The incident took place when the Philippines` President Benigno Aquino III and his entourage were going to the APEC meeting venue. Then, all of a sudden, the Hong Kong journalists inappropriately pushed a microphone towards him and shouted "You have ignored the Hong Kong People" and "Are you meeting CY Leung?" at the president.
Given the aggressive behaviour of the journalists, President Aquino chose not to respond to the questions and the APEC security staff members had to pull the journalists away from the presidential entourage.
"Such an action is inappropriate for the media; they were not speaking normally but were demonstrative; it`s like they were protesting about something. As far as I know, journalists have their own code of ethics. Furthermore, this is an international event where professionalism is required," said an official from the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information, Gatot Dewabroto, shortly after the incident.
About the possibility that these Hong Kong journalists may hold a boycott of the 2013 APEC news coverage, Gatot said, "It`s their own right."
Currently, the APEC media centre secretariat has disabled the ID cards of the four journalists. Now, they cannot enter the premises or any other APEC 2013 venues.
Sham Yee-lan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said the Aquino government "has not provided a satisfactory explanation" for the demise of the eight Hong Kong residents and added that the journalists in Bali were only carrying out their duties.
"Limiting the media to ask critical questions is a direct violation of the freedom of the press, which is totally unacceptable," he said in a statement quoted by AFP.
However, Aquino`s spokesman Ricky Carandang said the reporters had crossed the line of ethics because they were asking questions in an aggressive manner.
"The behaviour of the journalists was also over the line than just a mock question, and even interpreted by the Indonesian security forces as a potential physical threat to the President of the Philippines," Ricky said in Bali.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
