Radio Republik Indonesia

Radio Republik Indonesia (Radio of the Republic of Indonesia, abbreviated as RRI), legally Lembaga Penyiaran Publik (LPP) Radio Republik Indonesia (Public Broadcasting Institution Radio of the Republic of Indonesia), is a public radio network of Indonesia. Founded on 11 September 1945, it is the first radio network in Indonesia and the second oldest media company in the country after Antara. RRI headquarters are located on Medan Merdeka Barat Street in Central Jakarta, Jakarta.
RRI has four radio networks as well as visual radio channels, broadcasts all over Indonesia to serve all citizens throughout the nation. The network is supported by roughly 90 local stations, the largest of any radio network in the country. Through its overseas broadcasting division Voice of Indonesia, RRI also provides information about Indonesia to people around the world. Its funding primarily comes from annual state budget approved by the parliament, advertisement, and other services.
History
RRI was established on 11 September 1945 by several figures who previously operated several Japanese radio stations in 6 cities. A meeting attended by the station delegates at Adang Kadarusman house on Menteng resulted in the decision to set up Radio Republik Indonesia by choosing Abdul Rahman Saleh as the first general manager.
In February 1946, RRI was placed under the Department of Information, and immediately became a tool for the newly established national government during Indonesian National Revolution.
Domestic Dutch-language broadcasts were discontinued in 1954.
The RRI central station in Jakarta became one of the vital objects captured by the 30 September Movement on 1 October 1965. In that morning, RRI reported about the September 30 Movement aimed at high-ranking officers who were members of the "Council of Generals" who were about to stage a coup against the government, and announced the formation of "Revolutionary Council" led by Lt. Col. Untung.
In late 1960s, private radio stations were established and effectively ended RRI's monopoly on radio broadcasting. However, during the New Order era, upon the requests of the Ministry of Information, RRI-produced news programs were aired simulcast on all radio stations.
After the Broadcasting Act No. 32/2002 is in force, RRI, along with TVRI, set as the public radio network in 2006 and became independent of any governmental control. The status then reaffirmed by Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah) No. 12 of 2005.
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, RRI use the tagline Radio Tanggap Bencana COVID-19 (COVID-19 Disaster Responsive Radio). By the tagline, the network announced their efforts to combat the pandemic by providing accurate and reliable information, and supporting the actions of government of Indonesia during the pandemic.
A proposed new Broadcasting Act (Undang-Undang Penyiaran) currently in the making would merge RRI with its fellow public broadcaster TVRI unto a unified firm RTRI (Radio Televisi Republik Indonesia, Radio [and] Television of the Republic of Indonesia).
Principles and structure
RRI is designated as public broadcasting institution per Act No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting, which defined as a "legal entity established by the state; has independent, neutral, not commercial (characteristics); and has the function to provide services for the public benefit". Its duty, according to Government Regulation No. 12 of 2005, is "to provide the healthy information, education and entertainment services, (maintain) social control and unity, and preserve the nation's culture for the whole public benefit by organizing radio broadcast that reaches all parts of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia". The network is formally placed directly under, and responsible to, the President of Indonesia.
Unlike other public broadcasters such as TVRI and newly established local public broadcasters, RRI has long had a broadcast pledge called Three Pledges of RRI (Tri Prasetya RRI), shown below in English:
We must save all radio broadcast devices from anyone who wants to use these devices to destroy our country, and defend the devices with all our body and soul in any condition and with any consequences.
We must drive the RRI broadcast as an instrument of struggle and revolutionary tool for the entire Indonesian nation, with a pure national spirit, a clean and honest heart, and a mind full of love and loyalty to the homeland and nation.
We must stand above all traditions and beliefs of any parties or groups, by prioritizing national unity and the safety of the state and holding on the spirit of the Proclamation of 17 August 1945.
RRI organization structure consists of five Board of Supervisors (Dewan Pengawas) appointed by the People's Representative Council (DPR) and six Board of Directors (Dewan Direksi) appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Both are sworn in by the President, served for five years and renewable once.
According to article 15 of the Broadcasting Act, RRI funding comes from several sources such as broadcasting fees, annual state budget (drafted by the government and approved by the DPR), community contribution, and advertisement, as well as other legal efforts related to the broadcasting operation. In fact, as of today the broadcasting fee is not yet implemented, and RRI is asked to generate "non-tax revenue" for the state by various funding sources (besides the annual state budget), which some of the revenue would be returned to the network. Previously the radio tax to supplement RRI funding was charged in 1947, but was abolished sometime in the 1980s.
Services
Radio
In general, RRI offers a maximum of four main stations in a region (availability are vary, see below), one of them is a national simulcast. Three other services are transmitted locally, producing local programmes as well as relaying programmes from RRI central station in Jakarta.
RRI Pro 1: The station serves as regional radio for local community, mainly broadcasts local news and education as well as music.
RRI Pro 2: The station serves teenager and youth community. It mainly broadcasts music, entertainment and lifestyle programming.
RRI Pro 3: Relays directly from RRI central station, it broadcasts 24-hour news, current affairs, and talk programming nationally supplemented by reports from local RRI stations.
RRI Pro 4: Currently exist in several cities, it broadcasts local cultural programming as well as variety of cultures within Indonesia.
On shortwave and online, Voice of Indonesia broadcasts as an overseas broadcaster, airing general information, music and entertainment.
Stations in major cities
Other local stations
RRI Pro 1, RRI Pro 2, and RRI Pro 4 operates 19 hours every day, starting 5am to 12am local time. Availability of Pro 1, Pro 2, Pro 3, and Pro 4 as of November 2021 is displayed on the table below.
An RRI local station for Dili was operating from 1976 to 1999. East Timor national broadcaster RTTL currently takes place.
Television
Aside of radio, RRI also operates a number of "television stations" with the concept of visual radio. Examples are RRI NET, a television channel broadcasts on satellite and online, and a visual radio version of the Voice of Indonesia broadcasts online.
RRI NET broadcasts certain live national radio programming via television. RRI NET can be accessed via streaming service as well as free-to-air satellite television across the country. Its slogan is "Tonton yang Anda Dengar" (Watch what you listen).
RRI NET is known to have been first broadcasting since December 2015. However, the channel was only officially launched on 12 September 2018 in commemoration of RRI's 73rd anniversary.
Online
RRI maintain a news portal on its official website (rri.co.id), and was also operated indie music portal BeYoung.id. The network also maintain RRI Digital (formerly RRI Play and RRI PlayGo) mobile app, offering RRI services in one app such as live streaming of all networks and local stations, news portal, RRI 30" citizen journalism and BeYoung.
Criticism and controversies
Land conflict over the Cimanggis RRI transmitter complex
This conflict began when there was a handover report (BAST) of state property in the form of land from LPP RRI to Ministry of Religion of Indonesia (Kemenag) Number 774/DU/05/2017 dated 9 May 2017, in where LPP RRI handed over a plot of land in Cimanggis, Depok, West Java covering an area of 1,425,889 square metres (more than 142 hectares) to the Ministry of Religion for the establishment of Indonesian International Islamic University (UIII). In accordance with article 6 of BAST, to ensure the continuity of RRI's broadcast operations, the second party (namely the Ministry of Religious Affairs) must move or construct buildings, structures and other equipment and infrastructure in stages in new places.
However, in practice, when the transfer or development had not yet been carried out, the process of building UIII in Cimanggis had already begun; which resulted in damage to the RRI short wave transmitter "fider line" which has been ongoing since the end of last year. On 20 December 2018, the President Director of RRI 2016–2021, Muhammad Rohanudin, sent a letter to the Religion Minister, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin regarding this matter which was not in accordance with the promises and commitments agreed in article 3 and article 6 of BAST.
RRI has occupied land in Cimanggis since 1958. From 2002 to 2012, RRI successively experienced civil lawsuits from outside parties regarding this land. However, court decisions have repeatedly ruled in favor of RRI. Until decision Number 99/Pdt/2012/PT.Bandung was accepted by LPP RRI, the plaintiff did not submit any other legal remedies.
2021 President director's accusation of bias
In early 2021, President Director of RRI 2016-2021 Muhammad Rohanudin registered to become the supervisory board of RRI 2021-2026 and was declared to have passed the initial selection. Rohanudin was accused by some parties on behalf of RRI employees of having a "bad track record" during his tenure, including allegations of nepotism, mismanagement and abuse of authority. This is in line with the statement of Irawan Ronodipoero, son of RRI founder Joesoef Ronodipoero, who said that there had been "disharmony" within RRI as a result of his leadership.
This accusation was strengthened by the results of Sapta Pratala's research in the same month which found that the news portal rri.co.id provided a very large portion of news with the subject of DPR members for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction compared to other factions. Apart from that, Sapta Pratala's research assesses that rri.co.id is biased by reporting more comments rejecting the dissolution of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) after the government disbanded the organization on 30 December 2020. Sapta Pratala has only described in the news media as a "public broadcast media observer", but there is no further information about its identity.
On 13 May, Deputy Secretary General of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) Satia Chandra Wiguna asked First Commission of the People's Representative Council to fire Rohanudin because he was deemed "contrary to RRI's ideal position as neutral news agency" and "defending intolerant people", even though according to Act Number 32 of 2002 the DPR does not have the right to dismiss the RRI Board of Directors. However, the RRI Supervisory Board previously dismissed Rohanudin on 8 May.
The accusations that emerged and the steps taken by the supervisory board were criticized by Esa Unggul University political communications expert Jamiluddin Ritonga. According to him, these accusations should not immediately be used as a basis for judging RRI, because of its status as public media. RRI, according to Ritonga, must "protect all elements of society" and "should not be like during the New Order era, which was clearly a mouthpiece for the government".
On 20 May 2021, First Commission of the DPR appointed Rohanudin as one of the members of the 2021-2026 RRI Supervisory Board from the RRI elements.
Logos
Fourth (current) logo variations
See also
Voice of Indonesia, the RRI shortwave overseas service
TVRI, the Indonesian public television network
Antara, the Indonesian news agency
Public broadcasting in Indonesia
References
Further reading
Djamalul Abidin As (ed.), 40 Tahun Radio Republik Indonesia: Sekali di Udara Tetap di Udara. Jakarta: Panitia Peringatan Hari Radio ke-40, 1985.
External links
Voice of Indonesia (RRI international service) official website
Indonesian radio networks
Radio stations established in 1945
Publicly funded broadcasters
Public broadcasting in Indonesia
1945 establishments in Indonesia
Mass media companies of Indonesia