Latin American soap operas

Telenovelas (Latin American soap operas) have been a prime commodity for private TV managers ever since SCTV started airing Maria Mercedes. SCTV's success with the telenovelas was soon followed by other private television networks because they are cheap and draw large numbers of viewers.

The proliferation of addictive telenovelas naturally invited criticism from various parties. In particular, the objections were directed at the practice of dubbing the programs into Indonesian. It has been argued that by doing so the imported telenovelas are causing listlessness in the national film industry and that they are sowing cultural values that are incompatible with our own.

Considering the possible negative influences, we would like to urge the Film Censor Institute to tighten the existing censoring procedures and criteria. They could, for example, censor the movies after they have been dubbed and forbid the airing of the uncensored ones. This way we could reduce the negative impacts without having to cease the showing of foreign telenovelas in Indonesian.

-- Suara Karya, Jakarta