Who's in charge here, please?
JAKARTA (JP): Mike Royko, a Chicago Tribune columnist, once suggested in the Pacific Stars and Stripes that before a couple say "I do" they should sign a prenuptial agreement on who would control the TV remote. Otherwise, the family would later be at each other's throats for control of the TV, he reasoned.
This suggestion would have sounded ridiculous in Indonesia six years ago. Who gives a damn about a remote control when there is only one TV station? TVRI was it, you had to watch whatever it aired. Viewers didn't bother with letters to the editor about the TV programs, not even our neighbor Mr. Said, who spent most of his leisure time writing to newspapers.
Now that there are six local TV stations and a number foreign broadcasts, what Royko suggested makes more sense. There are so many choices to make. Most of the broadcasters compete to give their viewers what they believe is the best. Imagine what could happen to a single-TV-family at five in the afternoon.
The wife, as the ibu rumahtangga (mother of the household), thinks she has every right to watch her favorite Mexican telenovela. After all, the house is her responsibility.
"I spend the whole day nurturing the family. I do the cooking, the washing, the cleaning, you name it. Now I need to straighten my legs," she reasons.
Her pleasure doesn't last long. The husband, as the bread winner, haughtily switches channels before his teenage daughter, who has been waiting for Beverly Hills 90210 since three o'clock, gets a chance.
"I have been working hard to put food on the table. Surely I deserve some kind of priority around here?" he naively asks.
The daughter then stomps around, hissing the famous teenage battle cry: "Parents don't understand!"
That leaves the son to complain that he never gets to watch his favorite sports events.
"How can people in this house be so selfish?" he wonders.
The war is bad enough in a family of four. God knows what would happen if there were six children, grandma and grandpa, plus several relatives battling it out for the box.
Getting each family member their own TV set is no good because watching television alone is no fun. You're not supposed to sit alone, laughing at Bob Saget or sobbing over a sad story, without the opportunity to share your feelings.
So who should be in charge of the remote? It's too late for a prenuptial agreement.
Maybe Jack Jaunt can organize an open debate on TV or a seminar to find out who should be in charge of the remote control. He could ask one of the State Ministers to become a key- note speaker at the "International Seminar on the Solution to Family Feud Over Television Remote Control".
-- Carl Chairul