NEWS - the Internet, a Handy Politi

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Subject: NEWS - the Internet, a Handy Political Weapon

South-East Asia: the Internet, a Handy Political Weapon

            Inter Press Service
            14-JAN-99

            MANILA, (Jan. 14) IPS - A few years ago, a despot who
            wanted to control information needed only to take over
            broadcast and print media organizations, if not shut them
            down completely. 

            Today's strongmen still do that, but with much less effect,
as
            some of South-east Asia's well-entrenched regimes are
            finding out. 

            Now they have something called the Web to contend with,
            and just how do you control that? 

            Indonesia's former President Suharto would have wanted to
            know. 

            Before he was forced to resign last May, the general had
            been South-east Asia's longest reigning leader, thanks in
            part to decades of media repression that had denied
            Indonesians access to accurate information. 

            But then came the Internet, and Indonesians soon found the
            means out of the rut of muzzled journalism of the mainstream
            media. 

            Journalists who used to work for media organizations closed
            down by the government quickly found their way into
            cyberspace. 

            When former staff of the banned newsmagazine Tempo set
            up the online Tempo Interaktif to pursue investigative
            reporting, other journalist groups followed suit, creating
more
            alternative sources of news such as SiaR, MateBEAN,
            MeunaSAH and MamberaMO. 

            To many Indonesians, Suharto's downfall was precipitated
            partly by a cyberspace expose of the assets owned by him,
            his family and his cronies, particularly on the mailing list
            Indonesia-L. 

            This U.S.-based listserv -- more popularly known as
            Apakabar -- was instrumental in providing up-to-date
            information about Indonesia all over the globe. 

            Says Indonesian journalist T. Basuki: "Apakabar helped
            accelerate Indonesian society's awareness of the need for
            change as it encouraged open and democratic debate on
            issues." 

            These days the Web still looms large over Suharto's
            successor and erstwhile protege, Bacharuddin J. Habibie,
            who has to worry about what is disseminated on NusaNet,
            an e-mail network linking NGOs in Indonesia. 

            The Habibie government has been proceeding cautiously
            and has relaxed some media restrictions, but the military is
            not pleased with what goes on in the wilds of the World Wide
            Web. 

            The Indonesian government is not the only one in the region
            probably wishing its citizens had not gotten caught up in
the
            Web. 

            Any country that has problems with free speech and free
            flow of information is bound to find itself dealing with
dissent
            in cyberspace. 

            In South-east Asia that would mean, apart from Indonesia,
            Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, based on the
            1997 report of the Canadian Committee to Protect
            Journalists. And of these, Burma has by far the strictest
            controls on the media. 

            Ruled by a military junta that renamed itself State Peace
and
            Development Council or SPDC, Burma does have some
            publications but they operate within the purview of what the
            junta allows. 

            SPDC has also imposed restrictions on the ownership of
            most forms of communication tools, including typewriters,
fax
            machines, photocopiers and modems. Radio is permitted
            and widely used, but is known to be filled with SPDC
            propaganda. 

            Not surprisingly, the Burmese pro-democracy movement in
            exile was among the first to make its presence felt on the
            Internet. But while outsiders can easily access sites like
            BurmaNet, Free Burma Coalition and BurmaWeb -- aside
            from that of the junta itself -- most Burmese make do with
            word-of-mouth relays of Web news. 

            Other governments are trying to thwart dissent on the Net
            through censorship. In March 1997, Vietnam passed a law
            allowing the state to control and censor all Internet
            communications. 

            But no one country has gone as far as Singapore in
            instituting resolutions for the complete regulation of the
            Internet. 

            At best, these rules reflect Singapore Premier Goh Chok
            Tong's exhortation to the local press "to forge consensus
            and not foment confrontation, facilitate nation building and
            not fray the social fabric." 

            The Net falls under the ambit of the Singapore Broadcasting
            Authority (SBA), which issues licenses to service providers
            and those wanting to put up online sites. 

            The authority also determines what content is allowed on
            Internet sites. Anything from pornography to "areas which
            may undermine public morals, political stability or
religious
            harmony" is considered "objectionable." 

            CCPJ findings show at least eight state-hired censors who
            search the Net daily in search of objectionable content.
            These sites are then blocked by the local Internet service
            providers. 

            In Malaysia, official pronouncements make it seem the
            government of Premier Mahathir Mohamad has yet to resort
            to censorship of online communication, despite the growing
            use of the Net by the "reformasi" movement begun by jailed
            former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim. 

            But a closer look at the "acceptable use" policy at Jaring,
the
            main Internet backbone there, indicates it is enough to
curtail
            the Net's use for activities not allowed under law. 

            The policy justifies surveillance of all Internet
            communications on Anwar's case and places restrictions on
            the content of online messages. 

            With supposed "transgressions", Mimos, the state agency
            that administers Jaring, has helped police track down four
            people accused of causing panic in Kuala Lumpur after
            posting rumors of riots on the Internet. Authorities have
            threatened more arrests for similar offenses. 

            But given the mainstream media's treatment of Anwar's case
            as a "non-event", Malaysians, have been enlisting in mailing
            lists and bulletin board services for wire-service reports,
            opinions, eyewitness accounts and schedules of events. 

            Zaharom Nain of the independent magazine Aliran, which
            maintains an online news site, says: "By and large, the
            Malaysian media have never aspired to be the guardians of
            the freedom of speech. Thus far, they have been nothing
            more than the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition's
            mouthpieces." 

            Other controls on the media include laws like the Printing
            Presses and Publications Act, Broadcasting Act, Control of
            Imported Publications Act, the Internal Security Act, the
            Sedition Act, and the Official Secrets Act. 

            Ironically, though, it is a system that imposes licensing
            stipulations, intimidation and censorship on the media that
            gives rise to "alternative journalism." 

            Lukas Luwarso, chairperson of the Jakarta-based Alliance of
            Independent Journalists, does not deny the activist
            dimension to the group's work. He notes: "We cannot work
            simply in an objective and balanced fashion as demanded by
            the profession."