Presidential candidates violate TV ad regulations

A. Junaidi, Jakarta

Two presidential candidates have aired television ads more than the allowed 10 times a day, according to non-governmental organizations.

Hamzah Haz and running mate Agum Gumelar aired their campaign ads more than 15 times a day between June 6 and June 10 on RCTI and Global TV, according to the Institute for the Study of the Free Flow of Information (ISAI) and the Media Coalition for Free and Fair Elections. The NGOs based their findings on data from the Nielsen Media Research.

Amien Rais and running mate Siswono Yudhohusodo aired ads 17 times a day on June 6 on RCTI, according to the NGOs.

"The two pairs violated the regulation, although they spent less than the three other candidates," Ahmad Faisol of ISAI said during a press conference at the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) office after reporting the findings to the elections body.

Hamzah and Agum are running under the United Development Party (PPP), while Amien and Siswono are running under the National Mandate Party (PAN).

The government has designated the entire month of June as the campaign period for the July 5 presidential election.

According to data, presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) spent Rp 6.5 billion on television ads from June 6 to June 10, Faisol said.

This dwarfed the Rp 1.7 billion (US$180,851) spent by Hamzah and the Rp 1.37 billion spent by Amien during the same period, Faisol said.

He said Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin Wahid, who are running under the Golkar Party, spent Rp 6.02 billion during this period, while Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla spent Rp 4.6 billion.

"Although they spent much more than Hamzah-Agum and Amien- Siswono, they did not violate any regulations," Faisol said.

The Megawati-Hasyim ads, he said, were aired in 477 spots on 11 television stations, the Wiranto-Solahuddin ads in 413 spots, the Susilo-Kalla ads in 412 spots, the Hamzah-Agum ads in 230 spots and the Amien-Siswono ads in 149 spots.

The ads ran on 11 television stations, including state-run TVRI and 10 privately owned stations: RCTI, Global TV, Indosiar, SCTV, ANTV, TV7, Metro TV, Lativi, TPI and Trans TV.

Panwaslu's campaign supervisory coordinator, Lucky Alexander Lontoh, said the report would be processed within seven days according to regulations.

"If we find any violations, we will report the case to the General Elections Commission," Lucky said.

In March, the two NGOs reported to Panwaslu 39 violations committed by political parties in connection with broadcast media advertisements during the legislative election campaign. The report was denied by most of the television stations identified in it.