Broadcast bill debate goes into extra time

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives' debate on the government's broadcasting bill has had to go into extra time because of the growing number of issues involved, the head of the committee handling the legislative piece said yesterday.

Abu Hasan Sazili said the bill would be enacted on Dec. 9, Antara reported.

The House had originally hoped to do this yesterday.

Sazili, the deputy chairman of the House's Commission I which deals with the flow of information, denied the delay was because of disagreements about the bill's content.

All sides have been accommodating, he said.

The House has had to add more clauses because there are so many issues the bill should cover, he said. The bill has grown from 58 chapters to 75 chapters.

"This is extraordinary," said the member of the dominant Golkar faction.

The addition includes items intended to regulate new information technology such as the internet and multimedia, Sazili said.

The bill is the first attempt to regulate Indonesia's flourishing broadcasting industry through legislation. Currently, the industry operates under government regulations.

Current regulations give state-owned TVRI a monopoly on television although in the last five years the government has licensed five private television channels.

The regulations also give TVRI a monopoly on television news but private broadcasters have been running their own news as well as relaying TVRI's official news.

The government said the new bill was intended to allow for the industry's healthy development and deal with its negative excesses.

Sazili said during the debate on the bill, the House proposed the establishment of a supervisory council for the broadcasting industry.

This council would comprise experts from various disciplines and industry and government representatives, he said.

Another addition to the bill the House was seeking was the requirement that all broadcasting companies issue some of their shares to employees, Sazili said.

The employee share concept has already been implemented in newspapers and magazines in compliance with the 1982 Press Law. (emb)