Presidential candidates violate TV ad regulations

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.