House nominates nine for broadcasting commission

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 02/09/2007 5:00 PM

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives has named nine candidates for the body tasked with supervising the country's broadcasting industry.

The nine candidates for the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) were selected Thursday from 36 people nominated by the Information and Communications Ministry. They were selected by the House's information and communications commission.

House commission chairman Theo Sambuaga identified the nine as Muhammad Izzul Muslimin, Fetty Fajriati, S. Sinansari Ecip, Bimo Nugroho Sukendatmo, Selamun Yoannes Bosko, Mochamad Riyanto, Sasa Djuarsa Sendjaja, Amar Ahmad and Yazirwan Uyun.

He said the names of the candidates would be submitted to the government for approval. They will be officially installed as KPI members through a presidential decree.

Theo said the 45-member House commission held a series of hearings with the 36 nominees to whittle down that number to the final nine.

""These nine are the best and they are expected to be able to ensure the quality of the broadcasting industry,"" said Theo.

The KPI was established under the 2002 Broadcasting Law. Its main task is to supervise the broadcasting industry, including taking punitive action against radio and TV stations found to have violated the Broadcasting Law.

Yuddhy Chrisnandi, a member of the House's information and communications commission, said one of the challenges facing the KPI was dealing with TV and radio empires that violated the law on monopolies.

""Another challenge facing the KPI will be to take action against TV stations that air pornography in their local and foreign programs,"" he said.

The government has issued four regulations on the foreign broadcast media, the private broadcast industry, community broadcasters and subscription cable TV.

Many industry insiders protested the issuance of these regulations, saying the government had infringed on the broadcast commission's authority to regulate the industry.

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