Monday, September 13, 2010

Indonesia's RRI to expand overseas broadcasts

Indonesia’s national radio broadcaster, RRI, is to expand its overseas broadcasts to serve migrant workers abroad, Kompas reports. RRI’s President Director, Parni Hadi, said that the broadcasts would be beamed to Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and the Middle East. “These programmes will reach Indonesian workers in South Korea, Japan, and Middle East countries,” Mr Parni said in Jakarta on the occasion of RRI’s 65th anniversary.

He said the purpose of the expansion was to make RRI “the air bridge” between Indonesian workers abroad and their families at home. RRI’s broadcasts were already covering all of Indonesia and also beamed overseas. “RRI is not only to be a bridge among Indonesians at home but also between Indonesians at home and those living in other countries through a programme called ‘Siaran Kampung Halaman’ (Transmissions from Home) which will also connect Indonesian workers abroad with their families in Indonesia,” he said.

The first to be served under the broadcast expansion programme would be Indonesian workers in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Meanwhile, RRI was already broadcasting a programme for Indonesians doing the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)