As they prepared to leave this northern Thai city after the four-day forum, participants said they found the Forum unique for the diversity of views and frank, sometimes heated debates on Mekong topics not always discussed openly.

Read the Day 4 stories:

Diversity, Frank Talk Mark Mekong Media Forum
‘Reborn’ at the Forum’s End
ANALYSIS: China’s PR Problem
In Thailand, Nationalism Undercuts Journalism – Expert
Not Lost in Translation

Watch the Day 4 videos:

Closing Video: ‘We Learned A Lot’ – Mekong Journalists

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 12 (TerraViva) – The diversity of views at the Mekong Media Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the frankness which with some touchy topics were discussed, from China’s behaviour in the Mekong region to the situation in Burma and how journalists make their way through sometimes tricky media terrain were among the hallmarks of the just-ended forum, participants say.

More than 220 participants, nearly 100 of them journalists from the six Mekong countries, attended the Dec.9-12  forum.

“I really didn’t expect that the Mekong dams issue is so controversial in this conference,” said Zhu Yan, senior editor at the national broadcaster China Central Television, referring to the heated discussions that occurred in one of the sessions about water resources and dam constructions in the upper reaches of the Mekong river.

As a Beijing-based journalist, Zhu Yan said the particular issue about China’s role in the issue “wasn’t major news” in the Beijing-based press. “I think the reporters based in the south of China, such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong, have a better understanding of these things,” he added.

China’s hydropower projects along the upper stretch of the Mekong River have been blamed by downstream countries for a host of environmental impacts, ranging from unstable levels of water, floods and salination in the Mekong Delta. China however has said that the two dams it has now would help ensure water supply to these countries during the dry season.

While the debate about the topic will continue, Moeun Nhean, publisher of ‘The Cambodian Scene’ magazine, says the point is that journalists and other participants were able to discuss openly their questions about China’s role in the region and how media reports on the matter.

He is happy about the presence and active participation of Chinese journalists in the Forum. “Before, Chinese journalists come in and just listen and keep quiet. It used to be when they wouldn’t even react and answer questions about China’s policies about dams,” he said.

Zhu Yan agrees that the Forum brings journalists together so certain issues could be discussed in an open manner. “I think we should expand our knowledge some more about this controversial issue,” he added.

The discussion also opened the eyes of Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Kim Ngan about China and the controversies attached to its policies. “Before coming here, I was very angry with China in general because of the water resources issue, for instance, but I wasn’t sure where or what brought on that anger. Now, after listening to the views of our Chinese counterparts here, I realised that it’s not fair to generalise and blame the whole country,” said Kim Ngan.

A few participants from non-Mekong countries expressed surprised at the passionate debates about China’s growing influence in the Mekong region.

“I found it very interesting to have quite a lot of people from China here and the sometimes tense situation in the course of the discussions between the people from China and the rest of the Mekong,” said Lars Krauss from Germany.

Susanne Ornager, UNESCO adviser for Communication and Information in Asia, agrees but points out that “there are other things and issues to discuss apart from the dams. “Of course, we’re here to talk about the Mekong region, but China broadened the subject, I think, in the way they said that there are other things, other issues about China,” she said.

Tan Keng Sooi, a journalist who works with the Lao news agency KPL, was pleased that water governance issues were discussed, saying that the Forum “sounded the warning bells of the future” of the Mekong. “The Forum is on the right track by having the water theme here,” he said.

Forum participants also thought discussions about Burma quite interesting.

Ornager said they were “very good” because she said it gave her a more complete picture of what’s going on in the country. “Until now, at least on my side, Burma has been one country but what I learned here is that consists of many different tribes,” she said.

Two Burmese participants said that the Forum was great opportunity for them to meet their counterparts in the region and learn from each other. “This is a good way to further deeper relations among the participants and know more about our colleagues and their countries,” said one of them who had flown in from Rangoon, asking that she not be identified by name. “It’s very ‘free’ here to discuss things, even controversial issues,” she said.

Freelance Burmese journalist Soe Win Than found the interaction among the participants from the six Mekong countries particularly useful in his work. “I didn’t use to be interested in the gender issue but after listening to the lively exchange here among gender experts, I now find it more interesting,” he said, referring to the Dec. 11 sessions on media and gender. He also liked the discussion on children and borders.

Still, some expressed some disappointment that some topics they expected to be covered were missing.

Moeun Nhean said that because Chinese journalists do not represent the government and are not expected to speak for them, he would like to see more ‘voices’ from Chinese government representatives to answer questions about the Mekong dams.

“Although it’s great to know from the Chinese journalists’ side who are able to tell us what their government is doing about these issues, I also wanted to hear more about how the government is going to take the responsibility for the environmental effects of the dams,” he said.

Vongsone Oudomsouk, project manager of the United Nations Development Programme’s Khoun Radio Support Project, wanted to hear more about resolutions to the problems of the Mekong dam projects. “I think there wasn’t enough discussion about how we can all work together — practical steps — to resolve the problem,” he said.

Sutthida Malikaew, freelance writer and consultant on HIV/AIDS and trafficking issues in Thailand, thought the Forum could have featured more sessions on people and culture in the Mekong. “The relationships among the countries in the region, their similarities, can promote better understanding among participants. We should look at the Mekong not as a river but a region as a whole,” said Sutthida.

U.S. journalist Patrick Kelly wanted to see more discussion about the inner workings of the media in the Mekong in relation to the issues. “I found many of the panel discussions here were focused on the issues themselves rather than the work of the media and collaborative efforts,” he said.

But ‘China Daily’ senior journalist Mu Qian thought that many of the topics featured in the Forum were quite new, especially since “in China, we don’t talk about many of the topics discussed here”.

Although he thought the sessions were a good “brainstorming experience”, he said that the topics might be “a little bit too much from western angles”, specifically on the gender and health issues. He said that, at least from a Chinese perspective, he would consider the gaps between those belonging to different socio-economic levels in China more an issue. “Equality between men and women in China is much better than those, say, between farmers and urban residents, or those belong to different socio-economic groups,” he said. “I think it’s very difficult to talk about the gender issue as a whole because different countries have different experiences about this.”

Also, Mu Qian proposed that future conferences can discuss more the cultural linkages among the Mekong countries and how these linkages could be used to unite the region.

Japanese illustrator Akira Mizuno, whose illustrations about Vietnam were exhibited at the Forum, said: “It’s a bit sad that Japan is not represented here because they also need very much to be involved in this kind of conversation. Being a big donor in infrastructure projects, the Japanese government don’t realise the deeper nuances of what’s going on in the Mekong,” said Mizuno, who noted the  Mekong countries’ sensitivity  to China’s growing power.

By Stanislaus Jude Chan

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 12 (TerraViva) – Yasmin Tang, executive director of Probe Media Foundation that co-organised the Mekong Media Forum, promised a “visual treat” to wrap up the proceedings at the end of the forum on Dec. 12. And a visual treat it was, as the Chiang Mai-based performing group Wandering Moon presented a theatrical extravaganza entitled ‘Reborn’.

With ingenious play on colours, lights and shadows, the troupe kept the audience enthralled as the four-day forum was brought to a close.

To be sure, the performance was as abstract as it was fascinating. Weaving lights in a multitude of striking colours; dancing cardboard cut-outs expertly wielded by puppeteers behind a shrouded veil; and a performer springing from her hiding place, an impossibly tiny light-box that lay in the foreground inconspicuously until that moment, midway through the show.

It was a shadow-puppet show with a difference. And it was a perfect, very appropriate, ending to the Mekong Media Forum. While considerably less abstract, the forum was no less fascinating.

Over the past three and a half days, a steady stream of participants – including sponsors, supporters, partners, speakers, delegates, fellows, volunteers, documenters, translators, technical staff and organisers – thronged the rooms and common areas at the conference venue. Comprising people from the six countries in the Mekong region – Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam – as well as a healthy dose of participants from outside the area, the myriad of different cultures and languages guaranteed discussions were often vibrant and colourful.

Behind the scenes, a flurry of activity as organisers scrambled to ensure the sessions ran smoothly. From translators and documenters, to technicians and volunteers, each quietly going unnoticed about their duties, preferring to let the speakers, delegates and issues take centre stage, in front of the spotlight.

The issues laid out during the Mekong Media Forum were important; these are issues that affect us directly. But, like the light-box in the foreground during the performance, these issues are often overlooked, especially by external audiences, but often, even by ourselves, as we get caught up in the more exciting, mainstream activities that demand our attention. And so we forget the marginalised, who lie unnoticed, even though they are right in front of our eyes.

‘Reborn’ speaks of unknown horrors, of bleeding hearts and free-flowing tears, reflecting the challenges faced by Mekong journalists. And as we turn the page, the pain and suffering transforms – with a little help – into joy and the freedom to take flight, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

Likewise, the Mekong Media Forum has been a step forward, towards creating a desirable media environment at a time of social and economic change. Hopefully, it has inspired us to be “reborn”, as with the closing performance, in our struggles to overcome challenges facing the media in the region.

As the curtain closes on the Mekong Media Forum, we look forward to the birth of a new venue, from within, for Mekong journalists.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (TerraViva) – Powerful neighbour. A rising power. Old friend. Big, secretive investor. Big boy of the region.

These were some of the terms participants at a talk-show format discussion at the Mekong Media Forum used when asked to share the images of China they get from the media.Several said they had mixed feelings about the country that is the big power in the Mekong region, among the biggest investors in their countries and has built two dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong River.

“There are two Chinas,” said Cambodian journalist Nguon Serath, editor of ‘Rasmei Kampuchea Daily’ newspaper. One is the country that has put in the biggest investments in Cambodia and “that is a good picture”, he explained. The second is the builder of dams in the Mekong river that has sowed discontent among communities in downstream countries from Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam and triggered letters of protest.

These comments, which came up through the four-day Forum, reflect the depth of resentment by neighbouring countries that perceive that China has run roughshod over their concerns about the impact of its dams on water levels, salination, worsening floods and their livelihoods.

Chinese diplomats and engineers, including at an October consultation held by the Mekong River Commission with in Chiang Rai, say that these problems are not due to the dams. The Lancang, as the upper reaches of the Mekong is called, contributes just 16 percent of the flow of the Mekong river, so damming cannot have such a huge impact on it, they have pointed out.

At the height of the record-high floods in Vientiane last year, the Mekong River Commission also issued a statement saying that based on a study of the volume of water involved, they could not have been caused by China’s dams.

But China’s views are not always read or heard much in the media of other Mekong countries as well in China’s own media. There is an information gap between upstream and downstream countries and communities, and this is perhaps part of why some Chinese journalists at the forum and audiences inside the country are surprised by the extent of the anger over its dam projects.

Over the years, it has become increasingly common for media reports in downstream countries to carry as ‘fact’ statements that China’s dams are behind uneven water levels and other water-related problems.

Media reports in Vietnam now carry articles criticising the dams. In June, Ngo Dinh Tuan, chair of the scientific council of the South-east Asia Institute of Water Resource and Environment, told ‘Tuoi Tre’ newspaper: “(Chinese) dam construction now joins hands with climate change to worsen droughts, salinity intrusion, landslides and land erosion.” He added: “The Vietnamese government must create a national strategy for protecting the river downstream, not only for the Mekong but the Red River (in Vietnam’s north), as China has started to build dams on it as well.”

The scrutiny given to China’s moves is a reflection of its soft power in the region.

This has been taking root since the nineties, as a more confident China signed cooperation accords with South-east Asian countries that had previously been impossible to discuss with Beijing (including the matter of the Spratly islands) except on a bilateral basis. Gradually, China’s image changed, from one of a threat to a power that had a ‘good neighbour’ policy toward South-east Asia. Today, the story angle of the ‘China threat’ is gone.

But its behaviour in the Mekong region, especially in the years since the first Mekong mainstream dam was built in 1993 and the second one in 2005, has been judged heavily against the backdrop of these hydropower projects.

Journalists say it is far from easy to get the views of China or Chinese officials in their stories, though Chinese colleagues also explained new trends point to more accessibility these days. Language is also a challenge.

Perhaps all the attention paid to China – and the depth of uneasiness toward its Mekong moves — is the price to pay for its large political footprint. “America in Asia”, in fact, was a phrase that Beijing-based journalist Lin Gu cited to refer to China’s power in the region.

He said that China is learning the ropes of being a power, and is concerned about how it is viewed by the outside world. “The (Chinese) government should understand that being beaten is part of the price to pay for being strong,” he said. At the same time, it still lacks confidence and can thus be “sensitive” and “overreacts” to criticism.

A barrage of questions about China’s dams also arose at the MRC meeting in October, from hydrologists, engineers, water researchers and academics and campaigners. In an interview, Chinese diplomat Lu Hai Tien said “we will bring all these concerns back” to Beijing.

Lu, from the Department of International Organisations and Conferences of China’s foreign ministry, conceded that there were many concerns about China, and “that’s why we are here”. Told that Mekong journalists had difficulty getting the Chinese government’s views, he said:  Maybe there has not been a proper platform for China to express its views.”

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 12 (TerraViva) – When it comes to reporting about their neighbouring countries, journalists in Thailand’s mainstream media display a national security bias, often presenting a distorted view of reality and reflecting some prejudices against them.The ongoing diplomatic spat between wealthier Thailand and its less affluent eastern neighbour Cambodia, a country with which

Prof. Puangthong

it has had a chequered history, is a vivid example where the Thai media has “contributed to the problem,” Puangthong Pawakapan, assistant professor at the department of international relations at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, told the just-finished Mekong Media Forum here.

The forum, organised by IPS Asia-Pacific and the Philippine-based Probe Media Foundation, brought together more than 220 media professionals, notably journalists, and other participants from the six Mekong countries.

“The Thai media revealed a lack of professionalism in reporting about the Preah Vihear temple dispute,” said Puangthong Pawakapan, assistant professor at the department of international relations at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. “Misinformation fed the feelings in most Thai press reports.”

“The media displayed a very nationalistic streak,” added Puangthong. “As long as the Thai media adopt a nationalistic view and refuse to investigate all the available documents related to the temple issue, they are part of the obstacles to a peaceful solution to the Thai-Cambodia problem.”

Preah Vihear is the 10th-century Hindu temple at the heart of this latest dispute between the South-east Asian neighbours, and has fired nationalistic passions in both countries. The Preah Vihear temple sits on the edge of a steep cliff along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Thai anger burst to the surface following a decision in July last year by the World Heritage Committee to recognise Preah Vihear as a world heritage site. The committee also recognised a 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice that the temple was within Cambodian territory.

The tension saw a spike in troop strength along this border area, where the Thai and Cambodian military have faced each other down before. In April this year, soldiers from both countries exchanged gunfire, leaving three people dead.

The temple sits adjacent to a small parcel of land that still remains a disputed area, with both Bangkok and Phnom Penh staking claims to it. The Thai media did not report the burning down by Thais of Cambodian shop-houses in this disputed territory after tensions arose last year, Puangthong recounted.

Thai feelings of “not wanting to be humiliated by Cambodia’s victory” over the temple also shaped Thai media coverage following Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s decision in November to appoint former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic advisor, added Puangthong.

Thaksin is a political nemesis of the current Thai government and a reviled figure of a right-wing, conservative, pro-royalist protest movement that has used the Preah Vihear issue and Thaksin’s new ties with Cambodia to stoke anti-Cambodian sentiments.

This new role for Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and who has lived in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for a conflict of interest case, has seen relations between the two countries plummet. In early November, the Thai government withdrew its ambassador from Phnom Penh, which the Cambodians followed, and then went on to revoke an agreement for the exploration of oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand.

Reportage of migrant workers from Burma, Thailand’s western neighbour, also revealed “negative representation” in the media, said Soe Lin Aung of the Chiang Mai-based Migrant Assistance Programme Foundation, grassroots group that champions the rights of migrant workers. “They are portrayed as illegal and temporary yet deserving of pity.”

Here, too, a combination of history, nationalism and security concerns have combined into a cocktail that has often led to over two million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand being portrayed in a “humane way” and as important contributors to key sectors of the Thai economy, such as agriculture, construction and the fisheries.

Books, plays and stories have fed Thai perceptions that “Burma is the other, around which Thailand has developed its national consciousness,” said Soe Lin Aung. “Migrants from Burma are seen as a national security threat.”

Consequently, research on stories about Burmese migrant workers, who have fled their military-ruled country for low-paying jobs, shows that they are often portrayed as “criminals,” with accompanying “sensationalist headlines”.

Furthermore, a study of 1,200 media reports that appeared in 13 Thai-language newspapers between 2004 and 2006 had stories about migrant workers but they often quoted government officials, the police and employers, said Sutthida Malikaew, a freelance Thai journalist and researcher. “There were no views of the migrant workers.”

“The focus was from a security perspective,” she added, indicating how Thailand is “still haunted by the hatred between the two countries” when kings in previous centuries from both countries waged war and sacked historic capitals, such as what a Burmese king did in Thailand’s historic capital of Ayutthaya.

Little wonder why Burmese migrant workers have begun to respond to such negative portraits by responding in like manner – creating their own media outlets such as a community radio station in Chiang Mai. A newspaper articulating migrant workers’ perspectives is also being published in Mae Sot along the Thai-Burma border, a province home to tens of thousands of Burmese migrant workers.

“Migrant communities have begun to contest mainstream media representations,” said Soe Lin Aung. “They want to be seen as human beings.” (END/IPS/TV/AP/IP/HD/DV/MMM/TBB/JS/09)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (TerraViva) – No, it’s not that odd buzzing in your ears you get from sleeping with your earphones on.Perched like small chickens in little grey booths are the Mekong Media Forum’s tireless translators stringing out sentences faster than you can say ‘What did he say?’

“Sometimes, when they (participants) start talking, they don’t really remember there are six other languages working in the background (catching up),” said Lin Zixin, our Mandarin translator from Singapore.

Lawyers, TV news anchors, graphic designers and paper company executives are probably not the first things that come to mind when you think of translators but our quick-witted MMF translators aren’t the usual suspects.

Martin, another Mandarin translator, works in Bangkok at Double A (the ubiquitous blue/turquoise packaged copier paper) as a marketing/IT executive while Tou, our Lao translator, designed the MMF logo.

So how did they end up translating for MMF, and before that the Imaging Our Mekong fellowships run by IPS Asia-Pacific and Probe Media Foundation?

“Ah, tough question!” laughed Tou. “I know Kino (the MMF coordinator), and Kino used to be the fellow here and she went to the Philippines (for training), “ referring to Imaging Our Mekong programme. He was since introduced to IPS and Probe and has since translated for Imaging Our Mekong workshops.

“At first I didn’t realise that it was a job I would end up doing, because I always I don’t usually talk too and drawing or designing… but so far it’s been good,” he added.

Sometimes, it’s not just the rapid-fire words from the speakers that our translators have to dodge, but the neighbour next to them who provide too much ‘ambience sound’.

“If we have a very soundproof booth, it would not be difficult,” mused Mike, our Vietnamese translator.  “But it’s quite challenging when we work in the room without the booths (such as in the Lanna Room) because our voice will interfere with another voice and we have to shout, not speak any more, to compete with other voices, so my throat is sore right now. . . though the shouting does relief the stress,” he joked.

“You’ll see us covering our ears to prevent disruption, and basically that works!” added Tou.

Occasionally the relay from non-English speakers comes with the added challenge of finding context from their fellow interpreter’s translations. “Simultaneous interpreting by itself is very already challenging… but with six different languages you’re not only listening to the speaker on the floor but you have to listen to a relay from the fellow interpreter and that’s very challenging,” said Pu, our Thai translator.

While some might think that being paid to talk endlessly might be a dream job, Mee, the other Thai translator and also a full-time professional translator, will let you know that much research goes into plan before arriving on the job.

“Preparation is the most important thing… before taking a job you have to study and come up with a glossary,” she said, when asked about understanding technical terms being used in the conference. “We usually ask for any slides, presentations or anything that can help us,” she added.

Translating  might even bring with it a thing or two to think about.

“I feel somehow that it’s related to my job as a reporter and as a translator. Being a translator, I want to listen to how people view media so that I can learn something,” said Thuy, our Vietnamese translator who is also a television reporter.

“Coming here, learning about all of these things, meeting different people, hearing different opinions, it has been very beneficial for me,” said Sophy, our Khmer translator and an aspiring author. “I’ve been able to learn new things in my career it has been a blessing.”

The other translators in the group are Mon, a former Imaging Our Mekong fellow, and Ronald, both of who translate into Burmese, Pui from Lao PDR and Yin Soeum from Cambodia.