KEMUNDURAN DEMOKRASI DAN KEBEBASAN PERS DI ASIA TENGGARA: REFLEKSI DARI ENAM NEGARA

Abstract

Freedom of the press and the development of democracy are intrinsically intertwined. However, the trend of
democratic decline globally also negatively affected press and media freedom, including in Southeast Asia, where
scores on the democracy index stagnated and tended to decline. This article selects six of the eleven countries in
Southeast Asia as the object of comparison, namely Timor Leste, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia,
and Thailand. A comparison was made on several aspects of press and media freedom in the six selected countries
using survey data obtained through V-Dem, Freedom House, and Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). The descriptive
analysis was conducted through literature related to the conditions of democracy and freedom of the press in six
countries. The aspects of press and media freedom compared include government censorship efforts, harassment
of journalists, media bias, media corrupt, and media self-censorship. Through a comparison of six countries, it
generally reflects that the condition of press and media freedom has linearity with the trend of democratic decline.
In countries with declining democracy scores, press and media freedom scores also decline. In most Southeast
Asian countries, commitments to freedom of the press are generally undermined by laws and regulations that place
restrictions, tight controls, and intimidation on media organizations and journalists. This practice most clearly
reflects the democratic decline in Southeast Asia