Attacks on Press report for East Timor, Indonesia

* Pacific Media Watch Online - check the website for archive and links:
http://www.pmw.c2o.org

* Post a comment on PMWs' Right of Reply:
http://www.TheGuestBook.com/egbook/257949.gbook

CPJ'S ATTACKS ON PRESS' REPORT ON EAST TIMOR, INDONESIA
http://www.cpj.org/attacks02/asia02/east_timor.html

NEW YORK: (CPJ/Pacific Media Watch):

[excerpt] EAST TIMOR

A decades-long struggle for independence ended on May 20, when the U.N. Transitional Authority for East Timor (UNTAET) formally handed power to East Timor’s first elected government, making the tiny half-island state the first new nation of the millennium. A fledgling press has emerged from the destruction that followed the territory’s vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999, and now the country has two daily newspapers, a handful of weeklies, and seven small private radio stations. Indonesia, which annexed East Timor in 1975 following the collapse of Portuguese colonial rule, did not tolerate an independent press.

East Timor’s dominant media outlet is the national radio service established by the United Nations in 1999, Radio UNTAET, renamed Radio Timor Lorosae after independence. Roughly modeled on the BBC, the station was intended to become a blueprint for a public broadcaster independent of the government. But for most of 2002, the service was mired in controversy, funding problems, and charges of political interference. U.N. officials failed to establish an independent broadcasting authority, and instead the ruling Fretilin Party of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri pushed through legislation in May giving the new government control over management of the station after independence.

The move was disquieting, given accusations throughout the April presidential election campaign that Fretilin Party activists already had begun trying to influence reporters at Radio UNTAET. Following independence, sources at the service told CPJ that Fretilin interference was pervasive at the station.

The constitution approved by the National Assembly in March falls short of making press freedom absolute, leaving the right to free expression subject to several legal provisions. There will likely be numerous court battles in the future as legislators draft press, libel, and broadcast regulation laws.

By and large, however, private media outlets in East Timor—all of which are small, financially struggling, and mostly confined to the capital, Dili—say they have so far been free to report without fear of political retribution.

In November, East Timorese authorities indicted two Indonesian military officers for the September 1999 murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes. A reporter for the Financial Times and the Christian Science Monitor, Thoenes was one of two journalists killed in the violence that followed East Timor’s August 30, 1999, vote for independence from Indonesia (see page 172). As pro-Jakarta militias went on a rampage with support from the Indonesian military, journalists were deliberately targeted in an apparent effort to ensure that there would be no witnesses to the atrocities. The indictments put the onus on Indonesia either to prosecute the two accused, who were also charged with 16 additional counts of “crimes against humanity” stemming from the 1999 carnage, or extradite them to East Timor.

In early December, Dili’s usual calm was shattered by two days of rioting that left two dead from police gunfire and scores injured. The prime minister’s house, government buildings, and some foreign-owned businesses were burned during the unrest, which exposed political rifts in the new nation.

---------

[excerpt]

INDONESIA

...

Even resident foreign journalists sometimes draw fire from authorities. In March, veteran Australian correspondent Lindsay Murdoch of the Sydney Morning Herald was banned from working in the country. Indonesian authorities refused to renew his working visa, offering no explanation. Murdoch, who was based in the capital, Jakarta, for three years and won numerous awards for his reporting, told CPJ that he was banned because his aggressive reporting on human rights abuses had angered the military.

In November, East Timorese prosecutors indicted two Indonesian soldiers for the 1999 murder of Financial Times reporter Sander Thoenes, who was killed in the aftermath of East Timor's vote for independence from Indonesia. The two soldiers, Maj. Jacob Sarosa and Lt. Camilo dos Santos, were both members of Battalion 745, which has been implicated in numerous rights abuses in East Timor. Observers doubt that the two officers, both of whom reportedly remain on active duty, will be extradited to face trial in East Timor. Meanwhile, efforts to prosecute the Thoenes murder in Indonesia have stalled. In June, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta claimed that there was not enough evidence to pursue the case. A month later, Indonesian prosecutors promised to reopen the investigation, but there was no discernible progress by year's end.

+++niuswire

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE http://www.pmw.c2o.org

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).

(c)1996-2003 Copyright - All rights reserved.

Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members.

Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.

For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch

listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific

Media Watch at: E-mail: delaro@clear.net.nz pcronau@hotmail.com Fax: (+679) 30 5779 or (+612) 9660 1804 Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia or, PO Box 78028, Auckland 1002, New Zealand. New website: www.pmw.c2o.org

© Scoop Media