Telenovelas and the Indonesian
Telenovelas and the Indonesian
From Media Indonesia
In observing the Youth Pledge we have to ask ourselves: How
much do we love the Indonesian language? The Indonesian language
as used in society is disheartening. Do we not realize that our
predecessors, after going through a long and tiring process,
successfully declared the "Youth Pledge," a consensus, which,
among other things, adopted the Indonesian language as the
national language.
Now, however, the Indonesian language has become a cheap
commodity used to broadcast telenovelas on private television
stations.
A couple of individuals, under the pretext of professionalism,
exploit the Indonesian language to conform with foreign culture
by way of dubbing telenovelas.
Telenovelas have been gaining ground in our society and there
even exists an association of telenovela dubbers.
Our ancestors were well-known for their politeness and
courtesy. Talking sex was taboo, but not so in telenovelas.
Should we keep silent about this phenomenon which is done solely
for commercial purposes to benefit a small group of people?
WARDY
Jakarta