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.