Ban on foreign broadcasts

Early every Thursday morning, starting at 5:30 a.m., I am used to listening to the Voice of America (VOA) talk show on TV channel Indosiar. The show is very interesting and highly informative. On Thursday Aug. 29, the show featured an interview with an Indonesian scholar studying for her PhD at the University of Maryland on a topic titled: What are the factors impeding (the progress of) the women's emancipation movement in Indonesia?

Most interesting were the questions put forward by Indonesian listeners, while the eloquent answers from the scholar proved to be very informative. Alas, these educational VOA talk shows that feature interesting topics face the danger of being banned by a bill, which, if enacted, will eliminate the transmission of foreign broadcasts on domestic TV channels.

The article by Abdullah Alamudi titled New broadcast bill kills press freedom (The Jakarta Post, Sept.2) came as a tremendous shock. According to the report, while the reception of foreign broadcasts on satellite will be permitted, publicly airing the shows on domestic TV stations will be prohibited. This kind of discrimination being predicated on just the distinction of media facility is preposterous, because this means people who can afford to have a satellite dish in the city are able to watch foreign broadcasts, but those living in remote areas of the country without any access to a satellite dish will be denied the privilege.

In defense of the usefulness of foreign broadcasts, in terms of how they disseminate general knowledge and information, it is necessary to keep in mind, at least, some pertinent precepts as follows. In Law No. 39/1999 on basic human rights, everyone is entitled to have access to information on the benefits of science, technology, art and culture consistent with human dignity, and to be able to communicate and have access to information necessary to advancing their personal intellect and developing their social environment (Articles 13 and 14).

It can be argued that the anticipated ban on airing foreign broadcasts on local TV is utterly unfounded from both aspects of national law and international law.

SRI HARTATI, Jakarta