Candidates for KPI unknowns

Candidates for KPI unknowns

JAKARTA: Legislators are having difficulty finding out background information on most of the 32 candidates selected for the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) because they are unknowns.

House of Representatives media subcommission chairman Djoko Susilo said on Thursday that a lack of competency among candidates would affect the KPI's future.

Apart from the unfamiliar background of the candidates, there was also speculation the government had inserted one additional candidate to take a post in the nine-member KPI.

In the previous announcement there were only 31 candidates vying for the KPI, but the number later increased to 32.

Sources said the additional candidate was Anton Adam Nangoy, a top executive at privately run ANTV.

The Golkar party's Agung Laksono, who owns ANTV, is a close friend of State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif.

The House is expected to examine the candidates next month. - JP