Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – A group of civil society organizations, called the Frequency Belongs to the Public (FMP), plans to take the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to court as the commission failed to punish partisan TV stations.

FMP spokesman Roy Thaniago said the KPI had yet to show its commitment to upholding the neutrality of television broadcasting in Indonesia.

"They committed to take action against stations that air political advertisements by the end of this month, but there are still a lot of [political ads] being shown on TV. The KPI has [let] politicians control the broadcasting content," Roy told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the KPI's pledge had been made earlier this month after the FMP – which consists of more than 30 social organizations including the Information and Communication Technology Watch (ICT Watch), Indonesian Communication Student Association and private channel watchdog Remotivi – marched from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to the KPI's headquarters.

In the pledge, which was written outlined in an official-stamped document, the KPI said it would sanction television stations that aired political ads and provided excessive coverage of political candidates and parties by Jan. 31 at the latest.

"They need to fulfill their commitment because they were established by the state and paid by the people to prevent any party, group or interests to penetrate TV content. We are afraid that the public will eventually lose its trust for the KPI if they are weak," he said.

The "people" he was referring to were Golkar party presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie, who owns TVOne and ANTV; People's Conscience (Hanura) Party vice presidential candidate Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who runs RCTI, Global TV and MNC TV; and National Democrat (NasDem) Party presidential candidate Surya Paloh, who owns the Metro TV channel.

He said that the KPI should have revoked the licenses of those channels as they had violated the 2002 Broadcasting Law. Reprimands and warnings were useless, he continued.

Contacted separately, KPI commissioner Agatha Lily said that the commission had been active over the past few weeks in its mission to make TV content balance and impartial. Agatha said they had recently sent every TV station, including local stations, a circular prohibiting political ads and campaigns.

"We did this because we have the responsibility to ensure reporting and content is balanced, we were not bowing to pressure from social organizations," Agatha told the Post.

She also said that the commission last week had sent second warnings to RCTI and Global TV, which had aired two quiz shows: "Kuis Kebangsaan" (Nationality Quiz) and "Indonesia Cerdas" (Indonesia Smart) that had campaigned for presidential hopeful Hanura chairman Gen. (ret) Wiranto and his running mate Tanoesoedibjo.

If the stations did not make any corrections to the quizzes, the KPI will revoke the quizzes' broadcasting licenses. She promised the KPI would continue to monitor TV content more intensively as the election neared.