Is BRTI independent?

Indonesian Telecommunications Society (Mastel) chairman Giri Suseno, during a hearing with House of Representatives Commission IV overseeing telecommunications, questioned the independence of the Telecommunications Regulatory Body (BRTI), as reported in The Jakarta Post, Dec. 4.

He said that under the current structure, the BRTI was weak, given that the director general of post and telecommunications Djamhari Sirat, as chairman of the body's regulatory committee, could influence the body's decision-making process.

He also suggested the adoption of the Australian model for regulatory bodies, which was flexible and applicable to Indonesia, but he failed to provide details.

I agree with him, as the dual role of Djamhari clearly obstructs objectivity and independence.

As for the Australian regulatory body model, it is called the Office of Regulator-General (ORG) and was established in 1994 under ORG Act 1994 chaired by a regulator-general.

The ORG does not regulate only a single public utility, but covers all utilities such as water, gas, railway system, electricity, port system and grain. Each of these utilities is regulated under a separate act and an independent ORG.

The above example is of the regulatory office in Victoria, one of the six states of Australia. Telecommunications is not included in the ORG's scope of work, because Australian telecommunications giant Telstra had been privatized before the establishment of the ORG. However, the thrust of the regulatory framework is that the ORG is independent of the government, and is accountable directly to the Australian parliament.

The proposal to adopt the Australian model was indeed very appropriate in the sense that the abovementioned utility sectors are prone to price hikes at the expense of consumers.

It was one day after July 17, 2003 -- which marked the day the Minister of Communications Agum Gumelar inaugurated the long- awaited telecommunications regulatory body -- Djamhari made a statement that astonished the general public, to the effect that the BRTI committee would soon raise telephone rates, something that went against public interests. This statement clearly showed the questionable independence of the regulatory body.

M. RUSDI Jakarta