SMSI Kaltara invites the Provincial Government to maintain the local media ecosystem

TANJUNG SELOR - The North Kalimantan Cyber Media Association (SMSI) encourages the North Kalimantan Provincial Government to immediately enact the governor's regulation (Pergub) on media cooperation as a legal basis for partnerships between local governments and press companies.

The encouragement was conveyed during a Coffee Morning activity initiated by the North Kalimantan Provincial Office of Communication, Informatics, Statistics and Tourism (DKISP) together with the Regional Secretary of the North Kalimantan Province, Denny Harianto, Wednesday (13/5/2026).

The Chairman of the SMSI Kaltara, Victor Ratu, said the regulation was considered important to provide certainty and guidelines in the implementation of media cooperation in the local government environment.

"This regional regulation is important as a legal basis that is used by the local government in media cooperation. We hope it can be determined soon," said Victor in the discussion forum.

According to Victor, a number of other regions have previously implemented similar regulations as part of the supervision of the press company, including in the regulation of media classification.

In addition to encouraging the acceleration of the enactment of the Regional Regulation, Victor also touched on the importance of clarifying various issues that are developing in society so as not to create different perceptions in the public space.

He gave an example of an issue related to procurement that had been a public concern and had been communicated directly to the relevant bureau in the environment of the Kaltara Provincial Government.

"If there are problems that are developing, of course they must be clarified so that they are clear and do not create different perceptions in the community," he said.

On that occasion, Victor also highlighted the budget for media cooperation in the environment of the Kaltara DKISP, which was assessed to continue to decline every year. According to him, the existence of local media has a strategic role in conveying information on regional development to the community.

Therefore, he hopes that the local government can at least maintain the existing media budget at this time or even increase it so that the local press ecosystem is maintained.

"Our hope is that the media budget does not continue to decrease every year. At least it can be maintained, thank God if it can be increased, because the media is also part of the government's partners in delivering development information," said Victor.

Victor added that SMSI Kaltara currently shelters around 94 cyber media companies throughout North Kalimantan. Of these, 36 media have been certified according to the requirements set by the DKISP Kaltara.

Through the forum, SMSI also hopes that local governments can pay attention to the sustainability of local press companies in the midst of the challenges of the ever-growing digital media industry.

"We hope that the existence of local media also gets attention, because the media has an important role in disseminating information on development in the region," he said.

The Coffee Morning activity took place in a dialogic atmosphere and was attended by a number of press organizations and media people in Kaltara. Present at the forum were the Chairman of the JMSI Kaltara, representatives of the PWI Kaltara, representatives of the IJTI Kaltara, Chairman of the PWI Bulungan, Chairman of the PWI Nunukan, and media people from various media.

The forum, which was also attended by the head of the Kaltara DKISP, Iskandar, the Kaltara KIP Commissioner and the Bito Hukum Setda of the Kaltara Province, became a communication space between the local government and the press to strengthen synergy in building an open, professional, and constructive information ecosystem in North Kalimantan.