Febriamy Hutapea – Indonesia's press and broadcasting community on Friday slammed the new film bill, which is due to be endorsed next week, saying that it was too authoritarian and will damage democracy.

The community, which calls itself MPPI, expressed their opposition over the bill, which they have deemed as being out of line with democratic and human rights principles, at the House of Representatives.

"The current Film Bill is much worse than the previous Film Law. It even contains more interventions and control of film activities and businesses," said MPPI coordinator, Kukuh Sanyoto.

Under Article 6 of the bill, the production of films containing violence, pornography, community provacations and religious insults or films that damage people's dignity are prohibited.

The bill, Kukuh said, would castrate the freedom of film creators to express their creativity due to the censorship policy, the lack of clarity about film classifications, the policy to require permits for film businesses and the obligation for all films to be registered. "The government's intervention goes too far," he said.

The bill is scheduled to be endorsed on September 8.