One of our main activities is organising and hosting Luncheon Briefings on pertinent topics of EU-Asia relations. Beginning with an informal lunch, the Briefings usually last for 1.5 hours, including questions.

Attendees include EIAS members and other interested parties.

Experts wishing to discuss a possible topic for a Lucheon Briefing are invited to contact EIAS Direct Dr Willem van der Geest.

Cartoons and Freedoms - the perspective of an Indonesian Editor
9 March, 2006

Speaker: Mr Endy M. Bayuni, Chief Editor of The Jakarta Post
Chair: Dr. Willem van der Geest, Director, European Institute for Asian Studies, Brussels

Listen to Dr Willem van der Geest interviewing the speaker

“The cartoon controversy will subside sooner or later, but beyond giving a bad name to free speech, it will leave a long lasting and detrimental impact on the people in many countries, including Indonesia, in terms of the struggle for their own freedom of speech and democracy.”
Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post 06/02/2006

As the violent protests sparked by the publication of caricatures depicting the prophet Muhammad begin to die down, a more fundamental debate about the role and responsibility of the press in promoting free speech wages on. The European Institute for Asian Studies is honoured to welcome Mr Endy Bayuni to speak at its premises. As Chief Editor of the Jakarta Post and an advocate of press freedom and the free flow of information, Mr Bayuni recently lamented the rationale of those sections of the press who chose to publish and reprint cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. What will the long term, wider implications of this controversy be for democratising countries already struggling to define the role of the media and the right to freedom of speech?

Prior to assuming the post of Chief Editor with the Jakarta Post in 2004, Mr. Bayuni held several positions on the paper, in addition to assignments with Reuters and Agence France Presse. From 2003 to 2004 he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship for a Journalism Program at Harvard University. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics from Kingston University, UK.

Listen to Dr Willem van der Geest interviewing the speaker

Download the Letter of Invitation (pdf)

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