(ARTICLE 19/AJI/IFEX) – The following is a 9 September 2002 joint ARTICLE 19 and AJI press release: REPRESSIVE INDONESIAN BROADCASTING BILL ARTICLE 19, FORUM-ASIA and the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) today wrote to the Special Committee for the Broadcasting Bill of the Indonesian House of Representatives criticising certain repressive clauses in the draft […]
(ARTICLE 19/AJI/IFEX) – The following is a 9 September 2002 joint ARTICLE 19 and AJI press release:
REPRESSIVE INDONESIAN BROADCASTING BILL
ARTICLE 19, FORUM-ASIA and the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) today wrote to the Special Committee for the Broadcasting Bill of the Indonesian House of Representatives criticising certain repressive clauses in the draft Broadcasting Bill released last week. Of particular concern is government control over licensing, the heavy criminal sanctions, the failure to transform the State broadcaster into an independent public service broadcaster and the draconian restrictions on re-broadcasting foreign news programmes.
Under the draft Bill, the government will continue to issue broadcasting licenses, contrary to international standards which require these to be issued by an independent body. Political interference in the licensing process has been a serious problem in the past in Indonesia.
The draft Bill also maintains a criminal approach to regulation, instead of opting for a more appropriate administrative system, which could be overseen by the broadcast regulator, KPI. About a third of the provisions in the Bill provide for criminal sanctions, backed up by wide-ranging powers of investigation, sending a clear message to broadcasters that they must control their content.
The two provisions dealing with public broadcasting are seriously inadequate to deal with this complex matter. In any case, they fail to guarantee the independence of public broadcasting or to ensure that it operates in the public interest.
Perhaps the most draconian provision of all is one banning the regular re-broadcasting of certain foreign and domestic programmes, including news. This provision cannot be justified on the basis of protecting domestic programme production, which would also benefit from local content quotas and limits on foreign ownership. Indeed, trying to prevent one’s citizens from accessing foreign news sources is a characteristic of the most repressive governments.
ARTICLE 19, FORUM-ASIA and AJI call on the Indonesian authorities to address these problems by amending the Broadcasting Bill before it is passed into law.
