The provincial broadcasting commission (KPID) will not lightly recommend local authorities re-issue broadcasting permits to local and national cable TV stations that have been suspended for violating broadcasting regulations, an official says.

The chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission in the province, Fajar Arifiyanto, said the tough policy would teach the broadcasting institutions and their TV stations a lesson.

Fajar made the comment Tuesday in response to the recent suspension of 11 cable and local TV stations after a raid conducted by the local monitoring agency found them to be in violation of numerous regulations.

The 11 TV stations -- including Agropolitan TV, Batu TV, Malang TV, Dhamma TV, Mahameru TV, and Jawa Pos TV -- were found to have violated Law No. 36/1999 on telecommunications and Law No. 32/2002 on broadcasting, which stipulate that a TV station must receive a recommendation from the KPID in order for it to acquire a broadcasting permit.

The provincial broadcasting commission also barred several national TV stations, including TransTV, Trans7, TVOne, Metro TV and Global TV from broadcasting in the province because they had not been broadcasting to local TVs as required by law.

The law also requires all broadcasting institutions to meet specific administrative, technical, managerial and programming requirements.

The suspensions have caused the managements of some of the companies to lay off hundreds of workers, including journalists.

However, Batu TV executive director Andry Hoediono said he had no plan to dismiss his workers.

Agropolitan TV, which is owned by Malang authorities, said the majority of its 53 employees were civil servants, meaning the management did not need to lay off workers despite the suspension.

TV owners have called on the government to reform the corrupt broadcasting bureaucracy and to build a strong partnership with national TV stations to aid educational programs.

"Almost all viewers in the province have complained about the suspension of the local TV stations because of the bad performance and many have subscribed to cable TV from Jakarta so that they can watch their favorite programs," said Agus Setiawan, a 28-year-old resident of Sewojajar subdistrict in Malang.

Thousands of local residents who paid in advance for yearly cable services have filed a lawsuit against local and Malaysian investors for being denied access to their favorite TV programs.

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