JP/2/2Media

JP/2/2Media

Parties barred from financing non-campaign TV programs

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) and the General
Elections Commission (KPU) agreed on Wednesday to prohibit
political parties and regional representative candidates from
financing informational, educational or entertainment programs in
the electronic media.

Both commissions agreed that, in line with the elections law,
candidates should be given equal opportunities to campaign, and
therefore should not be allowed to use noncampaign programs as a
forum for campaigning.

Yet, the electronic media cannot be barred from running news
programs on political parties or regional representative
candidates.

According to the agreement signed by the commissions here on
Thursday, both radio and TV stations will be allowed to air
election education programs. Stations will be required to air
information on polling methods and the polling period.

Also allowed to be included in the educational programs are
interactive dialogs, speeches and debates

TV stations will be allowed to air parties' electoral
campaigns in paid advertisements, with parties allowed a maximum
of 10 30-second spots a day. Radio stations will be allowed to
air a maximum of 10 spots a day per party, with each spot allowed
to run for a maximum of 60 seconds.

Besides the advertisements, TV and radio stations are required
to allot free-of-charge campaign spots once during the campaign
period, which is from March 11 to April 1.

The agreement carries only administrative sanctions for any
violations of the rulings.

KPI chairman Victor Menayang said his organization could
impose harsher sanctions such as broadcast bans for any radio or
TV stations violating the agreement.

"This agreement aims at encouraging electronic media to keep a
distance from those contesting the election and protect the
independence of the electronic media," he said.

Political analyst Rizal Mallarangeng has predicted the
electronic media could receive up to 40 percent of the campaign
funds of political parties and regional representative
candidates.