House, media organization out to challenge new bill

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives and the Indonesian Press and Broadcast Society (MPPI) agreed on Thursday to accept a government-sponsored bill on mass media for deliberation for practical reasons.

But the two pledged to join forces in overhauling the draft, which they said maintained the government's sweeping control over the mass media.

"Realizing that we are pressed for time, I suggest that we welcome a bill, no matter where it came from. The most important thing is the output must meet the demand for reform and democracy," said Aminullah Ibrahim, deputy chairman of House Commission I for mass media.

MPPI chairman Leo Batubara concurred, saying the organization would be ready to back up legislators, who will debate the bill with the government.

"I personally oppose the government's draft. However, we should not lose the momentum, otherwise our struggle for the freedom of the press and the right to information will recede," said Leo, who also chairs the Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS).

Earlier the Alliance of Independent Journalists had said the single necessary legal change to ensure press freedom was to change the 1945 Constitution, which only says freedom of expression will be regulated by laws.

Leo said MPPI has spent more than Rp 300 million (US$111,000) to draw up its own draft, which it submitted to the House on Wednesday.

The House accepted the government-sponsored mass media bill for deliberation last week for procedural reasons. It was submitted to the House prior to three other versions to be proposed by the MPPI, 22 House legislators and the Indonesian Journalist Association.

The House internal rules apply a first-come-first-in basis.

Aminullah attributed the legislators' failure to complete a bill on the mass media to their heavy workload. The House members, whose tenure ends at the end of September, still have 16 bills to deliberate.

Separately, House Commission I chairwoman Aisyah Aminy said the mass media bill was not a priority. She said, if necessary, the present House would leave the bill deliberation to its successor.

Leo said the government's draft "is as authoritarian as the current press law" because it maintains the government's right to issue licenses for press publication and gives it control of the Press Council.

The MPPI bill says that press publications do not need a government license, because press freedom is not extended by the government but is an inseparable part of independent Indonesians.

It also gives no room for the government's role in the respected Press Council, which according to the present law is ex-officio chaired by the minister of information.

The MPPI draft incorporates electronic media into the press, although Leo said the proposal lacked detailed articles dealing with broadcast media.

To anticipate stiff challenge by the House, the government has also prepared similar versions of separate bills on the press, on the broadcast media and on film. (anr/amd)