Live broadcast ban undue: House leaders

JAKARTA (JP): House of Representatives leaders said yesterday that they had not expected the government to ban two private televisions from broadcasting live Monday's plenary session.

The House's top brass, however, fell short of denouncing the ban.

Instead, they said the incident would teach them how to avoid further TV broadcast bans.

"After taking a close look at the Broadcasting Law, we learned that the two private stations had overlooked certain procedures," Deputy House Speaker Syarwan Hamid said after a leadership meeting.

Syarwan said the live broadcast ban was one of the main topics in the House leaders' weekly meeting.

But he said the House did not have the competence to determine whether or not the ban should have been conducted.

The government canceled ANTeve and SCTV's live coverage of Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad's address on the government's economic reform package.

Minister of Information Hartono said only the state-owned station TVRI was allowed to air the session live.

Syarwan said the House acknowledged the government's decision to ban the broadcasts and had opted not to worsen the situation by discussing it further.

"This (live broadcasting) is something of a precedent and it deals with ... law enforcement. We'd rather not fight the problem, but solve the problem," he said.

The Broadcasting Law, the first in Indonesia, does not specify the procedures private stations must go through before gaining permission to broadcast live from the House.

The law only says it is possible for private stations to arrange a joint-broadcast with TVRI.

ANTeve has broadcast live from courtrooms. The government has not banned this activity.

Syarwan said House leaders would make sure that there would be no live broadcast ban.

He invited private TV stations to broadcast live the Nov. 18 hearing of Commission VIII for state budget and finance and the minister of finance.

He said House leaders had decided to allow more coverage of House activities, including live broadcasts, following a meeting with a number of chief editors last week.

"We intend to inform the public from Sabang to Merauke (the western and easternmost tips of Indonesia) of our activities, not only because it's in line with our support for openness, but because it's part of politically educating people also," he said.

The President's state budget and state-of-the-nation speeches on Independence Day eve are routinely aired live by all TV stations. (amd)