Broadcasting bill criticized
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The latest draft of the broadcasting law, to be deliberated in the next two weeks, reveals the ignorance of the House of Representatives and the government in regards public demands for revision of several contentious articles.
Various groups have urged the lawmakers to drop a clause that allows civil service investigators to ban a broadcasting station. This regulation, they said, was a repeat of the New Order regime's authoritarian practice to control the media.
Both the House and the government also maintained an article that empowered government to interfere in broadcasting activities.
The House special committee deliberating the bill and Minister of Communication and Information Syamsul Mu'arif agreed on Tuesday that the draft law would be brought forward for endorsement on Nov. 25 as planned. They said there was not enough time to discuss and to adopt all items proposed by various groups.
Leo S. Batubara of the Indonesian Press and Broadcasting Society (MPPI) expressed his regret, saying that both legislators and government failed to accommodate the aspirations of the people.
"They do not listen to public demand. They work only according to their own concept," Leo told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The MPPI staged five demonstrations and placed advertisements in the media to call for public resistance against the contentious articles in the bill, but legislators and the minister turned a deaf ear and remained unbending.
"We've done our best, but it seems we've lost the battle," Leo said.
According to Leo, the ignorance of legislators and the minister indicated an authoritarian attitude, which he said was the true character of Indonesian officials.
Meanwhile, Gecko Sassily, a member of the House special committee deliberating the bill, told the press on Wednesday that the broadcasting bill will be endorsed on Nov.25. He said his team would use the time left to accommodate as many public aspirations as possible in the bill.
Should there be a deadlock, legislators and the minister have agreed to use the final draft completed on Sept. 26.
"We have done our best. If it does not satisfy the public they can take action," Gecko added.
The deliberation of the broadcasting bill began two years ago, and was further prolonged by the cabinet shake-up as a result of the transfer of power from Abdurrahman Wahid to Megawati Soekarnoputri in July last year.
Protests, including those from members of the House special committee, have marked the deliberation. Legislator Astrid S. Susanto of the Indonesian Nationhood Unity Faction (FKKI) walked out of the conference room in September to protest what she deemed the government's lack of commitment to the bill.