TV stations to drop Indonesian dubbed programs

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Beginning Thursday, television viewers will no longer find characters speaking in Indonesian in Indian films, Latin melodramas and Chinese action movies.

Instead, their TV heroes and heroines will all speak in English, or worse, they will be taken off the air completely.

All five commercial TV stations say they are ready to drop the old practice of dubbing non-English foreign programs into Indonesian in line with a government ruling, in spite of their popularity, and therefore commercial success, with local viewers.

All but one of the networks say their programming schedules will not be affected much by the new policy. Most of these non- English programs will be aired as usual. Only a few of them will be dropped.

The networks are adapting to the rule, dubbing these programs into English.

TPI, whose Indian movies have been a big hit with middle-to- low class viewers, says it is dropping most of its non-English programs and replacing them with locally produced programs.

Minister of Information Hartono has given local TV stations a Dec. 31 deadline to comply with the dubbing ruling, which is based on the newly enacted Broadcasting Law.

TV stations earlier objected to the policy, saying that they had spent large sums on the facilities, including hiring hundreds of dubbers, to dub non-English programs into Indonesian.

The dubbers have also taken their case to the House of Representatives, calling for a review of the new policy.

Hartono refused to budge, although he eventually agreed to extend the deadline from the original Oct. 31.

The Broadcasting Law states that all non-English programs can only be dubbed into English but they can carry Indonesian subtitles. Excepted are educational programs.

Officials explained that the policy was necessary to minimize "cultural intrusion" through foreign TV programs.

They argue that the public are more exposed to foreign programs that are dubbed into Indonesian.

Cartoon programs appear to have been spared from the policy. Indonesian children will still be able to enjoy their favorites like Dora Emon, Donald Duck and Asterix speaking the language with which they are familiar.

"Children and adults follow these programs easily because cartoons tell simple stories using a universal language. It does not affect culture," says ANteve corporate communications manager Zoraya Perucha.

Indosiar, the youngest of the five commercial networks, has the most foreign programs (34 hours a week).

Public relations manager Andreas Ambesa says Indosiar is replacing only 5 percent of its foreign programs with local ones because of the ruling.

"When the announcement was made two-and-a-half months ago, we were already hunting for professional dubbers," Andreas said.

"We have 11 on our payroll now. Most of them are fluent in English. A dubber needs to get into the role of the character to express effectively. Here, we face a few problems, but none beyond that," he said.

Indosiar is dubbing into English 20 episodes of the Latin American miniseries Divina Obsession, and 30 episodes of the Taiwan-made Thousand Words.

Indosiar will also dub Indian, Japanese and Mandarin films in due course.

SCTV, second on the list with 32.5 hours of a week of foreign programs, will shoulder 1,000 hours worth of dubbing expenses.

Public relations officer Budi Dharmawan said SCTV had already dubbed 2,000 hours of foreign programs into Indonesian when the announcement was made.

"We are not dropping programs. In fact, we are through with dubbing 1,000 hours of foreign programs into English. Now, we are dealing with the next 1,000," he said.

SCTV has its own dubbing studio but it is contracting professional English dubbers.

"Spending Rp 4.5 million to Rp 6 million per hour for dubbing is common. SCTV has its own people to do the subtitles."

RCTI, with about 30 hours of foreign programs a week, is replacing only 10 percent of its non-English foreign programs with local ones beginning next year.

RCTI has Thai, Chinese, Indian and Hong Kong films, and it contracts dubbing and subtitling to outside agencies.

"Unlike other stations, we prepare one or two months ahead before dubbed programs go to air," RCTI public relations manager Eduard Depari says. "We spend US$3,500 for three hours of dubbing and Rp 120,000 for an hour of subtitling."

ANteve also uses dubbing agencies for its French and Thai features.

Zoraya says ANteve pays $2,000 for dubbing expenses per half- hour, and Rp 750,000 for subtitling per half-hour.

TPI, the third among networks in the number of foreign programs (29 hours a week) is dropping 80 percent of its Latin American and Indian movies in the process.

TPI Senior Vice President of Broadcasting, Ishadi SK, says almost all foreign programs will be replaced with local ones.

"We have decided to air mostly local programs in the coming year. We will also reduce dubbing in English for foreign programs to the maximum," Ishadi said.

"It is not about cost but rather about fulfilling viewers' needs. Our viewers will not watch (non-English) programs dubbed in English."