A stake in peace

An executive in the power industry told me that it wouldn’t be easy trying to lure investors to build power plants in Mindanao.

The executive told me that among the main disincentives, apart from the uncertainty of the business environment, is the problem of peace and order.

A power plant takes billions of pesos to build. The executive told me that there aren’t many places in Mindanao that can guarantee the safety of that kind of infrastructure from bomb attacks that have plagued telecommunications towers, bus companies and large agricultural estates whose operators refuse to give in to extortion by lawless elements including the New People’s Army and Islamic militants.

Even power barges, which can quickly boost energy capacity (although at a steep price) and tide over Mindanao during this year’s long dry season, are vulnerable to attacks.

Other developing countries in Southeast Asia are also suffering from inadequate energy capacity and experiencing blackouts. But they don’t have peace and order problems that can threaten large-scale, long-term investments in the energy sector.

The exception is Indonesia, home of the Southeast Asian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah and separatist movements that JI is exploiting. But Indonesians are dealing with the problem through better law enforcement and by fostering understanding and social harmony that could deprive lawless elements of public support.

In this endeavor, the cooperation of all sectors, including mass media, is needed. For journalists, it can be a complicated task.

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The terror threat has become globalized, and “glocalized” – with no central international figure pulling all the strings, but rather with local groups advancing their individual causes through violent extremism in their own countries.

The threat can slow down development throughout an entire region and destabilize even advanced economies. This is why countries such as New Zealand and members of the European Union are sponsoring events that aim to foster understanding in multicultural societies.

For journalists, the issues are complex. Last week in Jakarta, an Australian Muslim of Egyptian descent who lectures on politics in Australia’s Monash University asked journalists: What if on 9/11, the planes rammed the Twin Towers in New York, and mass media ignored the story?

The question was posed by Waleed Aly at the closing of the second East Asia Regional Media Program sponsored by New Zealand and the EU.

It was Aly’s way of illustrating how mass media could be used by religious extremists as mouthpieces and propagandists, which could fan religious biases and bigotry.

Since Aly tossed the question to a gathering of journalists, all of whom would have been fired if they even hesitated for a second to cover 9/11 as it unfolded, his question was met by silence.

He might have provoked more media soul-searching if he had used another example, wherein the choice of whether or not to run a story would have clearer ramifications on peaceful co-existence among people of diverse backgrounds.

There was no way any journalist could have ignored the story of two commercial jets being rammed by some its passengers into the two tallest buildings in Manhattan, with another hitting the Pentagon in Washington, leaving thousands dead. The attack was such a huge success for the perpetrators because of the sheer breadth of the atrocity, and not because, as Aly wanted to imply, it was covered from start to finish in real time by television, although the live coverage certainly added to the horror. With or without mass media, that kind of story would have spread worldwide.

But I’m sure the journalists who participated in the media program got Aly’s drift. And we have to assure people that there are debates in many newsrooms about drawing the line between fair reporting and glorifying terrorists, and about aggravating racial, ethnic or religious tension no matter how much we try to be fair and responsible in news coverage.

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On the first day of the program, held at the headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Aly told us that violence often stems from a feeling of humiliation. Could the feeling be eased by creating a world in which one’s voice can be heard? This is where mass media can play a role.

The task is not a simple one. The theme of the program was “journalism at the intersection of politics, religion and culture.” Reporting on conflict can shape public opinion in a way that reinforces discrimination.

Former Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, the program’s keynote speaker who was involved in peace efforts in his country, told us that in conflict resolution, it is generally not a good idea to bring in mass media every step of the way.

Conflict reporting has killed and endangered many media workers. During the program I listened to senior journalists who have covered the conflict areas of Asia, from Indonesia’s Aceh and Maluku to southern Thailand and Sri Lanka all the way to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and they all had first-hand accounts of living dangerously.

The job is made more difficult by low salaries and inadequate logistics provided by cash-strapped media organizations. Thai journalists joke that they have to think globally, report regionally and receive local pay.

Some media members also object to so-called peace journalism, arguing that advocacy through the news compromises objectivity and that mass media must not take an active role in a peace process.

When a journalist is directly affected by armed conflict, can he be a disinterested observer in news coverage? Can his personal biases get in the way of a peace process? As Phillip Knightley wrote in his book First Casualty, a war correspondent can be a hero, propagandist and mythmaker.

Coverage of terrorism is complicated. We have heard often enough that one-man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Last week Dulmatin, the top bomb maker of Southeast Asian terror cell Jemaah Islamiyah, was shot dead in a police raid in the outskirts of Jakarta. Was Dulmatin someone’s freedom fighter?

Dulmatin had a $10-million bounty on his head in connection with the nightclub bombings in 2002 in Bali, which killed 202 people. Before Indonesia executed the JI members who planted and set off the bombs, the Indonesian media featured the murderers’ relatives, who of course extolled the killers’ unsung virtues. Indonesians criticized the seeming glorification of mass murderers.

This time I didn’t notice any public complaints about media accounts of Dulmatin’s death.

Indonesia is dealing with the terror threat. A key player in the Indonesian energy industry told me that the country is building new power plants using both existing and innovative technology. There is no concern, he said, that the power plants might be bombed.