Everybody blames it on (commercial) television

By Antariksawan Jusuf

JAKARTA (JP): The euphoria of Indonesian politics, which sees demonstrators take to the streets almost every single day, extends to screened entertainment. Indonesian demonstrators see an easy prey in television stations, protesting for almost any possible reason they can find.

In the past, people came with a decent reason to lodge a complaint, usually some television program they deemed unsuitable for public viewing. For example, in 1991 they cited the insensitivity of SCTV in showing the cooking program Wok with Yan. An episode of the series, broadcast during the Islamic fasting month, featured the chef cooking pork. Consuming pork is forbidden by Islam, the religion of about 80 percent of the country's 205 million population.

Viewers once protested Buah Bibir, aired on RCTI. It was a talk show which presented live interviews with "unidentified sources", who tended to be people who violated the standard and accepted norms of Indonesian society, such as homosexuals, women who had abortions, men who had extramarital affairs, etc. The protesters claimed these people did not represent the lives of average Indonesians, and that the station was presenting these people as if their actions and lifestyles were socially accepted.

They also protested the screening of Jitu on Indosiar because it was considered to contain an element of gambling, which is forbidden both by the state and religion. The show was taken off the air in January 1997.

But these days, when people are free to express their mind about nearly every subject, protests are held for seemingly any possible reason.

The most famous example was SCTV's decision to suspend the airing of Latin soap opera Esmeralda following a protest by the Front for Defenders of Islam (FPI) in May. One of the characters on the serial is called Fatima, who is the aunt of the leading male character Ricardo Colunga. The group claimed this was a form of defamation against Islam because Fatima is the name of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter.

The protesters would not accept that the name is not exclusive to Islam. It also rejected a proposal by the station to rename the character or to edit the character out of the shows.

Another group, the Committee to Guard National Films, visited SCTV early in June. Five of their representatives held a dialog with station officials, while some 30 others staged a noisy protest outside the SCTV office. They demanded the station stop showing imported Indian movies. Many Indian movies feature corrupt police officers, whose actions lead to clashes with the public. The Indian movies, the protesters said, were to blame for inspiring Indonesians to fight against the police.

Traditional Javanese performances on television such as Ketoprak Humor (RCTI) and Ketoprak Canda (Indosiar) have been blamed from decimating the "real" traditional ketoprak. The ketoprak TV shows star high-profile comedy group Srimulat and Indonesian celebrities.

"Many viewers stay away from traditional staged performances because they think it is enough to watch them on television," said Endang HS, head of ketoprak troupe Siswo Budhoyo of Tulungagung, East Java, as quoted by Media Indonesia daily.

Such statements are not new. The commercial television stations which have been on the air since 1989 have long been considered by some as being partly to blame for the collapse of Indonesia's film industry. Many movie producers have switched their focus to more lucrative television series.

A communications expert, Yasraf Amir Piliang of the Bandung Institute of Technology, said the tendency for groups to protest against television stations was a good seed toward establishing a civil society.

"From the point of view of democratization, the voice of the grassroots is something positive," said Piliang, who is also a patron of the newly established non-governmental organization Community of Indonesian Public Television.

In a way, it is also a product of the now-defunct New Order regime of former president Soeharto, which always set a single meaning for any public discourse, he said. He cited the example of the special reports of presidential activities which were carried by all existing television stations during Soeharto's rule.

"The reports sent a message to all Indonesians that the president was a democratic person who listened to the voice of the people," Piliang said.

But he deplores the way people sometimes express themselves. "They have to learn two things: to which institution they should address their protests and ethics."

"I think the change from authoritarian rule to democracy requires several stages. But the general public does not recognize a gradual process," he said.