Bangkok, 28 December 2007: From the freest to the most restricted
among them, the countries of Southeast Asia in 2007 suffered a
weakening of press freedom.

The situation in Burma--already the worst in terms of environments
for free expression and human rights--further deteriorated right
before the whole world's eyes. A notorious regime predictable for
its censorship and tight controls now plunges into even more
uncertain harshness.

Meanwhile, Singapore widened the scope of its uncompromising media
laws to include the new media even as citizens are beginning to
test the erstwhile freedom found on the Internet. A similar
development transpired in Malaysia, which is showing signs of
backing down from a long-standing promise to never censor the
Internet and looking for ways to take on bloggers in court, while
political protests in the last quarter of the year have put the
government on edge.

At the other end of Southeast Asia's political spectrum, the freest
countries have seen backsliding on the press freedom front. The
assassination of yet another Filipino radio broadcaster in the
final week of December underscored yet again the continuing
impunity by which media and press freedom remained under attack.
More than this, the Philippine press came under direct pressure and
legal challenges from government. In the last 12 months the
Philippine media have been threatened and charged by government for
everything from "sedition" to "obstruction of justice", effectively
warned that coverage of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's many
critics would be dealt with as criminally contemptuous of
government and state.

In Indonesia, progressive developments in the reform of some
antiquated laws in the Criminal Code were cause for celebration,
but these, too, were overshadowed by the uneven, unpredictable, and
surprising application of laws to the detriment of press freedom.
The country's promising Press Law remained under-utilised, leaving
journalists vulnerable under the Criminal Code. The Indonesian
Supreme Court, meanwhile, ordered "Time" magazine to pay former
president Soeharto the staggering figure of US$106 million for an
article that supposedly defamed the fallen dictator in 1999.

Such developments as above give a quick and reliable overview of
how the press freedom situation worsened in the region through
2007. Even a newly ratified Constitution and post-coup democratic
elections in Thailand could not mask a slew of hastily passed laws
under what is supposedly a temporary and self-limited military
junta--some of which could severely undermine human rights and
democracy and keep a dark cloud over the press and Thailand's
electronic media in particular.

Indeed, the passage of laws on "national security" and
Internet-related crimes in Thailand was a familiar theme in 2007 to
all countries in Southeast Asia, from Vietnam to the Philippines
and Malaysia to Laos. All highlighted the uncertainties they faced
and will continue to face in the coming year.

For the full country reports on Southeast Asia, click:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=MM9YV&m=1a6rQopuCDKXin&b=1wZtiEVHnpZcqpGeM0vNFQ

ABOUT SEAPA

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is a coalition of press
freedom advocacy groups from Indonesia, the Philippines and
Thailand. Established in November 1998, the network aims to unite
independent journalists and press-related organisations in the
region into a force for the protection and promotion of press
freedom and free expression in Southeast Asia. SEAPA is composed of
the Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia), the
Jakarta-based Institute for the Study of the Free Flow of
Information (ISAI), the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism,
and the Thai Journalists Association.