TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The clumsy move by a few members of the House of Representatives (DPR) should not be a cause of concern to the management of state radio station Radio Republik Indonesia. This overreaction was nothing more than a final attempt at a show of force in the midst of attempts to understand the confusion of determining the way the political wind is blowing. In other words, this maneuver was an attempt to try their luck.
Using the excuse of lacking in common sense, the chair and vice-chair of DPR Commission I bragged that they would summon the RRI executive director to "demand an explanation". The public broadcaster was seen as being 'hasty' in organizing and broadcasting the results of a quick count that it carried out during the July 9 presidential election. According to some legislators, broadcasting the quick count adversely affected the neutrality of RRI. The question of funding was also raised as it involved the State Budget.
There is an Indonesian saying about spreading family secrets coming back to haunt you, and this is what has happened to these legislators. The funding for the quick count had already been discussed at a hearing before the DPR Communications Commission on September 10 last year, and approved the following month. The question of whether RRI can conduct and broadcast the result of quick counts was decided at the same meeting, which decreed that state television station TVRI and RRI were media tasked with disseminating information about general elections.
The other reason, that "RRI tended to favor one presidential candidate" was even more laughable. The RRI quick counts were 47.51 percent of the vote for Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and 52.49 percent for Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla. The question is: if the quick count results had shown a larger vote for Prabowo-Hatta, would RRI still be accused of "favoring one presidential candidate"? This is where this excuse runs out of logic.
Making accusations against RRI is the same as accusing the eight other credible organizations which carried out the quick count surveys and whose results indicated a win for Jokowi-Kalla of "favoring one presidential candidate". The estimates aired by RRI and these eight organizations were the 'favorites' of the electorate, in this case, Jokowi-Kalla.
Quick counts are nothing new to RRI. In its survey following the April 9 legislative elections, RRI also carried out and published the results of a quick count, which were broadly the same as the results from other credible organizations. In fact when compared with the actual result from the General Elections Commission (KPU), RRI's quick count was different only by 0.41 percent. This result drew praise not only from the KPU, but also from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Therefore, there is no need for the RRI management to worry about the plan to summon them, hatched by a few individuals in the DPR whose members of the relevant commissions have said they were not acting in line with DPR procedures. RRI is still the republic's and the people's radio, and is obliged to prove its neutrality in providing accurate information so the people are not poisoned by doctored data from bogus polling organizations. The DPR should also appreciate the important success of RRI.
And neither should RRI bow down in the face of confusion sowed by a few politicians who will feel differently after seeing the way the vote goes following the recent presidential election. Once on air, always on air. Once counted, always trusted. (*)
