House summons minister Muhammad Nuh for foreign satellite hearing

House Commission I will summon Communication and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh for a hearing on arrangement of foreign satellites operating in Indonesia.

The summons was issued by the House`s e-mail dpr.go,id, accessed by Antara on Sunday afternoon.

It later appeared that director general for post and telecommunications at the communication and information ministry had granted a landing right to Astro TV through the Measat satellite, after meeting a reciprocal prerequisite which could provide a DTH (direct to house) relay in Indonesia.

The decision had drawn its pros and cons, prompting the Indonesian government to urge Malaysia to set up DTH multimedia service in that country from Indonesian satellite.

A member of the Commission, Ali Muchtar Ngabalin, strongly questioned the granting of the landing right by the director general for post and telecommunication to a Malaysian satellite which previously had reciprocal prerequisite with Indonesia on the grounds that Indonesia until now could not yet enter that country to provide such DTH service.

It was for this reason that the government needed to lift the landing right granted to the foreign satellite which failed to meet a reciprocal prerequisite like the Measat, in a bid to maintain the integrity of the nation in the eyes of the world, as it occurred only in Indonesia. (*)