'MTV's' VJ Sarah Sechan tells it how it is<\/p>\n
By Chris Brummit<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): For someone who is seen in more than 19 million
\nhouseholds throughout the region, Sarah Sechan, one of the
\nIndonesian presenters (VJs) on MTV Southeast Asia, is
\nrefreshingly free from the affectations and hang-ups that such
\nexposure might cause to arise. She is hip though, as only someone
\nwho works at Asia's high temple of youth culture can be.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta for a two-day visit, she arrived at the agreed
\nvenue holding a mobile phone and a copy of Kompas open to the
\nclassified pages. She pointed at her paper and explained she was
\nhouse hunting somewhere in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Now 25, her independence -- financial and otherwise -- was
\napparent in the interview that followed.<\/p>\n
The daughter of an international banker, she spent nine of her
\nschool years abroad in the United States and England. After which
\nshe returned to Jakarta and started an accounting degree at
\nTrisakti University. She was two years into it before modeling,
\nradio disc jockeying and acting commitments took over. Toward the
\nend of 1997 MTV offered her a contract, she consulted her mom and
\nmoved to Singapore where MTV Southeast Asia is based.<\/p>\n
As might be expected for someone who talks for a living, once
\nshe got going she proved difficult to stop. Neither was it the
\nauto-speak which celebrities are prone to lapse in to; there were
\nno sudden defenses raised or obviously premeditated answers. She
\nappeared to be, if no longer the girl next door, still very much
\non the same street as the rest of us.<\/p>\n
She talked about her childhood, Indonesian pop music and
\nsinetron (TV serials), and gave the lowdown on life at MTV, all
\nthe time switching between Indonesian and English in the style
\nfamiliar to those who watch her at work.<\/p>\n
Question: How was it moving around from country to country
\nwhen you were young?<\/p>\n
Answer: I didn't like it. Compared to my brothers, I was
\nalways the shy one, walking around the streets with my head down.
\nMy mom would say, \"What are you doing, looking for coins?\" Then
\nas soon as I made a few friends, it was time to move on again. I
\nsaid I had to go back to Indonesia, and they would ask, \"do you
\nlive in houses?\" I'd reply like \"no, we live in caves.\" \"What do
\nyou wear?\" And I'm, like, \"nothing. We're nudists.\" \"What do you
\nspeak?\" And I say, \"oh, agabunga language, you know.\"<\/p>\n
Q: Your current job as a VJ. It looks like a dream job. Is it?<\/p>\n
A: I wouldn't say a dream exactly. Before I got it, I had always
\nlived with my family and the job was based in Singapore. So
\nbesides the job, I had always wanted to live alone. I wanted to
\nsee whether I could do it or not. Singapore is safe and mom said
\nok, you can go.<\/p>\n
Monday to Friday I'm in the studio, so I rarely get to meet
\npeople. Then there are the parties; you have to meet lots of
\npeople and sometimes you don't know what to say to them. So these
\ndays I just go out with the production team. They are all young,
\nfun creative people.<\/p>\n
Q: Does it feel like hard work?<\/p>\n
A: It's not hard work actually. Maybe at the beginning, you're
\nthinking about all the people watching you. Now I just treat the
\ncamera as a friend. The only bad thing is that if you're having
\nany problems, you still have to wake up and go and perform before
\nthe camera, so you have to hide everything. I haven't got
\nproblems. I'm young, it's not like I have two husbands who are
\nboth leaving me and taking the kids or anything. But you know you
\ncan be heartbroken and stuff.<\/p>\n
Q: How often do you make it back to Jakarta?<\/p>\n
A: When I first moved, I used to go back every two weeks or so.
\nBut not to Jakarta, mostly to Bandung to visit my relatives. And
\nthen I checked my account, and I thought this is getting crazy,
\nall my money is running out. Nowadays, not so often, really only
\nif I've got some work to do, which works out to about once every
\ntwo months.<\/p>\n
Q: Is there anything you always do when you arrive?<\/p>\n
A: The minute I arrive I have to go to Dapur Sunda (a Sundanese
\nrestaurant) in Cipete, and there I eat my baked fish, chicken,
\nlalap salad and rice; only then do I go home.<\/p>\n
Q: Having acted in some sinetrons, do you think they are any
\ngood?<\/p>\n
A: You can really see the actors are acting. Why don't they just
\nuse everyday language? (She then does a fine impersonation of a
\nwooden sinetron actor.) When they are sad, they put their face
\nlike this, when they are angry, like this. The script is like
\nthat from the beginning, and it seems they stick to it. There are
\nsome good ones, the ones I haven't seen maybe. I mean, I don't
\nwant the actors to come along and kill me or anything. I have
\njust seen my first one, and now I am talking exactly like that.<\/p>\n
Q: Do you think, in general, MTV is a good or bad influence?<\/p>\n
A: Most people who watch MTV are young people. They all see the
\nwestern influence and they think it's really cool, but sometimes
\nthey don't filter it. They must filter it. They take all of it
\nin. I mean, a few years ago, all the young kids were shaving
\ntheir heads and wearing swastikas. I have even heard some young
\nkids, 14 and 15 year olds, watch alternative stuff and the singer
\nlooks a little high and is all skinny, and they then think
\njunkies are really cool.<\/p>\n
However, these days, with MTV, people are a little bit more
\nfamiliar with Indonesian music, and also Asian music. People like
\nAnggun (a female singer signed to Sony) who are brave enough to
\nleave Indonesia and make it outside. Plus, music videos are
\nbooming in Indonesia. And MTV has also opened up channels for
\ntraditional music, like dangdut.<\/p>\n
Q: What do you think about Coco Lee? (A Taiwanese R&B singer who
\nis much hyped at present, particularly on MTV)<\/p>\n
A: Maybe because she was raised in the States, but she's, like,
\ntoo western. Look at Anggun, her \"Indonesianess\" still shows. She
\nhasn't dyed her hair, or had cosmetic surgery or suddenly started
\nwearing sexy clothes. Whereas Coco Lee, for me, she is just
\nanother Mariah Carey wanna-be. She's got an Asian face; but her
\n\"Asianness\" is not real. A lot of my Asian friends look at her
\nand they are really annoyed because she doesn't represent Asia,
\nshe is more of a marketing phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Q: Sometimes you appear a little bit cynical about boy bands?<\/p>\n
A: No, we love them. (Laughter). They do their bit and they work
\nhard. We invite them to the studio, and sometimes we ask them to
\nsing. And they say, Oh no! We can't do that. We've met them all,
\nand they are mostly nice. They can dance, but some of them just
\ncan't sing, they are like dolls.<\/p>\n
Q: Any plans for the future?<\/p>\n
A: I'm not really obsessed about being this or being that. My
\nmost pressing thing to do is find a house. I would like to get
\ninto production and script writing, that kind of thing. I wanted
\nto save money and go to film school, but then, having paid the
\nbills, there is never enough left over. I'm going to have to
\nlearn directly on the field, as an assistant or something. I have
\ngot this friend and he started out as the guy who made the tea
\nand bought the lunch. He kept his eyes and ears open, and now he
\nis a producer who makes independent films in England. Just
\nrecently I have been writing my own scripts for MTV. Of course it
\nhas always been heavily improvised and that, but I've really
\nenjoyed it.<\/p>\n
Q: No desire to be a pop star?<\/p>\n
A: I just sing in the bathroom, and even then I have to check if
\nthere is someone outside and put some towels under the door.
\nActually, I was offered the chance once. Three girls, but it was
\ngoing to end up a boy band kind of thing, so I turned it down.<\/p>\n
Q: What's your perfect day off?<\/p>\n
A: Some secluded beach in Lombok. Or on a normal day, just to
\nhave a nice lunch with my mom or sister somewhere quiet. See a
\nmovie, preferably something stupid that you don't have to think
\nabout after. Usually in Singapore, I just stay at home and clean
\nthe house. Get rid of all the dust, because I just can't stand
\ndust. Then I read a good book.<\/p>",
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