KPU to establish media monitoring team
KPU to establish media monitoring team
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Election Supervisory Committee (Panswaslu) is to establish an
independent team to monitor the domestic media's coverage of the
2004 general election, says an election supervisor.
"We are still discussing whether we should establish our own
team or let a third party manage the whole monitoring process,"
committee member Didik Supriyanto told reporters on the sidelines
of the committee's national working meeting here on Friday.
The committee's main duties are to supervise the election
campaign and monitor the ballot count on election day.
The election campaign will run from March 11 to April 1 next
year, according to the schedule set by the General Elections
Commission (KPU).
Besides monitoring the campaigns conducted by the parties, the
team will also monitor whether the local media has given fair
treatment and equal opportunities to all political parties during
the campaign.
Didik said that in addition, the monitoring team would monitor
whether the local media was providing equal access to the parties
participating in the general election as regards placing
advertisements setting out their manifestos.
"We haven't gone into the details yet. But, for example, the
team will be able to make rulings on the advertising space that
must be made available to all the contestants," he said.
Didik expected that the team would be established at least two
months before the election campaign to let it make the necessary
preparations.
He expressed the hope that the print and electronic media
would be impartial, and provide equal access to all election
contestants.
Unlike previous elections, the upcoming election will use what
is referred to here as a "semi-district system". A direct
presidential election will also be held for the first time since
Indonesia's independence in 1945.
The idea of a media monitoring team is not a novelty. In the
1999 election, several organizations, including the Institute for
the Free Flow Information (ISAI), also formed networks to monitor
the media's role.
However, Didik said that the monitoring organizations did not
function effectively as the results of their work were made
public, for various reasons, only long after the general
election. Due to this, the Election Supervisory Committee had
difficulties conducting investigations into reported violations.
Learning from this experience, the committee's independent
team would publish a report on its findings soon after the
general election so as to enhance public awareness of the media's
treatment of election contestants, said Didik.
"It is hoped that the public will vote prudently in the
general election, and that they will not easily be influenced by
irresponsible and biased media," he said.