Political ads regulation to become problem

Political ads regulation to become problem

Lukas Luwarso, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Press Alliance,
(SEAPA) Jakarta

For only 21 days -- the time allowed to launch campaigns for
the general election of 2004 -- political parties will have to
promote themselves intensively during that brief period. Besides
the familiar major parties that possess funding resources, many
new ones will join the contest, with names and logos as yet not
well known. Certainly, a large number of parties will be
campaigning via the mass media, particularly through
advertisements.

No specific provisions on campaigning through mass media
political ads have so far been issued. The media, electronic and
printed, are only "obliged to provide equal opportunity for all
election participants to put election ads within the framework of
campaigning." The General Elections Commission (KPU) has stated
that a number of issues that may arise before and during election
campaigns have been identified and some penalties are being
worked out for violators of the rule.

For instance, the penalty on media especially published to
promote certain candidates is under formulation. In addition, in
the draft rule on campaigning, the KPU, along with election
participants, will lay down provisions on printed and electronic
media ads, covering the type, form and total ads permitted for
the relevant participants. In the draft, it is, among other
things, specified that the KPU bans participants from using
advertising opportunities not available to the others.

The regulation on political ads is contained in the KPU's
draft decision on campaigning rules. In this draft, provisions on
media utilization through political ads indicate confusion over
the matters to be regulated. Instead of dealing with political
ads, the draft creates an impression of KPU intrusion into the
technical side of advertising. For example, the KPU will
determine technical matters such as the type, form and number of
ads for respective election participants (Article 14, paragraph
2).

Just as in ads made for commercial purposes, election entrants
will strive to sell their mission and vision to the public via
the media. Political ads usually contain party platforms,
candidates' programs and their attempts to attract voters.
Normally, ads can be distinguished from news reports, such as
those in the printed media, by dividing lines separating them.
Therefore, mass media political ads, as far as they are clearly
in the form of ads (now known as advertorials), need no specific
discussion or regulation.

Buying space and air time for political ads or commercials in
the media is not the same as buying votes in society. Election
participants with a lot of funds at their disposal can lavish
money on media advertising but cannot expect the cost of
political ads to produce proportional vote gains. Data on
political ad expenditure in the 1999 general election shows that
the amounts spent on ads failed to reflect parties' vote gains.

The attempt to regulate political ads, if this is indeed
necessary, can be focused on the restriction of funds spent on
such advertising. This is to respond to fear of domination by ads
coming from participants with large resources. The absence of any
rule restricting funding for campaigning ads leaves political
parties free to spend their budgets on advertising. The general
elections law stipulates no limits to the campaigning funds for
use by parties. Article 78 of Law No. 12/2003 regulates only the
amount of campaign contributions (individuals not to exceed Rp
100 million and private institutions not to exceed Rp 750
million).

The other provisions that may still be imposed concern the
content of ads, which must be in line with the campaigning
stipulations laid down in the election law. These include a ban
on insults to individuals, religions, ethic and racial origins,
groups, other candidates and/or election participants; on
attempts to provoke and play individuals or groups off against
each other; on suggesting that the public resort to violence.

Rather than political ads, greater attention should be paid to
political information in the media on the eve of and during the
period of campaigns. News, features and interviews can serve as
disguised ads, resulting from either cooperation between the
relevant media and election participants, or the "rewards" given
to individual journalists. Camouflaged ads should be treated with
higher suspicion because they constitute a form of deception
presented to society. Vigilance is also needed against the media
claiming to be public-oriented, while they turn out to be used as
a political mouthpiece by, for instance, their owners running for
the presidency. It is even more urgent for the KPU to establish
cooperation with the Elections Supervisory Committee and media
control agencies to monitor political reports rather than
political ads in the context of next year's general election.

The writer is an activist from Media Coalition for Elections.