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.