Jakarta – United Development Party (PPP) secretary-general M. Romahurmuziy says he is concerned that media moguls' involvement in politics could jeopardize media independence in the coming elections.

"The media plays important and significant roles in general elections. Therefore we need to tighten monitoring to maintain impartiality in media coverage of political parties," Romahurmuziy said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Media such as TV stations should face strict regulations on the coverage of their owners' political activities in proportion to coverage of other political figures, to avoid further bias, he added.

Romahurmuziy also urged both the General Elections Commission (KPU) and General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) to play a more active role in media supervision.

At present, at least three media moguls are crafting their futures in politics, including Golkar Party chief Aburizal Bakrie who owns the Vivanews holding, the home of Vivanews wire service, TV One and Anteve; National Democrat mass organization patron Surya Paloh, who owns Metro TV, Media Indonesia daily and its online service; and newcomer Hary Tanoesoedibjo who owns the MNC media empire, the home of TV stations RCTI, Global TV, MNC TV and SINDO TV, as well as SINDO daily newspaper and its online and radio network. Hary just joined the National Democrat Party as the head of its board of experts.