Jakarta, NU Online
It’s the same old story. Every Ramadan, television stations are lambasted for programming that fails to capture the spirit of the holy month, while calls to improve the content offered fall on deaf ears.

Since the start of Ramadan, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has issued three warnings and three reprimands, and made numerous calls, to Jakarta-based stations that broadcast nationwide.

On Thursday, the commission issued reprimands to three stations for mixing the broadcast of the dusk call of prayer — which marks the breaking of the fast — with advertisements.

“This is the first time we have received such complaints from viewers,” Dadang Rachmat Hidayat. KPI chairman, of the commission, said on Sunday as quoted by the Jakarta Globe.

He said some of the stations re sponded by removing the segments responsible for complaints.

Dadang said although it was understandable that broadcasters used the occasion for their business interests, television stations should keep advertising moderate and not compromise the holy month’s values.

Programming during the holiday season adjusts to a change in viewers’ habits, when the number of people watching rises and the predawn meal and fast-breaking hours suddenly become prime time.

Sinansari Ecip, from the monitoring team of clerical group Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said the broadcasters should have exercised better ethical judgment, although admitted there was no regulation restricting the broadcasting of advertisements during the call for prayer.

Dadang said other complaints were similar to those of last year, citing harsh words, mockery, physical and psychological violence in Ramadan programs.

“There have been some changes but they are not significant,” Dadang said, adding that most adjustments were made to meet the bare minimum requirements of the broadcasting code of conduct and programming standards.

Zainal Abidin Petir, coordinator of programming content at the Central Java Regional Broadcasting Commission (KPID), said the broadcasters are obliged to adhere to the code and standards throughout the year, regardless of the season.

Although news and feature programs included some content produced especially for the season, Zainal said comedies, dramas and variety shows, which are the most popular programs on television, took on Ramadan-related titles but left their content largely unaltered.

Sinansari said the MUI, the KPI and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology met with television executives four months before the start of the fasting month to urge stations to produce better quality programs. They met with the Film Censorship Board a month later.

The meetings were considered an improvement on last year, when the equivalent meetings took place only a week before Ramadan, by which time programming was already locked in.

Last week Komnas Anak, the National Commission for Child Protection, called on broadcasters to not accept advertising from tobacco companies for religious programming during Ramadan. It proposed action on the issue from broadcasters, KPI and Islamic organizations. (dar)