Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – House of Representatives legislators voiced their opposition Tuesday to a series of government regulations on broadcasting, which took effect on Feb. 5.
"We reject the regulations," said legislator Marzuki Darusman of the Golkar Party, representing the House Commission I on defense and information.
The House said the regulations, which removed the power of the independent Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to approve broadcast licenses and assign frequencies, had been created solely by the government without involving the KPI.
Legislators announced their rejection of the government regulations a day after the commission did. A KPI spokesman on Monday said the commission planned to take the regulations to the Supreme Court.
The government has insisted on enforcing the controversial regulations that many see as favoring the interests of broadcasting owners. The House, while it can publicly condemn the new laws, does not have the power to stop their implementation.
The new rules have set the stage for a confrontation between the government and major electronic media owners on one side and the commission and the House on the other.
House members claimed Tuesday the Constitutional Court, which intervened in the legal dispute, had decided in favor of the government because some of its members had vested interests.
Legislator Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said one of the Constitutional Court justices, H.A.S. Natabaya, was a government lawyer in 2002 when the broadcasting bill was being debated by the House and the government. "Now that he has become a justice, could he be really neutral on the issue?" Djoko said.
Lawmaker Effendy Choirie of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said that the Caucus for Broadcasting, which comprises legislators and members of the public, had found credible evidence that one of the Constitutional Court justices was a shareholder in a major private television station.
"It's probably the reason why the Constitutional Court removed the KPI's powers to regulate the broadcasting industry," he said.
Djoko admitted the law "has been a compromise to bridge the interests of the government and the broadcasting industry as well as KPI and its supporters". "We want the KPI to function like the KPU (General Elections Commission) – so it is authorized to regulate the industry instead of only ruling on broadcasting content," he said.
Many observers have criticized the regulations, which they said could threaten media freedoms by giving the government the sole authority to issue broadcast permits. The regulations are based on the 2002 Broadcasting Law, which was also faulted for carrying many vague articles open to multiple interpretations.
The law was set up to regulate the broadcasting industry that has operated without official constraints since the fall of the New Order era. Media watchers and journalists see the regulations as repressive, while the government does not want the KPI to wield too much power.
The rules cover the licensing of broadcasting stations, the allocation of frequencies, the monitoring of programs, sanctions on errant broadcasters and limits on foreign ownership of local media.
One controversial clause stops local broadcasters from directly relaying news stories provided by foreign networks. Government censors must approve the content first. Shortwave programming by foreign stations such as BBC and VOA will be unaffected by the rules, as will broadcasts available over the Internet. Live foreign news can still be broadcast by satellite and cable channels.