Broadcasting bill controversy continues
Broadcasting bill controversy continues
JAKARTA (JP): The long-awaited bill on broadcasting continues to spark controversy in its making despite government efforts to be as accommodative as possible, a legislator said in a seminar yesterday.
Marwah Daud Ibrahim, a member of the House of Representatives from Golkar faction involved in the deliberation of the bill, said she is skeptical whether the future law could regulate the intangible process of electronic information transmission.
"Wouldn't the bill restrain us while foreign broadcasts freely reach our audiences?" she said, adding that the government has been "very patient and accommodative."
The one day-seminar was held by the Indonesia chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), to provide contributive insights into the bill's deliberation.
The bill has been widely criticized for its "restrictive" nature. If passed, observers believe, the bill could be used by the government to expand its control over the media.
Various suggestions have been proposed, including an independent self-regulatory body serving as the media's watchdog, she added.
Erman Rajaguguk, a professor of law at the University of Indonesia, listed 10 shortcomings of the bill which he said conveyed mixed messages and rendered it ineffective.
As an example Erman cited article 9 of the bill which prohibits private television and radio stations from being owned by organizations with vested interests in politics or religion.
"If audiences are not interested, they can shift to other channels, but at least they have the chance to choose," he said.
House member Abu Hasan Sazili, chairman of the bill's deliberation team, said that the team is proposing administrative and criminal sanctions for violators.
"It is equally difficult to set the regulating standards with our weak law enforcement," Abu told The Jakarta Post.
Abu hopes that the deliberation of the bill will be completed by next month. "But that is not a rigid deadline," he added.
Two foreign speakers at the seminar advocated that the deliberating team weighs heavily the concept of freedom of expression in drafting the bill.
Senyon Kim, a Korean IAA member, said that the free flow of commercial information will boost fair and healthy competition among media.
Javed Jabbar, a former Pakistani minister of information, added that freedom of expression is less important compared to the citizen's right to receive information.
"After all, the concept of freedom of expression depends on the direction that the society and the country wishes to take," the outspoken speaker said. (14)