Broadcasting bill to be sent back for amendment

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will send the broadcasting bill, passed last December, back to the House of Representatives for amendment, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said yesterday.

Moerdiono told House Commission II for home affairs that the President would soon write to House Speaker Wahono asking for an unprecedented second deliberation of the bill.

"The President objects to some of the contents of the bill," Moerdiono said.

He declined to elaborate, but said that one of things to be reconsidered was the stipulation that a national TV station had to have a broadcasting coverage that reached half the country's population.

"How come a national broadcasting covers only half of the population? The President finds this a principal matter," Moerdiono said.

In a separate hearing at the House, newly inducted Minister of Information R. Hartono said another thing that might be amended was the stipulation that the ministry issues operational licenses for broadcasters on a five-yearly basis.

"The term is too short, because the broadcasting business deals with big investment. I think the licenses should ideally apply for at least 10 years," said Hartono, who was making his first appearance in the House.

The bill's stipulations on punitive measures for violators were also likely to be amended, Hartono said. The bill sets punishments ranging from administrative sanctions to imprisonment for up to 10 years.

This is the first time in the New Order era that the President has refused to enact a bill and returned it to the House for amendment. The government-sponsored bill was intended to be the country's first broadcasting law.

The House passed the bill seven months after then minister of information Harmoko submitted a draft. Twenty articles were added to the 58 submitted in the draft.

A second deliberation of the bill will impose another burden on legislators who are expected to deliberate and pass eight bills before their term ends Sept. 30.

The bill, which gives the government sweeping powers to regulate the broadcasting including advertising and the use of new communications technology, has raised many eyebrows because most bills take much less time to become law.

The nuclear power bill, which the House approved more than two months after the broadcasting bill, took only 43 days to be enacted.

Hartono said the broadcasting bill needed improvement to anticipate future challenges.

"Nothing is perfect in this world. But now let's talk with an open heart (to improve the bill). What we want is that once we have a law, it will last long," Hartono said.

Hartono said that House Speaker Wahono had agreed to a second deliberation of the bill in their recent meeting.

Golkar legislator Abu Hasan Sazili, who chaired the House's special team which deliberated the bill, said he welcomed the chance to review the bill.

"We are ready for a second deliberation for the sake of our national interests," he said.

He said the House should learn from the traffic bill which sparked protests over heavy fines when it was passed in 1992. Enactment of the Traffic Law was delayed for a year due to the strong public reaction.

Golkar faction chairman Moestahid Astari and his United Development Party counterpart, Hamzah Haz, supported the plan last week to amend the bill. They said there was nothing wrong with deliberating the bill again if it would otherwise cause unrest.

Indonesian Democratic Party legislator Sabam Sirait suggested another way out. He said the government could issue a decree on broadcasting. (amd)