TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister of Politics, Law, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD criticized mainstream media outlets that would often feature incompetent religious lecturers in television shows.

He pointed out TV’s tendency to rely heavily on the person’s comedic factor rather than their knowledge about a certain religion.

“Who chooses these themes and who appoints the ustad (Muslim preacher). How can something like that be featured on TV,” said Mahfud MD at the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) headquarters on Thursday, March 5.

He recalled a religious lecturer he saw that claimed to be a religious figure who was also a fun storyteller but lacked the ability to recite the Holy Quran passages.

Mahfud MD called for the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) and Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to band together and encourage TV stations to improve the quality of the religious lecturers. Mahfud reminded TV stations to pick lecturers, not for ratings but to spread quality content.

He feared that if the current trend continues, religious lecturers that show up on the TV screen will be filled with religiously-immature ustad who are only good in dramatizing stories, throwing jokes, or conjure up horror stories.

ANTARA