- Title: INDONESIA: PEOPLE PLAY VIDEO GAMES AS GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES A BAN.
- Date: 20th December 1981
- Summary: 1. GV INTERIOR Atari Expo sign. 0.03 2. GV & SV PAN Selection of video games in Plaza games area. (3 SHOTS) 0.21 3. GVs People playing video games. (3 SHOTS) 0.40 4. GV (MUTE) People, including children, playing electronic games at tables. (5 SHOTS) 1.16 5. SCU Child laughing and playing machine. 1.22 6. GV People crowded around video table. 1.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th January 1982 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DJAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA18N7SWFRWQL08ZEW2YIZATYVR
- Story Text: DJAKARTA, INDONESIA
INTRODUCTION: Indonesia soon will become the second country in the world to ban video games. Video games already outlawed in the Philippines, but no date has yet been set for the ban throughout Indonesia.
SYNOPSIS: Video games proliferate throughout the capital of Djakarta. They can be found in hotel lobbies and in special parlours, and in the words of the Supreme Advisory council (DPA) they have "engulfed the younger generation". On Wednesday (16 December), President Suharto endorsed a suggestion from the DPA that the games be banned, after examining evidence of their adverse effect on the education and growth of children. The major concern is that young people are being distracted from their schoolwork. The DPA says the coin-operated video games tend to push schoolchildren to raise money to play them, and forget their homework.
On Thursday (17 December), Djakarta Governor Cokropranolo acted on the Suharto endorsement and issued a ban on all coin-operated video games in the capital. So one day after this film was shot, this parlour, one of 530 in the city, was closed down. Major Indonesian newspapers, however, questioned the wisdom of the ban. The large circulation Kompas said that "banning thing as such does not solve the problem as long as parents and teachers cannot teach the children to use their time effectively". Kompas also asked the Suharto administration why it had not considered banning television, films, sports and any other kind of entertainment.
<strong>Source: REUTERS - WALTER BURGESS</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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