Media threatens legal action over new broadcasting bill

Media threatens legal action over new broadcasting bill

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several media organizations have threatened to sue the government
and the House of Representatives if they go through with their
plan to endorse a restrictive broadcasting bill without fixing
the many contentious issues.

M. Ridlo Eisy, a founding member of the Indonesian Press and
Broadcast Society (MPPI), said here on Tuesday that radio and
television organizations and other press groups, such as the
Newspaper Publishers' Association (SPS), the Independent
Journalists Alliance (AJI) and the Press Council, had agreed to
join the legal move.

"We will take it to the Constitutional Court or the Supreme
Court if the bill is passed into law," Ridlo said told The
Jakarta Post after a discussion on the broadcasting bill on
Tuesday.

SPS chairman Leo Batubara, who also attended Tuesday's
discussion, confirmed the possible legal action against the
government and the House if they approved the "repressive" bill.

"If changes are not made in many controversial articles in the
draft law, we will reject it," he told the Post.

The latest amendment of the 1945 Constitution calls for the
establishment of a Constitutional Court. As the new body is not
yet set up, the Constitution obliges the Supreme Court to serve
as a temporary constitutional court.

When asked on what grounds the NGOs would sue the government
and the House, Ridlo explained that the NGOs would sue them for a
"breach of the Constitution" on press freedom.

He argued that despite several revisions made in the
broadcasting bill, it still justified the government's dominant
role in controlling the media.

The contentious issues, which television and radio operators
and other critics have highlighted, include the government's role
in controlling the licensing of a television or radio station and
the excessive powers granted to the Indonesian Broadcasting
Commission (KPI) to censor broadcasting in the country.

Veven Wardhana, a senior executive of the Institute for Media
and Social Studies (IMSS), said that they must revise articles on
the KPI. Otherwise, this institution would become very repressive
because this institution has the power not only to grant and
revoke licenses but also to determine the content of broadcasting
programs.

He also said government officials should be prevented from
being included in the composition of the nine KPI members to
ensure the independence of the commission.

Critics also said the bill was "repressive" and could cripple
the national electronic media industry as it required national TV
stations to team up with local stations in order to broadcast
their programs in provincial areas.

Joko Susilo, a former journalist and a member of the House
team deliberating the broadcasting bill, said during the
discussion that any government intervention in press freedom
should be prevented, and therefore the bill had to be revised.

"We will strive hard to make crucial changes in the bill, so
these controversial issues would be settled," he said.

The House and the government decided recently to delay the
passage of the bill following public pressure for them to revise
it.

But the government and the House has planned to pass it in the
next sitting, possibly in November.