Government to regulate laser disc circulation

Government to regulate laser disc circulation

JAKARTA (JP): The government will issue a regulation on laser
discs later this month to end the decade old controversy over the
legality of their circulation in Indonesia.

Along with the laser disc regulation, the Ministry of
Information will issue two decrees on the renaming of the
National Film Censorship Body and the establishment of the
National Film Advisory Council, which will replace it.

It is unclear if the duties of the state film institution will
be restructured.

Alex Leo Zulkarnain, the Director General for Radio,
Television and Film, said on Friday that the circulation of laser
discs will eventually be legalized.

The government will announce the legal status of every
imported laser disc once it has been screened by the advisory
council, which will determine whether it will be released to the
public without censorship, or be censored, or totally prohibited.

At present, laser discs are banned under Ministry of
Information Regulation No. 20/1983. This regulation has not been
enforced effectively and discs are openly on sale and for rent.

The 1983 regulation was issued following reports of illegal
door-to-door distribution of smuggled laser discs.

However, crackdowns on disc sales are rarely heard of except
when the films are considered pornographic. Because the legal
status of the commodity remained dubious, the now defunct
censorship body was never properly equipped to censor discs.

Merger

Alex also said the Ministry of Finance was still evaluating
the possibility of merging the state-run Radio Republik Indonesia
(RRI) with Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) into one state-
owned enterprise.

The plan to merge the two state-owned electronic mass media
into one enterprise was first made public last year.

Alex said that merging the two state-run enterprises was not
as simple as many people might think because each has different
characteristics.

The new enterprise must be profit-oriented, while as
individual journalistic institutions, RRI and TVRI are supposed
to maintain their non-profit service idealism, Alex said.

"We'll have to carefully compile a law on the resulting state-
owned firm if we want to merge them," Alex was quoted by the
Antara news agency as saying.

He said he remained undecided, when asked if TVRI would
eventually be allowed to air commercials as many people keep
suggesting to reduce its financial dependence on state funds.

"TVRI will surely air commercials if the House of
Representatives requires it to do so," he said.

The government banned commercials on TVRI in the early 1980s
on the grounds that the programs "encouraged consumerism" among
the populace. Only private-sector television stations air
advertisements at present. (02)