Press freedom is safe: Govt

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A top official has maintained that the government remains committed to protecting Indonesian press freedom as well as those working in the media industry.

"There have been no such ideas to revise the 1999 Press Law ... We don't know where the issue has come from," Communications and Information Minister M. Nuh told a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission I for information, defense and foreign affairs here Monday.

The minister was responding to questions raised by commission members who warned that the nation's press would return to its former state under the authoritarian New Order regime if the government pursued a revision of the press law.

Agreeing with the commission, acting director general for information services and the dissemination of information at the ministry, Widiatnyana Merati, said the ministry is currently studying ways to empower the media, provide social security programs for media workers and seek support from relevant authorities to make the press law a lex specialis (special law) in handling cases involving the media.

"So far, we have held discussions with the University of Indonesia and the Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java, to prepare the necessary regulations or decrees to enforce the press law," he said.

Jeffrey Massie of the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and Abdillah Toha of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the House commission appreciated the government's prudent treatment of the media, but warned the nation would pay a high price if the state did not respect press freedom, which, they said, was a "precious fruit" from the reform movement launched in 1998.

"The government is carrying out seven flagship programs, namely e-Leadership, e-Education, e-Infrastructure, e-Industry, e-Procurement, e-Budget and e-Government, in its strategy to achieve a so-called 'information society' by 2015 to show the government's political will in building an information-literate society. But it looks strange if the government has plans to reimpose censorship on the press," Jeffrey said.

The minister said bills on the free flow of information and on information and electronic transactions, expected to be approved this year, would provide a legal basis for access to and encourage the use of information.

"The government is even preparing a cybercrimes bill in anticipation of a new crime modus through the Internet and computers," he said.

The commission also asked the government to review the allowance of foreign ownership in the telecommunications industry, which it alleged has caused huge losses to the state.

"The government should take concrete action in line with the increasing protests over foreign ownership in the telecommunications industry," said Theo Sambuaga, who presided over the hearing.

Citing Singapore's Temasek Holdings' stake in Indosat, Jeffrey said the government must decide whether to renegotiate Temasek's ownership -- through its subsidiary Singapore Technologies Telemedia -- of Indosat, repurchase its share or nationalize it over reports that Temasek's monopoly of Indonesia's telecom industry has caused huge losses to the state.

At the meeting, Abdillah, Djoko Susilo of PAN and Effendy Choirie of the National Awakening Party also asked the government to prohibit quiz shows, call girls and other TV programs from incorporating short message services (sms) in their programming because their motives were purely business related.

"The programs must be barred from using sms because they have grabbed billions of rupiah from participants who are mostly unaware of the (premium rate) tariff of Rp 2,000 (22 U.S. cents) per sms," Djoko said.