For fame and fortune
While in the past, access to show business was limited to truly talented young people or the children of well-connected families, such access is now open to everyone with TV stations eagerly vying to recruit new models and singers for their entertainment shows. Production houses are also mushrooming and going all out to find new talent to meet the insatiable appetite of the TV industry for fresh faces. And the fame and fortune promised by the entertainment industry is so alluring that many young people are ready to do just about anything to achieve their dreams. This week's cover story takes a closer look at the issue.
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Who wouldn't want to be a celebrity? Familiar to people of all social strata, more famous at home than many a world leader and showered by cash every time you appear on the cover of a magazine or on TV.
Recent reports on various TV gossip shows say that Indonesian celebrities earn millions of rupiah for each episode of a TV soap they star in.
Cek and Ricek, Kroscek and other gossip shows have reported that mega stars, such as Krisdayanti and Tamara Blezsinsky, earn between Rp 70 million and Rp 150 million for appearing in one episode of a soap, or sinetron as such shows are called here.
If there's one thing that the entertainment business never stops searching for, it's new talent: singers, models, presenters, comedians, actors and actresses.
As the number of private television stations increased from only two in the mid 1990s to eight by early 2005, the demand for new faces in the entertainment industry has increased dramatically.
And who doesn't want to appear on television?
In line with the global reality show craze, local stations quickly followed suit, accommodating those who seek what they think will be a shortcut entrance to the entertainment business.
In mid-2003, two new talent shows -- Bakal Beken (literally translates as "Will be famous") and Popstars -- appeared on TV for the first time.
Finalists in the latter were helped on their way as newcomers in the music industry with a compilation album. However, the public were told very little about them -- in fact, almost nothing.
Some months after that, the Mexican-licensed Akademi Fantasi Indosiar (AFI) found more than ten thousand eager wannabe singers during its touring auditions in several big cities around the country.
Finalists were then trained in the necessary musical and performance skills, and given makeovers by a number of famous musicians, singers and even psychologists.
Now, a little over two years after its initial launch, the show has set more than 60 potential stars on the road to fame. People might still remember how Very, the first winner of AFI, depicted as a naive kampong boy from Sumatra, delighted television viewers all around the country.
He, along with his fellow finalists, appeared in commercials, soap operas and variety shows. Not so long afterwards came the winners of AFI 2, AFI 3, AFI Junior, and so on.
Later on came a host of roughly similar talent shows, ranging from Indonesian Idol, Kontes Dangdut Indonesia (Indonesian Dangdut Contest), and Akademi Pelawak Indonesia (Indonesian Comedians' Academy).
Television viewers are now bombarded by the would-be stars in soap operas and commercials before they are set adrift to find their own way in the entertainment jungle.
"I have difficulty remembering which singer is from which contest now. Some of them only get exposure for a very short period of time," said Kelana Hutauruk, a regular talent show viewer.
Time quickly puts an end to contrived fame, they say. Could this perhaps be the kind of fame that these instant celebrities are getting while the TV stations rake in the money?