JAKARTA – The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has officially decided that there was absolutely no violation in Ganjar Pranowo’s broadcast of the call to prayer on a television station. This decision was taken on September 13 2023 through the KPI plenary meeting.
As a result of the clarification forum and plenary meeting, in the end KPI assessed that there was no violation of the provisions of the Broadcasting Code of Conduct and Broadcast Program Standards (P3SPS).
“Based on the results of the clarification forum and plenary meeting, KPI considers that the Maghrib call to prayer broadcast featuring a figure or public figures does not violate the provisions of the Broadcasting Behavior Guidelines and Broadcast Program Standards (P3SPS),” quoted from the Central KPI press release.
Before the decision was taken, the KPI first called the private television station regarding the broadcast to ask for clarification. Going forward, KPI reminds all broadcasting institutions to maintain independence during the 2024 elections.
“KPI appeals to all broadcasting institutions to continue to prioritize the principles of fairness, impartiality and proportionateness in broadcasting broadcast programs in order to maintain the democratic implementation of the 2024 elections,” said the Central KPI press release.
“As for the next steps regarding the content of election broadcasts that have the potential to violate, KPI will follow up,” added KPI.
In this follow-up, they have also formed a Task Force from various parties to coordinate.
“Coordinating with the Task Force consisting of the General Election Commission (KPU), the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), KPI and the Press Council,” continued the press release.
Previously, PDI Perjuangan explained that there was absolutely no element of identity politics in the broadcast because Ganjar Pranowo himself was a religious figure.
“Not (identity politics). Mr. Ganjar Pranowo is a religious figure. “His religiosity is not artificial,” said Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto.
Meanwhile, the Muhammadiyah Regional Leadership for Central Java Province responded positively to the call to prayer showing the figure of Ganjar Pranowo on television.
Chairman of the Muhammadiyah Central Java Regional Leadership, Tafsir, stated that the video for the call to prayer was actually positive creativity.
“Firstly, the public must understand that RCTI is a private media that accommodates all creativity. “Whoever is creative and comes first will be the winner in media,” he said.
He then appealed to the public not to debate this issue because all parties have the same right to be creative.
“There are lots of other televisions. The other television also has a video of the call to prayer. This is a matter of creativity, who comes first so there is no need to protest. “It’s just that it might no longer be interesting because it was preceded by RCTI through Pak Ganjar,” he said.
