In June last year, the Information Minister, Datuk Mohamad Rahmat said that public use of parabolic antennae for receiving satellite television will be legalised once amendments to Broadcasting Act 1988 had been approved, specifying the types of parabolic antennae allowed.
He said that once the new satellite dish is introduced, all existing parabolic dishes illegally in use in Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia would immediately become ineffective as they would not be able to receive free television transmissions as before.
The Broadcasting Amendment Bill had just be tabled in Parliament yesterday, and will not become law until it has been passed by both Houses of Parliament, given the Royal Assent and gazetted, but the Information Minister has changed a different tune about the legality of satellite dishes.
He told reporters in Parliament yesterday that the use of satellite dishes is now legal although the Bill was only tabled yesterday because there are provisions under the Telecommunications Act which allowed the Minister concerned to licenced their use.
He said that the broadcasting of programmes by Asian Satellite Television and Radio Services (Astro) was also legal as it was for “promotions and testing only”. He also said that Astro’s services would only be introduced in January.
Malaysians will remember the numerous threats issued since 1991 by the Minister for Energy, Telecommunications and Posts to the 23,000 satellite-dish owners in Sarawak and Sabah of dire action to be taken against them after the 1991 amendments to the Telecommunications Act, with ultimatum after ultimatum to dismantle their dishes - which all ended up in naught because of the rapid changes in technology, where satellite dishes have become portable and foldable, and lately become mere pizza-size!
Malaysians must be excused for being skeptical when Mohamed Rahmat claimed that the Minister for Telecommunications had exercised his powers under the Telecommunications Act to legalise satellite dishes.
Three questions immediately come to mind:
(I) Is the Information Minister telling the truth when he claims that the Minister for Telecommunications had legalised the use of satellite dishes. If so, why was the action kept in such secrecy and was not announced until the Information Minister had to justify the operation of ASTRO satellite broadcasting services?
(2) When did the Minister for Telecommunication legalise the satellite dishes and where is the gazette notification of such a directive?
(3) If the satellite dishes can be legalise under the Telecommunications Act, why is it necessary to amend the Broadcasting Act to give the Information Minister the redundant powers to legalise satellite dishes?
Mohamad Rahmat’s claim that MEASAT’s ASTRO services are only for promotion and testing also do not tally with the facts.
In its publicity campaign with eight-page pull-outs in the national newspapers, ASTRO spelt out details of its satellite Direct-to-U (DtU) digital broadcasting service, offering the standard ASTRO package of more than 20 digital television channels and up to eight digital radio channels. The retail price of the DtU system is RM1,500, installation cost RM180, and monthly subscription RM80. Subscription for October is free, but collection will begin from November onwards.
In last Thursday’s press, MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Bhd. announced that it had registered 1,032 subscribers since its soft launch on Oct. 1.
It is clear that MEASAT’s Astro services of up to 20 digital television channels and up to eight digital radio channels are illegal as the Broadcasting Amendment Bill had just been tabled in Parliament yesterday and will continue to be illegal until early next year as the Bill is not expected to become law until January or February next year at the earliest.
It usually takes from two to six months for a Bill to receive the Royal Assent and to be gazetted after it had passed both Houses of Parliament. The 1996 Education Act for instance was gazetted and came into force only on 1st August although it was passed by both Houses of Parliament in December - taking a period of seven months.
If MEASAT collects its RM80 monthly subscription from November onwards, it will be committing an illegal act, and I call on MEASAT to respect the rule of law and announce categorically that it would not collect any monthly subscriptions until the Broadcasting Amendment Act had been gazetted and become law.
When he was in Sarawak in February this year, the Information Minister said that the introduction of satellite TV would overcome the problem of people in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak being unable to receive TV transmissions.
I find this “tongue-in-cheek” statement by the Information Minister most shocking for it shows a Federal Cabinet Minister who has no social compassion. He should know that those living in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak are among the poorest strata of Malaysians, who would definitely not be able to afford spending RM1,680 to hook to ASTRO and pay a monthly subscription of RM80. Why then make such a cynical remark as if to mock the poverty of those staying in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak?
The Information Minister’s suggestion that those staying in the interior of Sabah and Sarawak should pay ASTRO to receive RTM 1 and 2 is most irresponsible, and violate the fundamental principle that public broadcasting must provide universal, affordable and equitable access to all Malaysians, particularly to the poorer sectors of our society.
RTM should be charging ASTRO for allowing it to transmit RTM 1 and 2 or is ASTRO doing RTM 1 and 2 a special service to transmit its programmes “with enhanced sound and picture quality”? Parliament and the nation should be told what is the true relationship between RTM 1 and 2 with ASTRO, and if ASTRO is being charged a fee, the amount of such a fee.
The charges imposed by ASTRO for its digital broadcasting services are exorbitant, and Malaysians are entitled to expect digital broadcasting services from RTM itself.
I want to ask the Minister for Information whether the government has any plans to phase out analogue broadcasting to replace it completely with digital broadcasting, and if so, when such a complete phase-out would be effected.
Digital radio provides crystal clear sound comparable in quality to CDs, or to the acoustics of a fine concert hall. Conventional analogue radio cannot meet this standard, simply because of the technology used and the transmission environment in which it is broadcast. In other words, although an analogue radio can sound quite good, it can never sound as good as a digital radio, just as an LP cannot deliver the dynamic range of a CD. As the digital radio receiver is a `smart’ set, it can do much more than just pick up radio signals. As the digital radio will have LCD (liquid crystal display), it will be able to receive services such as:
There are other more futuristic possibilities for digital radio that may develop - including being used to transmit and receive Computer file downloads and fax transmissions.
Digital radio as been described as the “sound of the future”, and broadcasting stations in other countries are phasing out their analogue broadcasting to provide their listeners with the very best quality sound on radio: sound that will be capable of competing with high fidelity audio sources such as CDs, digital casettes and digital audio services.
Here I wish to ask the Minister for Information whether Malaysia supports the resolution of the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC), which negotiates frequency allocations globally, officially designating the L-Band as the future worldwide home for digital radio, and whether Malaysia has reached agreement with our neighbouring countries on the actual use of the L-Band by Malaysia.
L-Band is the digital radio band in the 1452-1492 megahertz (Mhz) range, which will allow the reception of both terrestrially and satellite originated signals - while the band for FM is 88-108 Mhz while the band for AM is 0.52-1.705 Mhz, neither of which is suitable for satellite signals.