Media practitioners in Thailand, Indonesia, and East Timor are concerned about what they see as attempts by their governments and groups with vested interests to curtail their right to report freely.

In Thailand, one of the most open democracies in Asia, the reformist constitution drafted in 1997 guarantees press freedom, but appears to allow for restrictions on the press in the name of ''national security''.

The same year, the Thai media faced another challenge. Some 2,000 industry workers, many of them committed to media independence, were laid off with the onset of the Asian financial crisis.

Since then politicians and vested interest groups have bought into the mainstream media, with consequences for editorial policy.

Neutralised media

''They (the mainstream media) are more willing to blend their editorial independence to ally with the powers-that-be,'' Kavi Chongkittavorn, chairperson of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa), told a seminar on media self-regulation in Bangkok last month.

He said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's rise to power 18 months ago has had serious implications for press freedom. The first six months of his premiership witnessed outrageous media interference, especially into television and radio broadcasts.

Over the last year, there has been continued pressure on media owners in Thailand, said Kavi, adding that the withdrawal of advertising has effectively neutralised the media.

''These tactics constituted virtual privatisation of media repression and allowed Thaksin to argue that the government was not clamping down on the press,'' said Kavi, who is also assistant group editor of the Nation Group, which publishes the independent Nation daily.

Developments in Indonesia

In Indonesia, lawmakers are mulling a new broadcasting bill that would bar radio and television stations from relaying some foreign-made material, a move widely regarded as a threat to media freedom.

The bill proposes banning the relay of overseas-sourced news, music and sports programmes, but does not affect direct broadcasts and telecasts from satellite dishes, which are only available to a small minority.

Following protests, a decision on the bill which had been pending has been delayed to give lawmakers more time to study the implications of the new rules.

''So far, Indonesia's press is free,'' observed Saur Hutabarat, editor-in-chief of the Media Indonesia newspaper.

''But to be frank, we can see that our country's new government has great difficulty working with a free press. In fact, they think we have too much freedom of the press,'' he told the media forum in Bangkok.

Saur said Indonesia's elite for the most part understand that, without the press, there can be no democracy. But few are convinced they really need press freedom. The reasons: alleged political corruption and the danger a free press poses to the ruling elite.

Indonesia's press freedom, however, does not extend to conflict areas such as Maluku, North Maluku and Aceh.

Media in Maluku and north Maluku are unable to serve as a check-and-balance on the parties in conflict, as they have become part of the conflict and have taken sides, said Sabam Leo Batubara, executive chairman of the Indonesian Newspaper Publishers Association. He was speaking at a forum in Singapore last month.

In Aceh, ''the media is unable to cover the news based on facts and truths as well as on impartiality,'' said Sabam, who cited threats to the safety of journalists and the media from the parties in conflict as the main deterrent.

East Timorese 'paternalism'

In the world's newest nation, East Timor, the media are enjoying an enormous amount of freedom, with financing the only limiting factor to its development.

But a few journalists are now talking about the struggle to free themselves from the paternalistic behaviour manifested in the nation's post-independence leadership.

Since independence from United Nations administration on May 20 imposed after the territory broke away from Indonesian rule in 1999 East Timor's government is based on a constitution that limits freedom of expression in the name of protecting individual reputation.

The constitution also allows for the suspension of rights in cases affecting national security.

Concerned journalists like Hugo Fernandez of the Timor Lorosa'e Journalists' Association (TLJA) said self-regulation through a media council may stave off government attempts to control the media.

Such a council, he said, would allow the media in East Timor to realise its full potential and enable the public to appreciate the role of free media in a democracy.

''Failure to achieve these goals would give the government an excuse to intervene,'' he warned at the Bangkok meeting.

The longer new leaders remain in power, the more young journalists say they have to be alert to threats against media freedom.

Like Seapa's Kavi, who said the Thai media has to be on guard against official news management, Indonesia's Saur was cautious.

''Indonesia's history tells us that the longer a president is in power, the more repressive that president will be, especially towards the press," he added. IPS