INDONESIA: Comedy hit gets warning for 'vulgar' content

By Erwida Maulia

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has issued a second warning to Trans TV for its "vulgar" comedy hit Extravaganza.

"This is the last warning. If Trans TV fails to make improvements, we will order the station to stop the show," KPI commissioner Yazirwan Uyun said here Monday.

The broadcasting commission also announced it had reprimanded Trans TV for two other comedies, Ngelenong Nyok and Suami-Suami Takut Istri (Husbands afraid of wives), and Global TV for its anime series One Piece.

The warnings come following the KPI's 13-day review of 285 episodes of 92 comedies, variety shows and children's programs aired on nine television stations from May 1 to 13.

KPI member Nina Armando said that besides its "vulgar and sexually suggestive" content, Extravaganza, in a May 10 episode, "featured a scene where a woman is sexually harassed".

The popular comedy show airs every Monday and Saturday evening.

Nina, also a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said the commission also found "indecent" scenes in Ngelenong Nyok, aired Monday to Friday morning, and Suami-Suami Takut Istri, aired Monday to Friday evening.

Suami-Suami Takut Istri, she said, also featured scenes of domestic violence, with wives abusing their husbands, and involved children in "an improper setting".

Ngelenong Nyok exploited "abnormal physical characteristics of some people", in this case a dwarf and a woman with protruding front teeth, she said.

Nina said anime series One Piece, aired daily in the morning and evening, featured "violence and blood" and "sensual looking women", in addition to close-ups of "women's body parts".

She said none of the programs should be aired when children might reasonably be expected to be watching TV.

Yazirwan said the KPI would intensify its monitoring of the four TV programs and "impose sanctions on the TV stations if they fail to make improvements".

"We will perhaps report the TV stations to the police if they don't follow up on our warning letters," he said.

According to the 2002 law on broadcasting, those responsible for airing TV programs that have "violent or indecent content" or that "mock the dignity of Indonesians" can face five years in prison and/or Rp 10 billion (approximately US$1 million) in fines.

The law also threatens administrative sanctions for TV or radio stations that fail to protect and empower special audiences -- in this case children and teenagers -- by broadcasting programs at "proper times".

Trans TV spokesman A. Hadiansyah Lubis told The Jakarta Post the station had made changes to Extravaganza after receiving the first warning letter from the broadcasting commission in May.

"But it appears that the TV show still has yet to meet the KPI's criteria. We'll evaluate it again," he said.

Hadiansyah said Trans TV would arrange a meeting with the KPI to discuss the violations in detail.

a limited creativity.

It would be a shame to lose such fine shows simply because of KPI's failure to appreciate feeble attempts at Benny Hill/George and Mildred-style comedy. But if they were to be axed, how about a new reality show, Bule Kontan Tolol (Bule Kontol), involving cameras recording daily life inside RH's house?

kontang-kanting would be more apt. I should think that a few shots of the bathroom even tidak tertempati should make the lembaga sensor film indo get into a terrible state