Two Indonesian VJs rise from pack to 'MTV' screens
By Yogita Tahil Ramani and Edith Hartanto
JAKARTA (JP): A bevy of beautiful women dance and jiggle in white, short T-shirts. As the Spice Girls blare out girl power commands to "shake it to the left, shake it to the right", the eight dancers languorously take off their tops.
They teasingly reveal a concealed leather ensemble of black bra and tight minis, and proceed with more bumping and grinding.
Lining the wood-paneled bar of the Hard Rock Cafe are high stools with nose-pierced, midriff-baring, micro-skirted teenagers on their knees, high fiving buttoned-down executives ogling the scene.
The raunchfest occurred during the MTV VJ Hunt Finals last Saturday.
The two-month, nationwide search received a staggering 2,771 entries. Eight finalists were shortlisted -- six from Jakarta, one from Bandung and another from Semarang -- and MTV Asia organizers stopped at nothing to work up frenzied suspense before the announcement at the cafe.
The hunt -- mainly conducted in bars, cafes, discotheques, malls and on college campuses in Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang and Bandung -- drew "lots (of applicants), ranging from teenagers to 30-somethings," said Amalia Ahmad, external affairs coordinator for ANteve, which airs six hours of MTV programming daily.
She said the Indonesian VJ needed to have charisma, a keen sense of music, proficiency in Indonesian and English and be articulate.
The VJ should also be willing to make appearances at odd hours, she added.
Bianca Adinegoro, host and producer of MTV's Seratus Percen Indonesia -- aired Friday at 3 p.m. and Tuesday at 1 a.m. on ANteve -- said VJs got to network with movers and shakers in entertainment.
"You come into contact with almost anybody who's somebody in the entertainment business, be they record company people or music directors and producers."
The animated bunch of finalists -- Akhda Khalid, Intan Khahi, Senia Ariska, Alia Amitra, Alex Abbad, Ketty Janur Sari, Sofie Simandjuntak and Fransisco Glenn Rozanno -- showed a lot of potential, but only Ketty and Alex walked off with the VJ titles.
Ketty, 22, was chosen for this year's Close-Up Crystal Award for the "Most Charming Smile" and received prize money of Rp 2 million. Alex is 19.
Excellent
They received three-month trial contracts and will get to host new shows in the coming year.
The original plan was for only one winner, but senior vice president of the MTV Networks Asia, Nigel Robbins, said this had been changed because of the pair's "excellent VJ qualities and charisma, (and) each of them could probably host shows suited to their own personalities".
Alex was suited to more "grungy, rock and metal" fare, while Ketty could host "romantic shows", he said.
Alex, a grungy looker with a 1970s dress code, said he is an idealist. He is a student at Jakarta's National University at Pejaten in Pasar Minggu, but he said he would probably put his studies on hold during his VJ stint.
"I would definitely like to work first as a VJ. I'm going to gain all the experience I need to, and then enter the kind of college I want to," he said.
"My parents support me, but I want to try to be on my own. I depend on them for both emotional and financial support."
His grandfather is half Yemeni, but Alex stated his pride in being Indonesian.
Doll-faced Ketty will defer her TV broadcasting studies at Pasadena City College in Los Angeles as opportunity knocks.
"And besides, I miss being in my homeland.
"I don't think I'm going back there. I may or may not finish college. Besides, my boyfriend is here."
But the audience was more excited by the entertainment than the announcement of the winners.
Lime green MTV sticker-tattooed faces guffawed at local TV host Indra Safera's jokes and his imitations of a traditional herbal medicine seller, an incessantly kowtowing Japanese and a standoffish Toni Braxton. There were the refreshing sounds of the alternative rock mesh from local bands Kubik and Pals.
There was also Rahul Khanna, 25-year-old host of Friday's midnight show, MTV Fresh.
Dressed in a silky red shirt and black jeans, he had teenagers literally jumping out of their seats and middle-aged women acting giggly over their disinterested partners.
The winners and the also-rans were exposed in the question- answer session hosted by Rahul and VJ Sara Sechan, officially just five days a VJ and already the lone host of MTV Ampuh on Anteve every Saturday.
Some failed to come up with sharp, spontaneous answers, and others were sunk by lack of English skills.
One of them replied yes when asked by Indra if she thought makan beling (eating glass) would make people laugh.
He promptly retorted: "Then, why don't you eat glass and make people laugh?"
Sofie, 22, a reporter for MTV Land, a radio host and DJ, and Glen, also 22, a radio host and DJ, handled the questions with distinct aplomb.
Ego
In answer to Sara's question -- "If Madonna were to stage her last ever performance and you could call the shots, what would you do?" -- Glen leapt on stage and said he would have Madonna "flown to Indonesia on Air Force One and perform nationwide, instead of only in Jakarta".
Sofie countered Indra's tantrum-throwing turn as music diva Braxton with sweetness, saying "she would get Toni's videos promoted and played on MTV, because MTV was the music channel in Asia".
"Indonesian VJs have very likable personalities. They don't carry egos either, which is quite refreshing," Robbins said.
He added that the station's strategy involved tapping into the needs of the local audience.
"We have to create the MTV image that is accessible to all Indonesians, since not everybody is comfortable with English."
MTV Asia, a 24-hour programming service of MTV Networks Asia, is an international network for viewers in Southeast Asia aged 15-34. It is a joint venture of MTV Networks and Polygram which owns and operates MTV Asia, MTV India and MTV Mandarin.
Delivered via satellite to cable, MTV Asia claims to reach more than 31 million homes in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei and Vietnam.
MTV Asia features a mix of regional and international music videos, local productions, entertainment news, artist interviews, concert coverage and viewer contests.