Thailand’s journalists enjoy one of the freest presses in the developing world, and a new constitution implemented in 1997 provides some of the broadest press protections in Asia. The 1997 Official Information Act, which is modeled on the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, gives the public the right to access information that was once routinely…
Mahathir wins election, stifles media Also in this report: A. Lin Neumann discusses the Malaysian press on the eve of elections in a news analysis. In an exclusive essay for CPJ, Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent Murray Hiebert recounts his ordeal at the hands of the Malaysian legal system.
Dear Ms. Cooper, I wish to refer to your letter dated July 15 1999, concerning the unexpected act of intimidation against the Thai Post newspaper by Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri’s private secretary during the night of Tuesday 13 July 1999. We have brought your concerns to the attentions of HE Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and I have subsequently been asked to make the following clarification regarding the Government’s position:
August 2, 1999 Secretariat of the Prime Minister Government Spokesman Bureau Government House Bangkok 10300 Dear Ms. Cooper, I wish to refer to your letter dated July 15 1999, concerning the unexpected act of intimidation against the Thai Postnewspaper by Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri’s private secretary during the night of Tuesday 13 July 1999.
July 15, 1999 His Excellency Chuan Leekpai Prime Minister Government House Bangkok, Thailand Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned over a recent attempt to intimidate the staff of the Thai Post that was directed by an aide to Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri. We do, however, welcome Your Excellency’s pledge today to…
Thai Newspaper Editor is First Chairman of Regional Free Press AllianceThai Newspaper Editor is First Chairman of Regional Free Press Alliance A senior Thai newspaper editor was named the first chairman of the newly formed Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) on May 22, as the group announced plans to begin monitoring conditions for working journalists…
Washington, D.C., March 25 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported today in its annual worldwide study of press freedom that at least 118 journalists were in prison in 25 countries at the end of 1998, and 24 journalists in 17 countries were murdered during the year in reprisal for their reporting.
A Summarized Report Doan Viet Hoat was released from prison in Vietnam on September 1, 1998, midway through a 15-year sentence for publishing pro-democracy newsletters. He was set free under an amnesty program timed to coincide with Vietnam’s national day, but was then immediately expelled from the country.
The Asian economic turmoil of the last eight months struck many international observers as a sudden calamity–trouble that seemed to drop from the sky like an alien invader. But in fact, the signs of structural weakness and the cracks in the veneer of financial robustness were in plain view for those in a position to…