Apriadi Gunawan and Khairul Saleh, Medan/Palembang – Demands to block TV programs the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) considers detrimental to the mentality and morality of the public have expanded to Sumatra island.
In Medan, North Sumatra, delegations from all MUI chapters on the island issued a recommendation for Religious Affairs Minister Surya-dharma Ali to stop mystical and gossip programs from being aired on TV.
"They are damaging mentality and morality and therefore must be stopped, to prevent younger generations from being misled and losing their identity," Muslim Ibrahim of MUI's Aceh chapter said while reading out the recommendation, at a gathering at Merdeka Square, Medan, on Sunday.
Muslim also said all MUI chapters in Sumatra were in support of the Religious Affairs Ministry and the MUI's decision to declare gossip infotainment programs haram (forbidden under Islam). Gossip programs had no educational value, he said.
MUI chairman Nazri Adlani welcomed the recommendations and promised to support them until they were implemented by government.
In response, Suryadharma said he was also in support of the recommendations. "Let's pray to have the recommendation implemented," he told thousands of Muslims attending the forum.
In Palembang, MUI South Sumatra chapter on Saturday declared that television programs that screened hypnosis, fortune telling and match-making were haram.
The head of the chapter's edict commission, Luthfi Izzudin, said that according to Islamic teaching, making people lose consciousness to reveal information from them to be made public was sinful.
At a meeting of Islamic scholars in Surabaya in 2006, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) declared that infotainment programs were haram because they presented ghibah (gossip), which is forbidden in Islam.
However, NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said late last month that whether infotainment programs were haram depended on their content. "If they contain gossip, pitting one side against another, rummag- ing through people's family life, that is surely against religion," he said.
Luthfi further said match-making TV programs were similarly haram because the morality of the nation and the values and principles of a marriage according to Islamic teachings were widely ignored by them. "Such programs have had numerous negative impacts," he said.
Luthfi said mystical and fortune-telling programs also had negative impacts on viewers. Many had even been proven to be untruthful.
Luthfi said his chapter would deliver its statement to the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPID), which is authorized to impose sanctions on TV stations considered to be damaging the morality of the nation.
In response, South Sumatra KPID chairman Mudrik Qori said his office could stop a particular TV program within two months after issuing a warning letter to stations concerned. During that period stations are also not allowed to rebroadcast the program.