vilest thoughts human minds can conjure. The best way to deal with them is to ignore them, or as many media outlets do, moderate the comments.

But a panel of Malaysian judges has found an outrageous solution to deal with unruly commenters; punish the media outlet that hosts the problematic comment.  Last week, the prominent Malaysian news site Malaysiakini was fined US$120,000 for hosting readers’ comments that criticized the country’s judiciary. In its ruling, the judges deemed the comments as being “outside the bounds permissible by law,” and that they could erode public confidence in the courts.

The most outrageous thing about the verdict was that some of the comments in question had been removed and that it was clear from the beginning that Malaysiakini did not intend to publish them.

We are certainly surprised by the outlandishness of the court’s ruling, yet it was strangely familiar as Malaysiakini has been faced with continual attacks since it was founded in 1999. As an independent media firm, Malaysiakini has worked tirelessly to uncover political corruption in the country. It is plain and simple that Malaysiakini has been punished for being courageous.

The fact that the ruling was handed down as the military junta was taking over political control in Myanmar is a powerful reminder of the declining quality of democracy in the region and that the erosion of media freedom is one key indicator of this.

Early last year, a prominent journalist and outspoken critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was found guilty of cyber libel. Later in 2020, Duterte’s government blocked the renewal of the license of media conglomerate ABS-CBN, which is critical of Duterte, resulting in the media company shutting down its radio stations and laying off thousands of its workers.

In 2019, two Reuters journalists in Myanmar were sentenced to seven years in prison for investigating the death of 10 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State during an army crackdown in 2017.

Indonesia can claim that it is the largest democracy in the region and that its government is making attempts to promote democracy in the region, but the record shows that journalists are now living more dangerously. A 2020 report from Reporters Without Borders put Indonesia at 119th position globally in its press freedom index, below Congo-Brazaville and Nicaragua. “[President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s] re-election in May 2019 was followed by rioting in which many journalists were targeted. His presidency has been marked by drastic restrictions on media access to West Papua,” the press freedom watchdogs wrote in its report.

If the basic assumption is that press freedom can only markedly improve if substantive democracy is fully in place in Southeast Asia, then it will take a while before free media can thrive in this region.

In the meantime, journalists and media companies in the region must strengthen their bonds, help each other and share expertise in dealing with future challenges.

For now, the least we can do is express solidarity with fellow journalists at Malaysiakini.

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