Indonesia Ranks Far Below Timor-Leste in ASEAN Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has again assessed press freedom in 180 countries worldwide. Countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were included in this assessment.

The assessment uses a scale of 0-100. The higher the score, the better the press freedom in that country, and vice versa.

Timor-Leste, a new ASEAN member, ranked first with a score of 84.49 points, placing it 17th globally. This is an improvement from the previous year's score of 81.89 points.

Malaysia followed in second place with a considerable gap, achieving 62.83 points. Thailand came in third with 55.24 points.

Indonesia ranked fourth with 54.83 points, placing it 117th globally. However, this score represents an increase from the previous year's 49.27 points.

Singapore followed in fifth place with 47.88 points, followed by the Philippines with 46.21 points.

Vietnam ranked last among ASEAN countries with a score of only 24.58 points.

(See also: 10 Countries with the Best Press Freedom in the World 2022, How About Indonesia?)

Generally, RSF categorized the state of press freedom in the countries it studied.

31 countries were categorized as having a "very serious" or severely restricted press freedom environment, 42 countries as "difficult," 55 countries as "problematic," and 52 countries as "good" or "satisfactory."

"In other words, the journalism environment is very poor in 7 out of 10 countries, and satisfactory in only 3 out of 10 countries," wrote RSF in its report.

RSF stated that each country or region's score was evaluated using five indicators reflecting the press freedom situation: political context, legal framework, economic context, socio-cultural context, and security.

Norway topped the rankings with a score of 95.18 points, followed by Ireland and Denmark with 89.91 and 89.48 points respectively.

This report was published to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2023.

The following is the press freedom index for ASEAN countries in 2023:

* Timor-Leste: 84.49 points
* Malaysia: 62.83 points
* Thailand: 55.24 points
* Indonesia: 54.83 points
* Singapore: 47.88 points
* Philippines: 46.21 points
* Brunei Darussalam: 44.2 points
* Cambodia: 42.02 points
* Laos: 36.66 points
* Myanmar: 28.26 points
* Vietnam: 24.58 points

(See also: World Press Freedom Day, Journalists Still Being Killed in 2023)