Foreign radio broadcasts have entered the public airspace in Indonesia's border regions. Meanwhile, the voices on Indonesian broadcast services fade in and out.
Maimunah, a citizen of Terong Island, Batam, shook her head, each time when Tempo mentioned the names of Sukarno, Suharto, Abdurrahman Wahid and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
On the contrary, when asked about Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew, she responded instantaneously. "Mahathir is a bold one, I listen to his speeches on the radio," said the 65-year-old woman, last Thursday.
Rusmini, a grade 2 elementary school student in Pecong Island of Batam, could also sing Negaraku Malaysia's national anthem and Majulah Singapura, the national anthem of Singapore, fluently. "People hear those songs often here," said the 9-year-old girl, in a strong Malaysian accent.
The islands of Terong and Pecong are the outermost islands of Indonesia situated directly across from Johor, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Without electricity, let alone cellphone service, radio becomes the only means of entertainment for around 400 families residing in these islands. Unfortunately, the only radio broadcasts that can be caught and heard clearly there happen to come from overseas. Local radio broadcasts are faint, most voices fading in and out.
The Indonesia Broadcast Commission's Iswandi Syahputra has pointed out that of around 30 radio broadcasts that could be heard in Bengkalis, Riau, for example, only two are presented in the Indonesian language. Even then, those two do not produce a clear voice. Locals call them spleteran, referring to sounds from other frequencies leaking into a radio channel. Conversely, radio signals from the other side of the ocean are strongly penetrating the Indonesian public space. "This is clear frequency interference," said Iswandi.
On Wednesday two weeks ago, the Indonesian and Malaysian governments carried out a joint measurement of the radio stations' signal strength. The goal is to collect data on the strength or capacity of the frequency. The results, said Communication Ministry spokesman Gatot S. Dewa Broto, showed the amplitude of radio broadcast signal from both local stations and radio stations from neighboring countries are still well below the maximum limit of 40 decibel milliwatts (dBm) set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). "The amplitudes reach 30 dBm at most," said Gatot.
Gatot continued that results also showed there is only a small chance for interference to occur. Radio interference is an interaction between signals. It happens, for example, when one frequency is set very closely to another. "There is the term interference in our book, not intervention," said Gatot.
On the other hand, said Iswandi, if signals from overseas radio stations are pushing too strongly into Indonesian airspace, then that would be considered "an intervention." Iswandi questions the role of the Monitoring Agency, a technical service unit of the Communication Ministry in the regions. "They take repeated measurements, but the follow-up to that is unclear. Foreign broadcasts remain dominant."
Information technology (IT) expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Onno W. Purbo, affirmed that radio signals are not limited by the administrative boundaries of a region or country. However, another IT expert, Ruby Zukri Alamsyah said that restrictions can be applied, using a principle similar to that of the base transceiver station (BTS). BTS has a coverage area whose width depends on the strength of power delivered through signal. Ruby mentioned that Indonesia could utilize jammer technology to block excessively powerful frequencies. "The point is, it is technically possible, but requires an enormous budget." Therefore, such action to sterilize the air frequency in border areas must be considered carefully.
The Communication Ministry thinks that there has been no violation related to the presence of foreign broadcast in border areas. One violation occurred a couple of years ago, when a horse race was held in Singapore while the punters organized their bets in Batam. They were supported by a powerful television broadcast aimed at Batam. The Indonesian government immediately protested. Now, even if a violation is found, said Gatot, it is likely to be committed by an unauthorized or illegal station.
Far away at Pecong and Terong Islands, Batam, Singaporean and Malaysian Era, Warna, Surya, and Ria radio stations continue to play Malay songs from 9am to 4pm. Locals deliberately turn up their radios' volume. "So others can also hear," said Muhammad Mizan, son of Maimunah.
By Retno Sulistyowati, Rumbadi Dale (Batam)
No. 44/12, June 26, 2012