Timor-Leste Has Southeast Asia's Best Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) named Timor-Leste as the country with the best press freedom index in Southeast Asia in 2021. The country had a press freedom index score of 29.11 points, down 0.79 points compared to 2020. Timor-Leste ranked 71st globally in the index.

Indonesia followed with a press freedom index score of 37.4 points in 2021, up 0.58 points compared to the previous year. As a result, Indonesia ranked 113th globally.

The decrease in Indonesia's score was due to the Indonesian government's perceived restrictions on media access in West Papua. Furthermore, many local journalists in the region continue to be victims of violence. Foreign and local journalists can also be arrested for attempting to document humanitarian issues and Indonesian military abuses.

Following Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand had press freedom index scores of 39.47 points and 45.22 points respectively in 2021. The Philippines followed with a score of 45.64 points.

RSF calculates the press freedom index through questionnaires to experts in 180 countries. The index consists of six indicators that describe a country's performance in media pluralism, independence, and the safety and freedom of journalists. The index score is on a scale of 0-100, where a higher score indicates a worse level of press freedom.