Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 28th March

In this Bulletin…

- We continue to battle for media freedom;
- Asia-Pacific embraces Earth Hour, but will it help?; and
- Hopes fade for missing South Korean sailors.

But first we have our Shen Yun quote of the day

[audio]

For more information please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

But first disturbing news on the plight of one of SOH’s media partners.

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Indonesian authorities have shut down Radio Erabaru, our media partner in Indonesia. This was despite the radio station showing police and broadcast officials documentation, stating an appeal was currently under way in the Indonesian Supreme Court

Station manager Raymond Tan said their broadcast was shut down and essential radio equipment was forcibly removed from the station. But he said they would continue with their case in the Supreme Court

Indonesian authorities say the station does not have a valid broadcast license. But that license was withdrawn after the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta made a formal request to Indonesia to shut Radio Erabaru down. The station suspects that request was linked to it carrying content on sensitive issues such as Falun Gong and Tibet.

Radio Erabaru is popular with Chinese-Indonesians. About a third of its broadcasts are in mandarin. These programmes are provided by SOH.

Reporters Without Borders said media freedom was a constitutional right in Indonesia and no foreign government should be able to influence official decisions on such an important subject.

SOH’s Daniel Teng looks into this story and interviews Radio Erabaru’s station manager in an Inside China Today special podcast.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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This weeks all eyes were on China in terms of Internet censorship and freedom of information. The impact of the decision first by Google, then by Go Daddy, to stop censoring Internet search results in China and pull out is yet to be known.

But Reporters Without Borders said that while the Chinese regime has been trying to find out where overseas Chinese get information on sensitive topics from.

The media rights organisation said a detailed questionnaire about the attitudes towards the Dalai Lama and the so-called ‘Tibet problem’ was recently sent to thousands of Chinese around the world. Reporters Without Borders said the questionnaire also tried to establish how overseas Chinese obtain news and information about Tibet.

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Saturday saw this years’ Earth Hour event sweep around the world in a wave of darkness. Lights were turned off for one hour all around the world.

The event was widely supported across the Asia-Pacifc region with many central and southeast Asian countries participating with Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island nations.

The event is embraced by activists who want policy makers to take climate change seriously. But some commentators have remarked that the action seems to suggest climate change can only be fought by suffering. And policy makers are unlikely to win many friends if they start turning the power off.

But that doesn’t seem to have deterred supporters of the Earth Hour campaign from partying; in the dark, of course.

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“You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network”

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Hopes are fading for 46 South Korean sailors missing since Friday. Their naval patrol vessel sank after an explosion rocked the ship’s hull.

Although the ship sank near the disputed sea boarder with North Korea officials say there is no indication the North was involved.

South Korean media reported that 58 members of the 104-strong crew had been rescued. But rough seas are hampering rescue efforts and hopes of finding any more survivors are fading.

The incident is one of South Korea’s worst maritime disasters.

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Australian indigenous rights activists are still fighting to get a better deal for the country’s Aboriginal population two years after an apology for the suffering white colonisation caused.

Activists told NTDTV that years after the Australian prime minister’s historic words of apology to them they still have not seen or experienced true democracy.

The activists said current government policy is still failing them.

Since the Australian government suspended the Racial Discrimination Act, domestic violence and substance abuse have both risen sharply.

Now activists want to see a government treaty with Aboriginals similar to those seen with the first nation’s people in the US and Canada.

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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”