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The following is from the IFEX COMMUNIQUE # 5-50, 16 December 1996
ASIA: COMMUNITY RADIO MAKING INROADS IN SOME COUNTRIES

Community radio is still somewhat scarce in Asia except in Sri
Lanka, the Philippines and Taiwan, reports the latest issue (Vol.
8, No. 10) of "InteRadio", the bulletin of the World Association
of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). In fact, Sri Lanka is
the only country where community radio stations are officially
recognized, explains Francis Rolt in "Breaking through media
monopolies". Even though community radio is a branch of the Sri
Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SBCB), AMARC says "the state is
reported to rarely interfere." In the Philippines, community
radio has found a voice through the influences of "North American
liberal democratic ideology," says AMARC, although it has "always
existed in a politically fragile environment." Dictator Ferdinand
Marcos strictly controlled all broadcasting during his reign from
1972 to 1986. Now, through a project called Tambuli, community
radio centres have been set up in isolated, economically-
depressed areas. In Taiwan, independent radio stations have been
allowed since 1993 when the government ended its 40-year media
monopoly. However, stringent new licensing laws mean that many
radio stations are operating illegally.

AMARC notes that other Asian countries such as India, Nepal,
Vietnam and Laos are making progress towards independent
broadcasting. For example, says AMARC, the Supreme Court of India
"ordered the government to end its monopoly on electronic media"
in late 1995, which resulted in the creation of an independent
broadcasting authority. In Nepal, the country's first community
radio, Radio Sagarmatha, prepared to begin broadcasting in 1995,
but has yet to receive a license. AMARC reports, "Vietnam has
actually established a few relatively independent community
stations operated by community representatives; and Laos has also
taken tentative steps in the same direction." Elsewhere in the
region, satellite transmissions and the Internet may help to
break state monopolies in the future, but some countries, such as
Indonesia, are introducing more repressive broadcasting laws,
mostly due to "the perceived danger of the Internet."

** ** **

The IFEX "Communique" is published weekly in English, French and
Spanish by the IFEX Clearing House, Toronto. The facility is
operated by the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists (CCPJ)
in partnership with the member organizations of the International
Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX). Material for the
"Communique" may be submitted to the CCPJ, 490 Adelaide Street
West, Suite 205, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 1T2, CANADA; Tel: (1-416)
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site: http://www.ifex.org/. Editor: Kristina Stockwood.
Subscriptions are available by e-mail and surface mail. The views
expressed in the "Communique" are the responsibility of the
sources to which they are attributed.

___________________________________________________
Bruce Girard
Agencia Informativa Pulsar
Email: bgirard@pulsar.org.ec
http://www.web.net/amarc/pulsar.html
Tel: +593-2-525521  Fono/Fax: +593-2-542818 o 226648
Fax en Montreal, Canada: +1-514-221-2009
Av. America 3584, Casilla 17-08-8489, Quito, Ecuador