Operations

Antara is a state-owned enterprise (Badan Usaha Milik Negara) under the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises. It was previously under direct presidential authority since 1962 and within the administrative structure of the State Secretariat, which provided for its subsidies, since 1977. The news agency was also responsible to Ministry of Information which coordinated press activities. David Hill of Murdoch University points out that under the Suharto government Antara's Supervisory Council at one point included the deputy chief of the State Intelligence Coordinating Agency, indicating military interest in regulating the press. Antara's status as a government entity had come into question as restrictions on press activity were lifted. Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 40 of 1999 stipulates that news organizations must operate as a "legal entity", which directly contradicted Antara's status as an institute according to former executive editor A. J. Muaya.c

Government subsidy accounted for 11 percent of Antara's operational costs in 1987–88. This figure had fallen to 1 percent by 2002, with an additional 25 percent of income coming from the sale of its wire services to domestic news organizations. A 1972 decree by the Ministry of Information stipulates that Antara is the only news organization permitted to distribute news material from foreign news agencies. This results in an effective monopoly that provides the largest source of the agency's revenues. Some government officials have called for an end to this practice, but Angela Romano and Blythe Senior of Queensland University of Technology point out that such a decision will "undermine Antara's entire operating structure" and compromise the agency's financial stability. The Jakarta Post reported in 2000 that some 70 domestic news organizations were subscribed to the agency's wire service.