The Indonesian Press Council has supported the Thai media's fight for self-regulation and has urged the government and lawmakers to respect press freedom.
Nezar Patria, head of the Indonesian Press Council delegation, said his organisation has been observing with grave concern state attempts to issue legislation to interfere with independent self-regulation of the Thai media.
"I support our Thai colleagues' fight for press freedom and self-regulation," he said during the delegation's visit to the National Press Council of Thailand on Thursday.
The Indonesian delegation is in Thailand to discuss cooperation with their Thai counterparts to protect press freedom, strengthen media ethics, and promote independent press councils in the Asean region.
In Indonesia, the council independently handles media complaints for all professional media agencies, while violations by those who do not meet professional and ethical criteria are handled by the courts without state intervention, said Imam Wahyudi, committee member of the Indonesian Press Council.
Effective handling of media complaints is a key factor for maintaining public trust, said Chavarong Limpattamapanee, president of the National Press Council of Thailand (NPCT).
"Now, complaints are primarily handled by each media organisations' internal ombudsmen which comprise media professionals, academics and civil society members, to speed up the process and ensure fairness and transparency," he said.
The system is the NPCT's initiative
During a courtesy call on Anusart Suwanmongkol, chairman of the Thai-Indonesian Parliamentarians' Cooperation, at parliament on Thursday, Mr Patria and other committee members of the Indonesian Press Council urged Thai legislators to respect media self-regulation.
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