Indonesia will continue forestry ads overseas
Indonesia will continue forestry ads overseas
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forestry Community (MPI) will
continue advertising in other countries to inform people of
Indonesia's sustainable forestry development, in spite of a
recent suspension of television commercials in Britain.
"The suspension of commercials in Britain has been related to
political purposes and no other countries have suspended
advertisements on the management of Indonesian forests," MPI
Chairman Mohammad (Bob) Hasan was quoted by Antara as saying here
yesterday.
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) of Britain has
suspended controversial commercials paid for by the MPI,
following complaints from a number of viewers and environmental
groups.
Terry Brookes, the project coordinator of Down to Earth, a
London-based non-governmental organization, told The Jakarta Post
in a telephone interview last weekend that ITC had decided to ban
the ad because of its "unrealistically positive picture of
forestry practice in Indonesia."
Bob said yesterday that MPI faces no problems in putting
advertisements in the United States, Germany, France, Japan and
other countries.
Similar commercials are currently also being shown on Dutch
TV, CNN International, CNN of the United States, the Hong Kong-
based Star TV, which broadcasts its satellite channel all over
Asia, including to Indonesia, as well as on Indonesian channels,
which include TVRI, RCTI, SCTV, TPI and ANteve.
Diversion
The MPI's executive director, A. Tjipto Wignjoprajitno, said
that the ITC apparently alleged Indonesia of using the
commercials to divert the world attention from the human rights
issue in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony integrated into
Indonesia in 1976.
Brookes quoted the ITC as saying that the ad was suspended
because the claims it made were not justified and that it was in
breach of the ITC Code of Advertising Standards and Practices
which forbids political advertising.
The ad says that clearcutting of forests in Indonesia is not
permitted and that 280 million acres, or 79 percent of the
forested land, has been classified as a vast permanent forest.
Minister of Forestry Djamaloedin Soeryohadikoesoemo told
reporters yesterday that the short statements at the ad had
apparently caused misunderstanding to viewers.
"I have asked the MPI to revise the statements," he said.
Bob said the fact that a search and rescue team found
difficulties in discovering a helicopter which crashed recently
in an East Kalimantan forest indicates that Indonesian forests
are still thick and in a very good condition.(riz)