First Indonesian broadcast in Mandarin

Indonesia has had its first ever broadcast in Mandarin for the country's ethnic Chinese population.

A news bulletin in Mandarin was transmitted on a new twenty-four hour television news station, Metro TV, which has just gone on air.

The BBC correspondent in Jakarta says it was a groundbreaking moment for Indonesia.

Under former President Suharto most of the ethnic Chinese were treated as second-class citizens and there were strict controls on the public use of Mandarin.

These were lifted as part of the liberalisation of the media that followed the downfall of President Suharto in 1998. Metro TV plans to broadcast two one-hour bulletins of news in Mandarin every weekday.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service