Govt told to quickly rescue `TVRI'<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) urged the
\ngovernment on Monday to rescue state-owned television station
\nTVRI from bankruptcy, arguing that the state needed public
\ntelevision.<\/p>\n
"I feel really sad knowing that TVRI is on the brink of
\nbankruptcy. It's an emergency situation that the government must
\ndeal with quickly," member of House Commission I for
\ncommunication and information affairs Djoko Susilo told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Fellow Commission I member Paulus Widiyanto urged the Office
\nof the State Minister of State Enterprises to complete TVRI's
\ncorporate transition process straight away.<\/p>\n
He also told local administrations to help finance TVRI's
\nstations in their respective provinces.<\/p>\n
The government decided in April 2002 to change TVRI from a
\nsocial service corporation to a limited liability company. As a
\nresult, TVRI would no longer receive funds directly from the
\nstate budget but through the Office of the State Minister of
\nState Enterprises (BUMN), after completing the process to become
\na company, which included letting the office appoint TVRI's board
\nof directors.<\/p>\n
However, the office has not thus far completed that task,
\nwhile the Ministry of Finance has stopped allocating funds to
\nTVRI.<\/p>\n
Consequently, several TVRI stations in provinces such as
\nNanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Lampung, Bengkulu and Central
\nKalimantan stopped operating since last October, while stations
\nin Central Java, North Sumatra and West Sumatra are all on the
\nverge of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
Djoko said that his commission had discussed steps to urge the
\ngovernment to inject funds to rescue TVRI. "We've been
\nformulating a letter to the Minister of Finance, urging him to
\ndisburse money from the reserve funds in the state budget."<\/p>\n
Ade Armando, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia's
\ncommunications department, voiced a similar opinion.<\/p>\n
"Every country should have its own public television that is
\nfinancially supported by the government. Such public television
\nshould convey, unlike TVRI's disappointing current market-
\noriented programs, educational and cultural programs," Ade said.<\/p>\n
He cited countries in Western Europe as examples. "They
\nallocate money for public television stations from revenue
\nsources such as TV and radio taxes, sponsorships from companies
\nand donations," he said.<\/p>\n
As for TVRI, he acknowledged that the state could not be the
\nsole source of funds, while citizens were reluctant to make any
\ncontributions because TVRI's programs were not popular.<\/p>\n
"So, as stipulated in the Broadcasting Law, commercials could
\nbe one of TVRI's sources of finance, besides donations and the
\nstate budget," he said.<\/p>\n
Although he supported the existence of TVRI as public
\ntelevision, he said that TVRI should change its programs to
\nsomething educational.<\/p>\n
"TVRI should provide the benchmark for good television
\nprograms, while KPI should be the one that monitors the quality
\nof its programs," said Ade, referring to the Indonesian
\nBroadcasting Committee.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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