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Jakarta. The nation’s highest authority on Islamic law is expected to use its national congress this week to issue several new fatwas, including an edict on racy television infotainment shows, one of its members said on Sunday.

“We will endorse more specific edicts, mainly in relation to technology,” Ichwan Sam, secretary general of Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), said after the opening of the group’s eighth national congress in Jakarta.

“For what is probably a hot topic for the public and due to a public request, we’re going to discuss infotainment programs that have been widely criticized,” he said.

Ichwan said infotainment shows should steer clear of invading the privacy of the individual and should instead focus on providing good moral examples for the public.

“We’ve said that infotainment was haram [not allowed under Islam], so this time, we will think of ways to give guidance to the public on which infotainment can be watched and which can’t.”

Ichwan did not say why infotainment had been deemed haram, but said the shows were on the docket because this year’s congress was focused on the morality of the country.

Opening the congress, MUI chief Sahal Mahfud said that morality was selected because the public’s character had regressed.

“MUI wants to ask all people including the government to intensify efforts to improve the morality and character of the nation,” Mahfud said .

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia’s moral fiber was the responsibility of the public at large.

“We need to be concerned about our moral and ethical problems,” Yudhoyono said at the opening of the congress.

The other edicts in the pipeline include one on breast milk and human organ banks and another on the burden of proof in corruption cases, whereby public officials should be required to prove that they came by their wealth legally.

Dadang Rachmat, chairman of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), said over the weekend that despite mounting public complaints, infotainment shows had not cleaned up their act.

The racy gossip shows have been under fire for airing celebrities’ dirty laundry.

The programs also dominate the lineup of private stations, including at times when children are most likely to be watching.

“We are going to evaluate their content and broadcasting hours, because these two items were what most viewers complained about as being unsuitable for children,” Dadang said on Friday.

Nezar Patria, chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said public officials’ private details could be used as material for media reports, provided they were of public interest.

Although celebrities are certainly in the public eye, they should not face the same scrutiny as public officials, whose livelihoods were supported by taxpayers, Nezar said. People who “continuously breach the journalistic code of ethics do not deserve public acknowledgment as journalists.”

The Indonesia Television Journalists Association (IJTI) called on the KPI and the Press Council to evaluate infotainment shows’ violations and make them public.