Oleh kerana berita ini tidak ramai yang mengetahuinya, mungkin elok disiarkan di sini satu kenyataan SEAPA mengenai Laman Malaysiakini.

Saya terjemahkan satu faktanya yang penting:

"Tidak ada satu senpun dana yang disumbangkan oleh SEAPA kepada Malaysiakini datang secara langsung atau tidak langsung dari OSI atau George Soros.

OSI, bagaimanapun, mendapat geran (peruntukkan) untuk membiayai khidmat konsultan projek dari badan CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) yang berasal dari A.S. untuk berkhidmat kepada SEAPA selama 24 bulan yang berakhir pada bulan Mei. Hanya inilah pembiayaan yang diterima oleh SEAPA dari OSI dan ia digunakan untuk mengongkos kerja konsultan dan sebahagian daripada keperluan petadbiran untuk pejabat SEAPA di Bangkok."

-MSuri-

http://www.seapa.org/alerts/2001/01/20010401.html

SEAPA Statement on Malaysiakini Funding

February 4, 2001

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) wishes to clarify its relationship with the online newspaper Malaysiakini.com. SEAPA has assisted Malaysiakini since December 1999 as part of an effort to promote the development of independent media in Southeast Asia.

In Malaysia, SEAPA has helped raise startup and operating capital for Malaysiakini and organized last October a dialogue with Malaysian journalists on access to information.

SEAPA has initiated similar programs to assist the emergence of independent media in Cambodia and East Timor.

Unfortunately, the Far Eastern Economic Review in its February 8 issue incorrectly stated that the Open Society Institute (OSI), funding organization supported by George Soros' fund, funds Malaysiakini.com. That is false, and the partial clarification of this point made by the Review's managing editor, Michael Vatikiotis, is misleading. Mr. Vatikiotis states:

"In 'Levelling the Playing Field' [Feb. 8], we reported that Malaysiakini.com receives support from George Soros' Open Society Foundation. Rather, the Open Society Foundation funds the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance, one source of funding for Malaysiakini.com."

To be very clear: None of the funds that SEAPA has provided to Malaysiakini comes directly or indirectly from the OSI or George Soros. OSI, however, gave a grant to support the work of a project consultant from the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists to work with SEAPA for 24 months ending in May. This is the only support that SEAPA has received from OSI and it was used to fund the consultant's work and part of the administrative requirements of running SEAPA's Bangkok office.

As an alliance of Southeast Asian press advocacy organizations, SEAPA receives support from a consortium of donors that includes, among others, UNESCO and UNDP. Its member organizations are recognized throughout the region for their independence and commitment to press freedom. SEAPA supports Malaysiakini as part of a regional effort to promote plurality and openness in the Southeast Asian media.

Kavi Chongkittavorn
Chairperson, SEAPA and President, Thai Journalists Association

Lukas Luwarso
International Affair Director, Alliance of Independent Journalists, Indonesia

Andreas Harsono
Secretary-general, Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information, Indonesia

Melinda Quintos de Jesus
Executive Director, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Philippines

Sheila S. Coronel
Executive Director, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

For any queries, contact:

Kavi Chongkittavorn- Tel. 66-2-629-0025; Fax. 66-2-629-2707; E-mail: seapa@loxinfo.co.th

Sheila S. Coronel - Tel. 63-2-410-4768/69; Fax. 63-2-410-1346; Email: scoronel@pcij.org

Further information on SEAPA; www. seapa.org

http://www.seapa.org/alerts/2001/01/20010601.html

SEAPA Alert on Reported Government Ban of Malaysiakini from Government Functions

February 6, 2001

His Excellency Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister
Jabatan Perdana Menteri
Jalan Dato' Onn
Kuala Lumpur 50502
Malaysia

VIA FAX: +60-3-238-3784

Your Excellency:

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is deeply disturbed by reports that your government intends to ban reporters from the on-line newspaper Malaysiakini.com from attending or covering any government activities.

Both the Star and the Sun newspapers on Monday carried reports quoting Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung saying that Malaysiakini.com's reporters would be barred from covering any government functions because it is not a licensed publication. In Malaysia, Internet sites, unlike other media, are not required to receive licenses to operate.

In addition, Chor repeated allegations that the site receives funding from the Open Society Institute of George Soros and threatened to take unspecified action against Malaysiakini if those allegations are true.

As an alliance of press advocacy organizations throughout Asia, Chor's comments dismay us on several grounds. As an Internet site that is exempt from onerous licensing restrictions, Malaysiakini should have full and equal access to news events with other media. Further, we believe that Malaysian regulations requiring publications to receive government licenses to operate lead inevitably to formal and informal censorship of news content to the detriment of the public's right to know. Malaysiakini and other websites are vital exemptions to these regulations in Malaysia.

The real issue here is press freedom. SEAPA believes that the Southeast Asian public is best served by an open, uncensored exchange of ideas. We are proud to defend Malaysiakini because the site has become an invaluable source of news on Malaysian events, widening the range of alternative voices in the country.

As a result of its excellence, Malaysiakini has quickly developed a wide audience and a broad reputation for good, tough, honest journalism. We fear that the current controversy over the site is being used by opponents of press freedom in Malaysia as an excuse to attack one of the few independent voices in the Malaysian media.

SEAPA respectfully calls on your excellency to instruct the Home Ministry and others to allow Malaysiakini the courtesy due members of the working press to cover government events without restriction. We further urge your government to stop any attempt to isolate or intimidate Malaysiakini. As a respected source of news and opinion, the site is closely watched by not only Malaysians but others in this region as a signpost for the future of press freedom in your country.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Yours,

Kavi Chongkittavorn
Chairman

Rencana Rujukkan:

http://news.catcha.com/my/content.phtml?1&010&&afpnews.cgi&cat=malaysia&stor y=010211072916.u52praxr.txt

Malaysia official defends press conference ban on Internet paper

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (AFP) - A senior Malaysian official Sunday defended the decision to ban an award-winning Internet newspaper from government press conferences, saying its credibility is doubtful.

"Malaysiakini are barred from covering the press conferences not because they are critical of the government but because their credibility is doubtful," said Information Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Zainuddin Maidin.

A regional press freedom group last week criticised the restriction on Malaysiakini, which frequently carries commentary critical of the government, as "deeply disturbing."

The Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance, in an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, described the on-line paper as one of the "few independent voices in the Malaysian media."

Zainuddin, speaking to Bernama news agency, said Malaysiakini's credibility had been undermined by a report that it had received aid from the "Open Society Fund" operated by international currency trader George Soros.

The newspaper has strongly denied receiving any aid from Soros, a longtime foe of Mahathir.

Zainuddin also said he had information that Malaysiakini's editor Steven Gan had once worked for an anti-government newspaper in Malaysia. The report gave no details.

Zainuddin said local journalists had free access to approach Mahathir and his ministers. He compared this favourably to the level of access to top leaders in Britain and the United States.

Gan last week described the decision to exclude his staff from press conferences as the start of attempts to censor the Internet.

"The ban, which seems to be an underhanded way of censorship, will not keep us out or stop us from doing our job," he said.