House continues talks on broadcasting bill

House continues talks on broadcasting bill

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government reached an agreement with the House of
Representatives (DPR) on Tuesday to resume deliberation on the
broadcasting bill which hit a snag after former president
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's ouster in July 2001.

State Minister for Communications and Information Syamsul
Mu'arif said after a meeting with a joint House Commission I and
II that the government had established a strong team to discuss
the bill with legislators.

"The government has set up a team of 52 officials to discuss
the bill with the House," said Syamsul, who was accompanied by
Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar.

Aside from Syamsul and Agum, Justice and Human Rights Minister
Yusril Ihza Mahendra will also participate in the deliberations.

The meeting also agreed to appoint Paulus Widiyanto of
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) to chair the broadcasting committee
left vacant after the resignation of his fellow legislator
Dimyati Hartono.

Dimyati resigned from the House due to internal conflict with
his faction.

A member of the committee Chozin Chumaidy of the United
Development Party (PPP) expressed the hope that the deliberations
would proceed smoothly to provide the public better regulations
to replace the existing law No.24/1997 on broadcasting.

The broadcasting bill was first floated before 26 inter-
faction legislators on June 26, 2000. Responding to the proposal
on Sept. 28, 2000, Gus Dur assigned the minister of
transportation and the minister of justice and human rights to
head a government team to discuss the bill.

The deliberations, however, stalled in July 2001 after Gus Dur
was replaced by Megawati Soekarnoputri.

In an attempt to maintain Golkar's support for her government,
Megawati introduced the State Ministry for Communications and
Information, seen by many as a revival of the Soeharto's
information Ministry that Gus Dur dissolved, and appointed
Golkar's Syamsul Mu'arif to head the government body.

In addition, she modified the team tasked with discussing the
broadcasting bill, and assigned Syamsul to join the team.

Contentious articles in the bill

Article 8 stipulates that Indonesian Broadcast Commission has the
sole authority to recommend a broadcast station for a license,
impose sanctions in case of violations, and establish a code of
conduct for the broadcast community.

Article 16 prohibits the cross-ownership of media enterprises to
avoid the monopoly of technology and capital. Individuals,
therefore, cannot own various mass media.

Article 25, Paragraph 5 bans slanderous, provocative and/or
deceitful content, content that promotes violence, obscenity,
gambling and use of narcotics, and any content that could incite
ethnic, religious and racial conflict.

Article 40 lays out administrative sanctions, which include
revocation of broadcast licenses.