ID :
15919
Thu, 08/14/2008 - 22:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/15919
The shortlink copeid
GOVT NOT TO INTERFERE IN INDOSAT'S CONTRACT WITH AL MANAR
Jakarta, Aug 14 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government will not interfere in how telecommunication company PT Indosat responds to the United States governemnt's request to terminate its contract with Al Manar TV station in Lebanon, a minister said.
The question is purely a business problem which is fully left to Indosat, Communication and Information Minister M Nuh said here Thursday.
"The government will not interfere in a business entity's domain," the minister said, adding that the government would stick to the laws on business contracts between private parties.
The minister said about three months ago he had talked about the matter with the US Ambassador to Indonesia in Barcelona, Spain.
"I told him the Indonesian government upholds the laws and abides by whatever they say," he said.
The Indonesian government did not want any intervention or request from any country which could change Indonesia's basic principle in taking positions, he said.
"We leave it (the problem) to Indosat as an independent business entity. It knows the does and the don'ts," he said.
The minister said he would let Indosat study the broadcast contract. "If (the contract) meets the requirements, it can be continued and if it does not, the contract must be terminated," he said.
However, the Indonesian government also had no authority to judge whether or not Al Manar was part of a terrorist network.
"We have no competence to judge. To us, Al Manar does not differ from Al Jazeera, BBC or CNN. They are all television stations," he said.
The US government had expressed objections to a contract made by Indosat with Al Manar under which the latter would rent transponders of the former's Palapa C2 satellite.
The US opined that with Indosat's satellite, Al Manar could disseminate Hisbullah propaganda which was considered full of messages inciting violence in Asia and the Pacific.
The US embassy in Indonesia had called on Indosat to discontinue the contact.
Al Manar is a television station owned by the Hisbollah group in Lebanon. The television station signed a contract with Indosat in April 2000 to lease transponders until April 2011.
"The transaction between PT Indosat and Al Manar was purely made on a business-to-business basis," spokesman for the foreign ministry, Teuku Faizasyah, said earlier.
As reported online and by the print media, the United States had made an approach to the Indonesian government to put pressure on the management of PT. Indosat to terminate its contract with Al Manar TV station.
The question is purely a business problem which is fully left to Indosat, Communication and Information Minister M Nuh said here Thursday.
"The government will not interfere in a business entity's domain," the minister said, adding that the government would stick to the laws on business contracts between private parties.
The minister said about three months ago he had talked about the matter with the US Ambassador to Indonesia in Barcelona, Spain.
"I told him the Indonesian government upholds the laws and abides by whatever they say," he said.
The Indonesian government did not want any intervention or request from any country which could change Indonesia's basic principle in taking positions, he said.
"We leave it (the problem) to Indosat as an independent business entity. It knows the does and the don'ts," he said.
The minister said he would let Indosat study the broadcast contract. "If (the contract) meets the requirements, it can be continued and if it does not, the contract must be terminated," he said.
However, the Indonesian government also had no authority to judge whether or not Al Manar was part of a terrorist network.
"We have no competence to judge. To us, Al Manar does not differ from Al Jazeera, BBC or CNN. They are all television stations," he said.
The US government had expressed objections to a contract made by Indosat with Al Manar under which the latter would rent transponders of the former's Palapa C2 satellite.
The US opined that with Indosat's satellite, Al Manar could disseminate Hisbullah propaganda which was considered full of messages inciting violence in Asia and the Pacific.
The US embassy in Indonesia had called on Indosat to discontinue the contact.
Al Manar is a television station owned by the Hisbollah group in Lebanon. The television station signed a contract with Indosat in April 2000 to lease transponders until April 2011.
"The transaction between PT Indosat and Al Manar was purely made on a business-to-business basis," spokesman for the foreign ministry, Teuku Faizasyah, said earlier.
As reported online and by the print media, the United States had made an approach to the Indonesian government to put pressure on the management of PT. Indosat to terminate its contract with Al Manar TV station.
