Massive redundancies seen at TVRI, RRI

Massive redundancies seen at TVRI, RRI

JAKARTA (JP): RRI and TVRI, the state radio and television
networks, may be forced to lay off up to half of their staff
under a restructuring plan currently being studied, Minister of
Information Harmoko revealed yesterday.

Harmoko told a hearing with the House of Representatives's
Commission I that the government was still studying the plan to
revamp the management of the two networks, which aims to make
them more efficient.

The proposal calls for a merger of the two networks and change
in their status; from government agencies to a fully-fledged
state-owned corporations.

"Changing the management may force us to lay off half of their
15,444 employees," Harmoko said. "This is a complicated problem
we'll have to deal with."

The minister said that the plan to change the status of TVRI
and RRI would, in any event, have to wait for the enactment of
new legislation on broadcasting which the government is currently
drafting.

On another matter, Harmoko yesterday said he planned to issue
a warning to the management of the Terbit afternoon daily for
publishing two versions for the past three years.

"This is in violation of the existing regulations, and we will
look into it, and give the publisher a strong warning," Harmoko
told the Commission I hearing yesterday.

Harmoko said he had been unaware of the different versions.

The daily is published by the Pos Kota group of publications,
which Harmoko partly owns.

It was legislator Sophan Sophiaan who informed the minister
yesterday that Terbit has been appearing in two different
versions.

The newspaper is an afternoon daily in Jakarta and a morning
paper in Central Java. The contents of the two versions are
completely different, Sophan said.

"It's hard for me to believe that the Ministry of Information
has not been aware of this violation, because it's been going on
since 1992," Sophan told reporters.

"Besides, the ministry has offices in provincial capitals, so
they should know all about the publications that appear in their
regions."

Harmoko said that steps to be taken by his office against the
daily management would be "normal" and would not necessarily lead
to the newspaper's closure.

"The government revokes the license of a publication only if
it has issued several warnings (which have been ignored)," he
said.

Harmoko said a special team, consisting of representatives of
media publishers, paper manufacturers and the government, has
been established to discuss the last year's rise in the price of
paper. At the time, many feared the increase would lead to the
bankruptcy of smaller publications.

"The team is still holding meetings. We'll wait for the
results," Harmoko said.

As of October, the government allowed manufacturers to raise
newsprint prices by almost 10 percent to Rp 1,270 (58 US cents)
per kilogram.

The price increased again to Rp 1,320 in January, and will
rise further, to Rp 1,800, next month.

The government has defended the increases as inevitable
because, it says, production costs have risen by 15 percent after
a recent 50-percent rise in the prices of materials used in
newsprint production. (swe)