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Indonesian soap opera under fire for portraying underage bride
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An Indonesia soap opera depicting an underage, polygamous marriage caused a social media uproar recently, forcing the show’s producers to recast a role. (Unsplash/Courtesy of Unsplash/Glenn Carstens-Peters)
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epresentatives of Mega Kreasi Films (MKF) and Indosiar were summoned by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) on Thursday in response to public protests.
“We asked them to evaluate their storyline thoroughly. The stories should not promote child marriage, show off domestic violence or glorify polygamy,” KPI commissioner Nuning Rodiyah told The Jakarta Post.
The TV show Suara Hati Istri, produced by MKF and aired on Indosiar, elicited public outrage for portraying polygamy and underage marriage. Zahra, played by a 15-year-old actress, is 17 years old and is made to marry a wealthy, 39-year-old man as his third wife.
In response to the controversy, the network has recast the character with an as-yet unnamed actress. The network has promoted the "mystery" of who the new cast member is on its social media channels.
Several women’s rights activists have criticized the show. Retno Listyarti, commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) said the show had perpetuated the practice of child marriage, which was a form of gender-based violence, and had concerned women in Indonesia.
“The government is trying to reduce the number of child marriages, but this show is actually campaigning for child marriage, clearly not supporting the government program,” Retno said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
The KPI had asked Indosiar and MKF to change the casting of Zahra.
Nuning said underage actresses should not play adult characters who were married and pregnant.
“Playing a married and pregnant woman is beyond the capacity of a child. So no television company or production house should exploit child actresses for roles beyond a child's capacity,” Nuning said, adding that the underage actress who played Zahra would be replaced by one who was of majority age. “They promised that by Saturday, all the evaluations would be applied. We will see,” she said.
The KPI will supervise other television stations that employ underage actresses for adult roles. The commission has also urged production houses to uphold children's rights and not to exploit child actors.
“The problem is that the KPI does not have the authority to know in advance who will be cast by a production house,” she said.
The commission said it would try to prevent similar cases by raising awareness about women and children’s issues among members of the industry.
