Limited Viewing

The Jakarta Post - WEEKENDER   |  Sat, 08/23/2008 1:02 PM  |  Editor's Note

There was a time when this country’s only viewing option was the state-run TV station. Cheesy to some, folksily charming to others (the clothes, that hair, those sets), it led to the despairing expression “sooooo TVRI” among some viewers reared on the standard diet of rigidly formal local programming, regional documentaries and some slightly more glamorous foreign shows.

The advent of private TV stations in the early 1990s was supposed to change all that. And for a few years, there were a lot more choices and bigger budgets to produce and purchase quality shows. But today local TV, despite the now more than a dozen stations, has lost its luster. It seems that whatever sells and is cheaply produced – talent and variety shows, infotainment, melodramatic soaps – is served up for viewing consumption for those without the luxury of cable TV.

The irony is that sometimes, amid the uniformity and mediocrity of Indonesian TV today, a few gems of documentaries or music shows can be found, of all places, on much-maligned TVRI.

As well as our centerpiece on TV, we also look at the rising stars of Indonesian fashion. I realize not everybody has a passion for fashion, but the stories of these designers and their dreams are fascinating. The grand old man of Indonesian batik, Iwan Tirta, is also the subject of our Firm Favorites this month. The new generation could learn a thing or two from my friend Iwan – who was tirelessly promoting traditional fabrics in the lean years before today’s batik bonanza – about honesty and following one’s heart.

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