'Baywatch', 'MTV' out for Ramadhan

'Baywatch', 'MTV' out for Ramadhan

JAKARTA (JP): Baywatch and MTV are two of the programs that will be dropped by local television stations because they could offend Moslems as they begin their fasting ritual on Monday, the start of the holy Ramadhan month.

"We're not taking any risks," Soraya Perucha, ANteve's Corporate Communication manager, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

ANteve relays the highly popular MTV music video programs as well as its locally produced version Bursa Musik Indonesia. These programs will be replaced by local films and music programs with religious themes. The station is also dropping Prima Raga, the morning aerobic show.

Soraya said some video music clips show eroticism and sadism, or performers wearing outrageous clothes.

RCTI says it is dropping Baywatch, which is normally aired on Sundays, and replacing it with a religious television drama. SCTV is replacing the Indonesian drama serial Deru Debu with the religious television drama Hikayat Mengembara.

"Although all our programs have already been censored by the authorities, we are still tightening up our selection for Ramadhan," Soraya said.

In 1994, SCTV viewers protested when the station broadcast, on the first day of Ramadhan, a cooking program called Wok With Yan, in which the host showed viewers how to prepare a pork dish.

Members of the Film Censorship Institute (LSF) welcomed the initiative taken by the stations, although one of them, Masyuri Syaid, wondered why the networks could not maintain such vigilance all year round. (01)