The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and a number of media outlets filed a request Tuesday for a judicial review of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Law to establish whether it violates press freedom.
The seven media supporting the review are Tempo magazine, Tempo daily, The Jakarta Post, Jurnal Nasional, 68H radio station, Vivanews.com and the Voice of Human Rights radio network.
AJI says by forbidding any media coverage on the presidential campaign during the cooling-off period between July 5 and July 7, several provisions of the Press Law have been violated.
The cooling-off period is the three days prior to voting day when all presidential candidates and supporters are forbidden from engaging in any type of political campaigning.
Any violation of these rulings could result in sanctions being imposed on the Press Council and the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI).
"The law allows room for censorship and restrictions on reporting during the election cooling-off period, even to the extent of closing down media outlets that violate the law," Hendrayana, a legal advisor for the AJI, said Thursday after filing the request to the Constitutional Court.
With the Constitutional Court currently prioritizing the settlement of nearly 600 cases relating to election disputes before June 24, the chance of the AJI having their request heard in time is unlikely.
"We realize that we are late in filing for the judicial review, but we will ask the Constitutional Court to make this case a priority," Hendrayana said.
Ramadhan Pohan, Jurnal Nasional's chief editor, said this case would affect all media and everyone should be concerned. "The provisions are unnecessary as the media are fully aware of how to separate news reporting from the candidates' campaign publications," he said.
I Gusti Putu Artha, a General Elections Commission member, said the commission would be lenient in exercising the provisions.
"Legally, the law prohibits reportage on the election and candidates during the cooling-off period.
"But we will allow news, as long as it does not involve campaign material or publication of survey results, which could benefit a particular candidate over another," he said.
A collaboration of national media groups recently won a fight at the Constitutional Court for press freedom during the legislative election, with the article being dropped.
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