Censors reconsider Schindler's List again

JAKARTA (JP): The Film Censorship Board has called for another vote next week to determine on whether or not to pass the Oscar- winning film Schindler's List after nullifying the first one last Tuesday on technical grounds.

Board Executive Director Soekanto told The Jakarta Post yesterday that Tuesday's vote, which agreed to pass the film subject to cuts, was only attended 22 of the board's 45 members.

The required quorum is 23.

Although there were 24 votes, two of the members cast theirs by proxy, Soekanto said.

The decision to call another vote came even before Schindler's List's producer Steven Spielberg has responded to the decision. Spielberg has insisted that the film, which won seven Academy Awards, be shown in full or not at all. He pulled the film from Malaysia when Kuala Lumpur demanded cuts.

Soekanto said many of those who did not take part in Tuesday's vote protested the decision to pass the film despite the proposal to cut the "pornographic and sadistic" scenes.

"Following the protests, this morning we held a special meeting of five board members chaired directly by the chief of the Board, Alex Leo, to look into Tuesday's vote," he said.

It was then that they discovered the vote had been invalid because of the presence of two proxy votes, he added. He did not comment on why the proxy votes were deemed unacceptable in this particular vote.

The film, which tells about some 1,100 Jews who were saved from a Nazi death camp by a German profiteer during the World War II, had been criticized by many Moslem leaders in Indonesia who called it a Zionist propaganda.

Schindler's List won seven Oscars, including those for best picture, best director and best screenplay adaptation.

Soekanto had earlier said that the board did not consider whether or not the film propagated Zionism when making the decision about the film's status last Tuesday. However, he declined to predict the outcome of next week's vote. (11)

Editorial -- Page 4