'MTV's' VJ Sarah Sechan tells it how it is

'MTV's' VJ Sarah Sechan tells it how it is

By Chris Brummit

JAKARTA (JP): For someone who is seen in more than 19 million
households throughout the region, Sarah Sechan, one of the
Indonesian presenters (VJs) on MTV Southeast Asia, is
refreshingly free from the affectations and hang-ups that such
exposure might cause to arise. She is hip though, as only someone
who works at Asia's high temple of youth culture can be.

In Jakarta for a two-day visit, she arrived at the agreed
venue holding a mobile phone and a copy of Kompas open to the
classified pages. She pointed at her paper and explained she was
house hunting somewhere in South Jakarta.

Now 25, her independence -- financial and otherwise -- was
apparent in the interview that followed.

The daughter of an international banker, she spent nine of her
school years abroad in the United States and England. After which
she returned to Jakarta and started an accounting degree at
Trisakti University. She was two years into it before modeling,
radio disc jockeying and acting commitments took over. Toward the
end of 1997 MTV offered her a contract, she consulted her mom and
moved to Singapore where MTV Southeast Asia is based.

As might be expected for someone who talks for a living, once
she got going she proved difficult to stop. Neither was it the
auto-speak which celebrities are prone to lapse in to; there were
no sudden defenses raised or obviously premeditated answers. She
appeared to be, if no longer the girl next door, still very much
on the same street as the rest of us.

She talked about her childhood, Indonesian pop music and
sinetron (TV serials), and gave the lowdown on life at MTV, all
the time switching between Indonesian and English in the style
familiar to those who watch her at work.

Question: How was it moving around from country to country
when you were young?

Answer: I didn't like it. Compared to my brothers, I was
always the shy one, walking around the streets with my head down.
My mom would say, "What are you doing, looking for coins?" Then
as soon as I made a few friends, it was time to move on again. I
said I had to go back to Indonesia, and they would ask, "do you
live in houses?" I'd reply like "no, we live in caves." "What do
you wear?" And I'm, like, "nothing. We're nudists." "What do you
speak?" And I say, "oh, agabunga language, you know."

Q: Your current job as a VJ. It looks like a dream job. Is it?

A: I wouldn't say a dream exactly. Before I got it, I had always
lived with my family and the job was based in Singapore. So
besides the job, I had always wanted to live alone. I wanted to
see whether I could do it or not. Singapore is safe and mom said
ok, you can go.

Monday to Friday I'm in the studio, so I rarely get to meet
people. Then there are the parties; you have to meet lots of
people and sometimes you don't know what to say to them. So these
days I just go out with the production team. They are all young,
fun creative people.

Q: Does it feel like hard work?

A: It's not hard work actually. Maybe at the beginning, you're
thinking about all the people watching you. Now I just treat the
camera as a friend. The only bad thing is that if you're having
any problems, you still have to wake up and go and perform before
the camera, so you have to hide everything. I haven't got
problems. I'm young, it's not like I have two husbands who are
both leaving me and taking the kids or anything. But you know you
can be heartbroken and stuff.

Q: How often do you make it back to Jakarta?

A: When I first moved, I used to go back every two weeks or so.
But not to Jakarta, mostly to Bandung to visit my relatives. And
then I checked my account, and I thought this is getting crazy,
all my money is running out. Nowadays, not so often, really only
if I've got some work to do, which works out to about once every
two months.

Q: Is there anything you always do when you arrive?

A: The minute I arrive I have to go to Dapur Sunda (a Sundanese
restaurant) in Cipete, and there I eat my baked fish, chicken,
lalap salad and rice; only then do I go home.

Q: Having acted in some sinetrons, do you think they are any
good?

A: You can really see the actors are acting. Why don't they just
use everyday language? (She then does a fine impersonation of a
wooden sinetron actor.) When they are sad, they put their face
like this, when they are angry, like this. The script is like
that from the beginning, and it seems they stick to it. There are
some good ones, the ones I haven't seen maybe. I mean, I don't
want the actors to come along and kill me or anything. I have
just seen my first one, and now I am talking exactly like that.

Q: Do you think, in general, MTV is a good or bad influence?

A: Most people who watch MTV are young people. They all see the
western influence and they think it's really cool, but sometimes
they don't filter it. They must filter it. They take all of it
in. I mean, a few years ago, all the young kids were shaving
their heads and wearing swastikas. I have even heard some young
kids, 14 and 15 year olds, watch alternative stuff and the singer
looks a little high and is all skinny, and they then think
junkies are really cool.

However, these days, with MTV, people are a little bit more
familiar with Indonesian music, and also Asian music. People like
Anggun (a female singer signed to Sony) who are brave enough to
leave Indonesia and make it outside. Plus, music videos are
booming in Indonesia. And MTV has also opened up channels for
traditional music, like dangdut.

Q: What do you think about Coco Lee? (A Taiwanese R&B singer who
is much hyped at present, particularly on MTV)

A: Maybe because she was raised in the States, but she's, like,
too western. Look at Anggun, her "Indonesianess" still shows. She
hasn't dyed her hair, or had cosmetic surgery or suddenly started
wearing sexy clothes. Whereas Coco Lee, for me, she is just
another Mariah Carey wanna-be. She's got an Asian face; but her
"Asianness" is not real. A lot of my Asian friends look at her
and they are really annoyed because she doesn't represent Asia,
she is more of a marketing phenomenon.

Q: Sometimes you appear a little bit cynical about boy bands?

A: No, we love them. (Laughter). They do their bit and they work
hard. We invite them to the studio, and sometimes we ask them to
sing. And they say, Oh no! We can't do that. We've met them all,
and they are mostly nice. They can dance, but some of them just
can't sing, they are like dolls.

Q: Any plans for the future?

A: I'm not really obsessed about being this or being that. My
most pressing thing to do is find a house. I would like to get
into production and script writing, that kind of thing. I wanted
to save money and go to film school, but then, having paid the
bills, there is never enough left over. I'm going to have to
learn directly on the field, as an assistant or something. I have
got this friend and he started out as the guy who made the tea
and bought the lunch. He kept his eyes and ears open, and now he
is a producer who makes independent films in England. Just
recently I have been writing my own scripts for MTV. Of course it
has always been heavily improvised and that, but I've really
enjoyed it.

Q: No desire to be a pop star?

A: I just sing in the bathroom, and even then I have to check if
there is someone outside and put some towels under the door.
Actually, I was offered the chance once. Three girls, but it was
going to end up a boy band kind of thing, so I turned it down.

Q: What's your perfect day off?

A: Some secluded beach in Lombok. Or on a normal day, just to
have a nice lunch with my mom or sister somewhere quiet. See a
movie, preferably something stupid that you don't have to think
about after. Usually in Singapore, I just stay at home and clean
the house. Get rid of all the dust, because I just can't stand
dust. Then I read a good book.