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The House of Representatives has backed down from a plan to regulate the legislative press corps, but insists it never had any intention of stifling press freedoms.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said on Thursday that the plan had been shelved indefinitely. “We agreed at a meeting of the House leadership on Wednesday to postpone the plan on regulating the press corps because of the controversy that it has sparked,” he said.

He added that a draft of the regulations would be issued to the House press corps for feedback.

The issue stemmed from House Speaker Marzuki Alie’s calls earlier this week for a need to limit how the journalists assigned to the House do their jobs.

Among the measures he proposed were that journalists be required to be “orderly and professional” in their reporting, and not base their stories on speculation.

The draft also calls for reporters to dress formally at state events and refrain from hounding sources for quotes if they did not want to comment. “If I’m asked for a comment and I choose not to speak, my right should be respected,” said Marzuki, a member of the Democratic Party.

Other recommendations were that TV camera crews have their equipment set up at least three hours before the start of a hearing or other event, and that radio crews seek permission at least a week in advance when covering a state event. The regulations would also prohibit broadcast journalists from reporting from any spot except the one assigned to them by the House.

Also, to qualify for a press pass, reporters would have to submit a form stating their salary.

Joseph Nae Soi, a member of the House’s Household Affairs Committee (BURT), revealed on Thursday that the idea of regulating the House press corps had actually been suggested by the corps coordinators, Gusti Lesek and Jakasuryo.

“They said that as genuine journalists, they were being crowded out by bogus or questionable journalists when covering key events,” he said.

“So the idea for drawing up these regulations isn’t because the House has any grievances with the press corps.”

However, Jakasuryo denied the claim, saying he had only been asked to sit in on a BURT meeting and give feedback on the regulations that had already been drawn up. “Our recommendation was that we needed to discuss it with the others in the press corps,” he said.

The proposed regulations have sparked a backlash among the press community as well as some legislators.

Mansyur Faqih, a reporter with the Republika daily newspaper, said reporters were already bound by the journalists’ code of ethics.

“If they’re going to draw up rules, they shouldn’t be on the profession of journalism,” he said. “We don’t work for the House. We work for our respective media outlets.”

Bambang Harymurti, deputy chairman of the Press Council, said that while he was concerned about how the regulations would limit reporters in doing their jobs, there needed to be measures in place to weed out “fake” journalists out to solicit bribes or lobby for a particular cause.

“It’s dangerous if you have people claiming to be journalists but who are actually there to lobby,” he said. “But if these regulations violate press freedom, then of course we object.”

Effendy Choirie, a National Awakening Party (PKB) legislator, said the regulations would “disrupt the working relations between the House and the press.”

“I believe we shouldn’t be trying to regulate the press, it’s just not allowed,” he said.

Ruhut Sitompul from the Democratic Party agreed, calling reporters “friends of legislators.”

“There shouldn’t be any policies in place that make the relations between reporters and legislators more tense,” he said. “Re porters need news and legislators need to get their message across.”

Tjahjo Kumolo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that if the regulations had been enforced, it would have been a “fatal error” on Marzuki’s part.

“Don’t ever try to rein in the press,” he said.

He added that any effort to clean up the press corps should come from within the press community itself and not from outside institutions like the House.

“Are the regulations really an attempt to tighten up the requirements for journalists reporting from the House? That needs to be made clearer,” he said.

Deputy Speaker Priyo, from the Golkar Party, stressed that the House had never intended to limit press freedom.

“There has never been any desire on our part to institute any kind of limits,” he said. “Our friends in the press corps are free to report on anything.”

Additional reporting from Suara Pembaruan