Legal counsel Hosnika Purba conveying the revisions to the petition of the judicial review of Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting, Monday (2/19/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another hearing for the petition by Wiwit Purwito, a private employee, who is challenging Article 48 paragraph (4) letter e of Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting. The second hearing for case No. 11/PUU-XXII/2024 took place in the plenary courtroom on Monday, 19 February 2024, with Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih (chair), Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, and Ridwan Mansyur presiding.

Through legal counsel Hosnika Purba, the Petitioner conveyed the revisions to the petition, including that to the power of attorney, the Petitioner’s legal standing—which is potential impairment to him as a father of three children—and the petitum.

“The new petitum is that the Petitioner requests that the Court declare Article 48 paragraph (4) letter e of Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting unconstitutional and not legally binding if interpreted as a prohibition against any display of romantic scenes of opposite sexes in education environments at the senior high school level or its equivalent or where school uniform are worn,” said Hosnika, who attended the hearing on site.

Also read: Protection for Children from Negative Broadcasts Questioned

At the preliminary hearing on Friday, February 2, the Petitioner alleged the article is in violation of Article 28B paragraph (2), Article 28C, and Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution. He wishes for a confirmation of the limits of child protection in the consumption of cinema because currently there is an increasing number of movies that contain elements of violence, romance, and adult scenes, which have negative impacts on children and teenagers. In the petition, the Petitioner also mentions several soap operas and movies aired on television that have negative impacts on children and adolescents, including Anak Jalanan (English: Street Kids), Ganteng-Ganteng Serigala (English: Handsome Wolves).

These soap operas, he alleges, rarely portrays positive scenes such as studying, despite being shot in a school environment or while the cast are wearing school uniforms. The Petitioner is concerned as children and teenagers often imitate behavior shown by adults that they often see and hear, so these television entertainment contents have caused parents to worry about the development and characters of children exposed to such shows that are full of negative messages. Therefore, he believes broadcasting institutions (in this case the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission or KPI), which are mass communication media that have an important role in social life, take on the responsible for supervising, screening, and selecting films that are suitable for children and teenagers.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Andhini S. F.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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