PDI debate producer sues SCTV for Rp 500m

SURABAYA (JP): An employee of the SCTV private television station is suing the station for allegedly dismissing him after he produced a controversial political debate.

Supandi Syahrul told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday that he filed suit at the Surabaya District Court, demanding Rp 500 million in damages.

He said he has engaged top lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi and his colleagues, Nur Badriyah and Luh Putu Susila, to represent him in the case.

Supandi produced a debate between Sutjipto and Latief Pudjosakti, both claimants to the chairmanship of the East Java chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). The debate, in which the provincial government was criticized, was reportedly censored by the government before it went on air on April 25.

Following the broadcast, Supandi, who had been working at the station for five years, was dismissed. The company accused him of "exposing company secrets" in his article on Surya daily on March 30.

Supandi dismissed the accusation, saying he often wrote newspaper articles in his capacity as TV critic. "I usually got praise for my articles. So if the company dismissed me because of my last article, that's only an excuse," he said.

In his article, Supandi criticized the station's Liputan 6 news broadcast.

In his lawsuit, Supandi has claimed that the real reason for his dismissal was the debate he produced. He said the company accused him of inciting controversy over the debate.

"I didn't have the authority to decide whether a show should go on air," he said.

He said the company summoned him several times and demanded that he tender his resignation. "I refused. My only reason in choosing PDI as the topic of the debate was because I wanted to boost the show's ratings," he said.

"I didn't even know whether the debate would be broadcast. If I'd known it was going to be censored, I wouldn't have wanted it broadcasted at all," he said.

"My family and I have been stressed out because of my dismissal, especially because my wife has just given birth to our second child, " Supandi said. (15/31)