‘I love that Jakarta never sleeps, but hate it keeping me awake!’

Bruce Emond ,  WEEKENDER   |  Fri, 06/26/2009 2:45 PM  |  20/20

Entertainer Farhan has returned to the world of radio, where he started out on Hard Rock FM before going into TV, and says he is glad to be back. A few years ago, he was one of the most popular TV hosts, with frequent partner Indy Barends, before going it alone on his own late-night talk show. TV, he says, was a roller-coaster ride, and now at age 44 he is content for a more relaxed pace. “I want to enjoy my life, and watch the world go by as the audience,” says a slimmed-down Farhan, who has cut a few fattening favorites out his diet for health reasons and is now 10 kg lighter. “It makes for a more personal and more emotional relationship with the audience ... It’s like I was building a park in the first 10 years, and now I just want to walk in it.”

Your best trait?
I love people, meeting them in any circumstances or environment. Like traveling. I enjoy traveling all by myself, because I can talk to anyone, the Indian guy, the American guy, sitting beside me on my 24-hour flight to the States.

And worst?
I’m vengeful. I don’t easily forget.

Describe yourself in three words ...
Dreamer, planner, worker.

What makes you laugh?
Irony.

And cry?
Love, and passion. And especially the love between a father and a son. I had a very emotional relationship with my father, and I have a very emotional relationship with my sons. I cried when I watched Nemo.

What makes you bored?
Numbers. I love numbers but when it comes to very long, digital numbers, ugh.

Life’s best teacher?
That would be my idols. I have lots of idols, ranging from my father, to Sukarno, to my fellow hosts to Johnny Carson. When I do my routine, sometimes I take a little of everything, like Larry King and other hosts.

At age 16 ...
I was impatient to be 26!

I wish I could ...
Stop my life and go around the world, just my wife and me. From New York to LA, sailing in the Mediterranean. I wish I could do that. I think it’s possible.

I would never ...
Live alone. I watched this movie with Jeremy Irons where at the end of it, he decides to live alone in a Mediterranean town somewhere. I wouldn’t do that. I think I might get the record for the longest marriage instead.

Happiest moment?
I think it’s right now. I always cherish every day that I live. I learned this from Kung Fu Panda. It goes like this: Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why they call it the present. Great, huh?
 
And saddest?
It’s hard to recall, because I tend to try to forget them. But it would have to be in 2005, when I had to choose between my friends and my job. I had to leave my old workplace for an interesting job offer.

Don’t ever call me ...
Boss!

Favorite song?
Smile by Nat King Cole: “Smile even though you’re aching, smile though your heart is breaking, when there are clouds in the sky.” That’s my life motto.

Favorite food?
It used to be mutton, but now it’s vegetables. I love karedok (raw vegetables in peanut sauce).

Best thing about being famous?
Knowing everybody, and being known by everyone. People are lying when they say that it’s not nice being popular. Wherever we go, people always say hi. I like that.

And worst?
Being judged. I don’t like being judged. Especially when they say, “How come an artist can’t do that?” (laughs)

In tough times, I ...
Close my eyes and go to sleep.

Greatest fear?
Poverty. It’s the root of all evil.

Craziest thing I’ve done?
Getting married. Bonding for life with a stranger. (laughs)

People will never see me ...
Sleeping in public. I’m somebody who falls asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, so I’m very careful about where I go to sleep and how I may look!

Greatest achievement?
Being the best friend for listeners back when I was a radio DJ at Hard Rock FM.
I didn’t know it until I was walking in Plaza Senayan, and somebody said hi and started talking with me. We swapped stories, but I didn’t know him. And he said, “I feel like I know you from the radio, that you’re my best friend.” That is my greatest achievement, becoming an inseparable part of someone’s life. I never realized how important a deejay can be.

I love Jakarta because ...
This city never sleeps.

And hate it because ...
It keeps me awake. And public services ... hello?

What is our shared connection as human beings?
I think it’s common sense. It’s not love – love is very discriminatory, it’s in the eyes of the beholder. But when it comes to common sense, no matter how low someone’s caste is, we need them and they need us. I have to respect my servants, because without them I cannot iron my shirts. I have to respect the greedy shop owner because they can show me the iPhone or gadget that I need. Or the bossy, arrogant expatriate who has some expertise that I don’t.

I want to die ...
Lonely. I don’t like big funeral ceremonies. To die far from my home — if it’s out in the Sahara desert, that’s OK – and be buried there, instead of being brought home.

Illustration by Martin Dima

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