Presenting Lesti And Sammy As Witnesses, Ariel NOAH Reveals Two VISION Targets In The Material Test Of The Copyright Law

Ariel NOAH at the Constitutional Court after the judicial review of the Copyright Law (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Voice Vibration (VISION), Ariel NOAH, was first present at the Constitutional Court to witness the judicial review of the Copyright Law which presented Lesti Kejora and Sammy Simorangkir as witnesses.

As is known, Ariel together with Armand Maulana as the General Chair of VISI and 27 other singers, submitted a request for judicial review of the Copyright Law since March 7.

Prior to today's trial, Tuesday, July 22, the singers as Petitioners were never present at the trial and were only represented by the legal team.

This time, Ariel and Armand were present to support Lesti and Sammy who came to testify. But unfortunately, Ariel came late and the panel of judges was not allowed to enter the courtroom.

"I was late, but I came in the term supporting friends who were witnesses," Ariel said during a press conference after the trial.

The testimony of Lesti and Sammy is important for VISION. The reason is, Ariel said there were two main targets in this material test application, where the actual cases had been experienced by Lesti and Sammy.

"We are pursuing two targets, namely obtaining legal certainty regarding who has to pay (royalty) performing rights, and what mechanism should be in the permit to sing a song in the context of performing rights," said the NOAH vocalist.

Meanwhile, Lesti in her testimony conveyed the summons and police reports submitted by the songwriter Yoni Dores. As a professional singer, Rizky Billar's wife said she only sang according to the organizer's request.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Sammy admitted that he was forbidden to perform Kerispatih's songs after he was expelled and solo in his career. He was even asked to pay Rp. 5 million for each Kerispatih song performed on stage.

With these two testimonies, Ariel hopes that the constitutional panel of judges can be helped in making decisions that are expected to provide legal certainty for the singers.

"Hopefully, through this step there will be certainty, not only from us who are already famous, but also for young people who have just learned to sing or stage at the pensi. Everything is affected, that's why we are fighting for it," concluded Ariel.