Govt issues decrees allowing circulation of laser discs
Govt issues decrees allowing circulation of laser discs
JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Radio, Television and Film
Alex Leo Zulkarnaen announced yesterday three decrees on films
which will allow the circulation of laser discs in Indonesia.
Alex was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying that the
three decrees, signed by Minister of Information Harmoko on Oct.
28, deal with Government Regulation No.6 on the Film Business,
Regulation No. 7 on the Film Censorship Institute (Lembaga Sensor
Film: LSF) and Regulation No. 8 on the National Film Advisory
Board.
"The issuance of the decrees was initially expected in August,
but due to the many articles whose wording had to be improved,
the signing was delayed until the end of last month," he said.
The issuance of the decrees is intended to end the decade old
controversy over the legality of the circulation of laser discs
in Indonesia.
Laser discs were previously banned under Ministry of
Information Regulation No. 20/1983, which was issued following
reports of illegal door-to-door distribution of smuggled laser
discs. This regulation was not fully enforced, thereby enabling
the open sale and distribution of discs.
"Even though the distribution of laser disks is legalized now,
people will have to abide by a number of rules, including the
obligation that all discs to be distributed pass through the Film
Censorship Institute, which was formerly called the Film
Censorship Board (Badan Sensor Film: BSF).
Alex said there are three categories in the screening of discs
for circulation in the country: "fully accepted", which means the
disc is passed without any censorship; "accepted but subject to
censorship" and "rejected".
"Laser discs which have not yet been checked by the censorship
board are considered illegal. Therefore, I have ordered the
Regional Film Control Agency to launch operations to confiscate
any uncensored discs," he said.
Commenting on the change of the name and status of the
censorship board, the director general said that even though a
decree for this had been issued, it would take time to implement
it.
"We need time to adjust to the new regulation," he said,
adding that the change is intended mainly to make the censorship
institute a non-structural institution whose chairman will no
longer be a civil servant.
"The chairman of the new censorship institute is expected to
come from among noted public figures, not from governmental
circles any longer," he said.
The function of the Film Censorship Institute is expected to
protect the public from any negative impacts which may arise from
films, or discs, which are not in line with the guidelines and
objectives of the country's film industry, he said.
Alex said the institute is also expected to maintain the
cultural values of the nation, as well as to monitor the
community's appreciation of films being circulated.
Parabolic antennae
In a related development, Alex said that the state-run
television company TVRI is currently collecting data on the
number of owners of parabolic antennae.
The data collection, done free of charge, is required to
determine the exact number of antennae owners in Indonesia, he
said. Under existing regulations owners of parabolic antennae are
required to register with TVRI.
Alex acknowledged that signals from a number of foreign TV
broadcasters have been scrambled so that only those having
decoders can tune in to their programs.
"Signals from the CNN will also be scrambled as of Dec. 1.
Therefore, only customers will be eligible for the broadcasting,"
he said.
The company in charge of scrambling the foreign TV signals is
PT Malicak, a private firm chosen by the government to handle
subscription to foreign TV channels.
Owners of the parabolic antennae can view foreign TV
broadcasts, including HBO, ESPN, CNN and Discovery, as long as
they become subscribers through PT Malicak. (hhr)