Stop screening violent films on TV: Scholar

JAKARTA (JP): A Moslem scholar has strongly urged the Ministry of Information to instruct television stations to stop screening films filled with excessive violence.

Zakiruddin Djamin, the secretary-general of the Central Executive Board of the Jakarta Ulemas Council, said over the weekend that the ministry should tell television stations to stop screening these films because such films could have a negative impact on viewers, especially young people.

"We can not let television stations force the public to accept such films," he said.

Zakiruddin made the remarks in connection with the growing number of violent crimes committed with violence in Jakarta and its surrounding districts of late.

Over the past two months news on violent criminal cases has made headlines and received extensive coverage in local newspapers, as well on television.

Included in the cases are the fatal stabbing of Maj. Noenang Kohar MS, the newly appointed chief of the Pademangan police subdistrict in North Jakarta, which took place on Jl. Wisma Jaya, Central Jakarta on July 14; the robbery in Sunter, North Jakarta, on Wednesday last week which led to the death of a security officer, identified as Muhammad Mansur, 42; and the gang rape of a mother and her two teenage daughters in Pondok Gede district, Bekasi, West Java, on Monday last week.

Zakiruddin said that the growing number of television stations has created tight competition. Indonesia has one state-owned television station, TVRI, and five privately-owned television networks, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, ANteve and Indosiar.

He said that they compete with one another to provide the most interesting programs, in an effort to attract a large number of viewers.

Unfortunately, Zakiruddin said, the television stations seem to have forgotten that they should also have a sense of social responsibility.

"Therefore, once again, I strongly urge the Ministry of Information to immediately prohibit television stations from screening films showing too much and copious violence, in particular those from foreign countries," the Moslem scholar stressed. (32)