A counterimage: 'Postcards from Indonesia'

A counterimage: 'Postcards from Indonesia'

Helly Minarti, Contributor, Yogyakarta

The multi-dimensional crisis that has plagued Indonesia for the last seven years has smeared the country's image in the world media.

Looting during the 1998 riots, bomb attacks in Bali and Jakarta, and the tsunami broadcast all over the world, building a single, stereotypical image of Indonesia.

While most of this news is indeed based on fact, it clearly follows the principle of "bad-news-is-good-news", without any effort to balance the view, to acknowledge the complexity of Indonesia.

As one expert joked, Indonesia needs a good publicist, and that is what partly triggered the birth of Postcards From Indonesia -- a new 30-minute show, soon to be broadcast by the Indonesian News Channel (INS), from San Fransisco.

Catering mostly to the Indonesian diaspora in the U.S., INS features news and stories from home, for half an hour every Saturday, all in Bahasa Indonesia. First starting in San Francisco, it now reaches 4.4 million households in five other cities, four in California and one in Philadelphia.

Postcards From Indonesia will later be produced in English, so they can try to sell it to a mainstream American TV channel.

"It's our concern as Indonesians living in the U.S. Compared to other ethnic minorities here, we haven't done much to promote ourselves, our potential," said Paul Amron Yuwono, the producer.

While the embassies' approach vary from one consulate to another -- depending on the person in charge -- and predictably tend to generally apply a bureaucratic approach, the Indonesian community in the U.S. has started building confidence in its young generation.

"This year we did a good job on the Indonesian Day in San Fransisco. It consisted of various events, from martial arts pencak-silat by these so-called Indonesianists from Hawaii to a fashion show featuring a Balinese designer's work modeled by this year's Miss American-Asia who is of Indonesian origin," added Yuwono, a native of Yogyakarta who runs Gecko-Gecko, a store selling Indonesian handicrafts in San Fransisco.

The event -- a mixture of community-based, popular arts indeed altered the image of Indonesia among the local community who are already familiar with some Indonesian music and culture, San Francisco arguably being the city outside Indonesia with the biggest gamelan troupe.

For Postcard, Yuwono features a more in-depth look at the arts and culture scene in Indonesia. The first episodes will be on Yogyakarta, his hometown, featuring both established -- the likes of musician Djaduk Ferianto and dancer-cum-choreographer Didi Nini Thowok and even the maestro Kartika Affandi -- and young artists such as Teater Garasi, as well as local icons such as Borobudur and its surrounding.

"I rely solely on friends' support this time, those artists (from Mas Didi Nini Thowok), Ardiyanto (a batik designer) to the young designer Afif Syangkur," said Yuwono.

With a limited budget and self-sponsorship efforts, it is hoped that support from the tourism industry will get the show off the ground.

"It's very hard to do that in Yogya, I must say. The people here, especially those behind the desk, don't see the point of promoting Indonesia. I've been charged for almost everything, thus I really have to find my own way here," said Yuwono, who was once the manager and conceptualist of boutique hotel Jogya Village Inn.

This situation is different in Bali. "Tourism people there are more appreciative. Before the bombings, I just made a phone call or sent an e-mail, even to total strangers, and they responded positively. Perhaps, that explains why Bali was so far in front of Yogya as a tourist destination, although both started almost at the same time," Yuwono said.

For the first episode, Yuwono invited Nini Thowok to co-host, and the two take their audience on a tour of the city. At one point, Yuwono goes on an adventurous one-hour elephant ride from Borobudur to resort hotel Amanjiwom, which is perched on a foothill nearby a temple.

"There is not much clever promotion for Yogyakarta. Sometimes we chip in to print some brochures, but that is it. So I really welcomed an internationally aired TV program on local arts and culture," said Daud Wiryo Hadinegoro, a batik artist who also lent the shows' producers a hand.

For sure, this kind of program promotes a positive image of the nation overseas, partly through showcasing the works of artists such as Daud, who is now preparing for an exhibition in the U.S.

For more info on the Indonesia News Channel, click www.IndoNewsChannel.com