'Baywatch', 'Prime Bodies' dropped during Ramadhan

'Baywatch', 'Prime Bodies' dropped during Ramadhan

JAKARTA (JP): The programs Baywatch, Prime Bodies and Another
World are among those being dropped by local commercial
television stations as the nation's predominantly Moslem
population begins a month of fasting today.

In their place, the networks are airing programs with
religious themes during the month of Ramadhan.

The popular Latin soap operas known as telenovela like
Kassandra are being retained as are programs with violent scenes
like imported kung fu films.

ANteve is dropping its morning aerobic program Prime Bodies
and the Indonesian version Primaraga chiefly because they feature
exercisers in skimpy outfits.

Instead, they will be showing a film series with marked
religious values called Islam Brings Peace to the World.

The station has also dropped the MusikAN music show and
replaced it with Mutiara Ramadhan (The Pearls of Ramadhan), a
talk show hosted by famous poet Taufik Ismail.

Fans of the soap opera Another World and the series Baywatch
on RCTI will have to part temporarily with the films' beautiful,
scantily-clad performers and intriguing, meandering plots. The
shows will be back on air after Ramadhan.

On the other hand, the millions of fans of the telenovela
films will apparently still be able to follow the heartrending
story of Kassandra as it is not included in the SCTV station's
purge list compiled in honor of Ramadhan.

TPI which already had the most religious programs on air
before Ramadhan, is extending its broadcasting hours by
one-and-a-half hours each day to fit in even more religious
programs designed chiefly to help Moslems pass the long fasting
day.

Henny Elfandari, speaking for TPI, said the station has
prepared various items, including a Koranic reading program to
air as early as 3:30 a.m. when Moslems are eating their sahur
(predawn meal).

The changes and additions to programs are part of a campaign
by the private television stations, which at one time or another
have been criticized for airing explicit or violent shows, to
honor the holiest month in Islam.

The purging of possibly offensive broadcast material is their
response to the suggestion by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI)
that all radio and television stations, both private and state-
owned, should adjust their programing out of respect for the
fasting Moslems.

MUI Chairman Hasan Basri said last week that television
stations should fill the month with religious and educational
programs, and reduce shows which contain scenes and information
which adversely affects the viewers' "iman, ahlak dan kepribadian
(faith, conduct and character).

Several representatives from the television stations told The
Jakarta Post yesterday that they are taking extra precautions in
selecting materials to be broadcast so they will not be offensive
to the fasting Moslems.

"We will tighten censorship over the films because we don't
want to air anything which may disturb the fasting Moslems," Budi
Darmawan of SCTV said. "Even for Kassandra and other telenovela,
which are usually watched by housewives in the morning, we will
be more careful."

"We'll air programs which will lift the Moslems' spirit, and
add to their faith," he promised. Included among those programs
is Sahibul dan Hikayat, a locally made series starring Dedy
Mizwar, which tells religious stories.

Budi said the same precautions will be taken with films
containing violence and with cooking programs in which
ingredients could run counter to Islamic teachings.

"We'll be very careful ... we have even canceled Cara Memasak
Sehat (Healthy Cooking) show," he said.

Henny of TPI said that, compared to other stations, her
station has always paid more attention to religious programs. For
this Ramadhan, it plans to air even more Islamic programs, both
foreign and locally made.

"We'll air more documentary films and talk shows, including a
new program called Kantin Batin which will feature successful
Moslem families," she said.

This yearly attempt to purge the worst from programing has
been observed increasingly more carefully by private television
stations for the past several years, especially after a 1991
uproar over one SCTV show.

At that time, the East Java chapter of MUI protested to the
station because it aired a cooking program, Wok With Yan, in
which the chef Stephen Yan showed his audience how to cook pork,
during Ramadhan. (swe)