Censor board receives sharp criticism from House members

JAKARTA (JP): The Institute of Film Censorship was strongly criticized during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with legislators accusing it of being lax, particularly toward films shown on television.

Members of the House Commission I for foreign affairs, defense and information told institute's officials that many of the films shown on local TV still contained too "much violence and pornography".

They also said that many of the films passed by the censorship board "were not educative" and "went against the nation's cultural values".

Executives of the Advisory Board for National Films were not spared the House's wrath during the joint hearing.

Ali Rasyidi, a Golkar member who chaired the hearing, said the "violence and pornography" shown in the films that passed the censors have strongly influenced Indonesian's behavior.

He attributed the increase in rapes and other forms of brutality in Indonesia to the influence of films and television.

Representatives of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) criticized telenovelas, the Latin American soap operas that are gaining popularity among Indonesian television viewers.

B.N. Marbun said these Latin dramas undermine the development and conservation of the nation's traditional values.

He said screening telenovelas doesn't follow the spirit of the 1992 Film Law. The law underlines the need to promote national culture.

Marbun pointed out that private television networks show imported programs at the expense of local shows.

Sophan Sophiaan, a film star and PDI member, questioned the professional capability of the institute in screening films that use languages other than English as shown in the way it passed the telenovelas.

The Latin drama has been dubbed into Indonesia.

"How can we expect the institute to work well if most of its members cannot speak English, Chinese and Spanish well," he said.

Marbun called on big businesses to invest in producing local films to help fight the domination of foreign films.

"Producing national films should be a promising business prospect because of the sheer number of potential viewers," he said.

Advisory Board Chairman Johan Tjasmadi told the hearing that he has complained to the government about violations by TV stations, but not action has been taken. (rms)