JAKARTA - The general chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Muhaimin Iskandar or Cak Imin, responded to the revision of the Broadcasting Law which was criticized by several parties. Cak Imin then revealed the contents of the 8 agenda changes submitted to the President-elect, Prabowo Subianto, one of which was to guarantee press freedom. "Pers is one of the pillars of democracy. If press freedom is limited, it means that we are also curbing democracy. Therefore, I entrust 8 Agenda of Amendments to the elected president, Mr. Prabowo, whose contents firmly request that the quality of democracy be strengthened, while ensuring press freedom, Press Freedom is basically control for better things," said Cak Imin to reporters, Thursday, May 16.
Cak Imin hopes that the revision of the Broadcasting Law can accommodate all the aspirations of the community and media personnel. According to him, the Broadcasting Law must be able to overcome the challenges of journalism in the digital space without threatening freedom of expression.
Because, he understands very well the importance of freedom of opinion for the public and the press because he worked as a journalist when he served as Head of Litbang Tabloid Detik in 1993 and his place of work was celebrated by the New Order.
"So far, the revision of the Broadcasting Law is still in the form of a draft. This means that there is still time to absorb and listen to the aspirations of the community and friends of the media," he continued.
Cak Imin also emphasized that prohibiting broadcasting of investigative programs is tantamount to killing journalism. Given the short news such as breaking news or relative viral information that has been taken over by social media, he said, journalism is very reliable in producing long, complete and deep information.
"Mosok journalism can only quote the talk of a spokesman or copy a press release? When breaking news, live reports and even viral news can be taken over by social media, so investigation is the life of journalism today," said Cak Imin.
"In today's context, prohibiting broadcasting of investigative programs in the draft of the Broadcasting Bill basically castrates the most premium capacity of press personnel, because investigations cannot all do so," he continued.
Gus Imin then took the example of the Open Eyes Program from TV Narratives, the Bocor Alus Program from Tempo or the documentary Dirty Vote which aired on the Watchdoc Youtube channel. When released, Dirty Vote was able to provide the important perspectives and information needed by the public in the 2024 Presidential Election contestation.
"Dirty Vote, Open Eyes and Bocor Alus are one of the investigative journalism products that is able to meet the public's need for credible information. We really need to support works like this because it will bring goodness to the nation. It is the same with other creative works that can only appear if given freedom space," said Cak Imin.
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On the other hand, Cak Imin understands the importance of people's ability to sort credible news amid the onslaught of information flooding through social media and various broadcasting platforms.
"The revision of the Broadcasting Law must be able to protect the public from hoaxes and misinformation that is increasingly rampant, without amputating press freedom. The public also has the right to access the information as widely as possible. There should be no censorship of journalism and public expression", he concluded.
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