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The province of Indonesia has an amazing number of communication works given the youthfullness of the province as a whole. Several of the works described below were initiated by European Jesuits, but almost all of them now are run by Jesuits born in the country.

Indonesian Province Communication Works

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Story and photos by Thomas Rochford SJ

Yojgakarta: Puskat AV Studio
Puskat AV Studio nestles in the lush country just outside of Yojgakarta, Indonesia's second largest city and cultural capital. The video production and training center was once located in the heart of town near the other Jesuit institutes but it moved out of the city so that the whole operation would take place in an environmental context of peacefulness and integration with nature. The buildings are widely spaced among the trees and the whole complex has the air of a retreat center. Except, of course, the large production complex where students work hard at all hours learning the craft of making videos.

Puskat AV has housing for 40 students, meeting rooms, video editing suites, a large studio, library, chapel and administrative space. They offer professional courses to prepare students to work in the television industry as well as creating programming that airs on the national television. Puskat AV Studio gets its unique character from the fact that it is both a work and a living experiment. As a work it trains people and produces video programs; as a living experiment it is situated next to a village whose people are both Muslim and Christian. They are included in the "community" in the sense that Puskat invites people from the village to use meeting rooms and an inter-faith chapel. Students mingle with the villagers and get an experience of living in harmony.

Puskat's training is professionally oriented rather than academic, so its graduates work in the television industry. Puskat makes a conscious effort to live in a respectful harmony that is the subtext for how they train the young people who will have an impact on the country through their work in television. Indonesia is a nation of thousands of islands, multiple cultures, conflicting religions and many languages. So the search for harmony is an apostolic concern central to the Jesuits of Indonesia.

Jakarta: Sanggar Prathivi
Sanggar Prathivi was started in 1968 by Fr. Bob Daniels, one of several communication pioneers in Asia, along with James Reuter in the Philippines, Shawn Deshotels in Saigon, and Phil Bourret in Taipei. They formed Unda-UCIP and followed the basic pattern of establishing production centers rather than radio stations. Daniels began his studio not long after the government liberalized laws allowing private radio stations to develop.

The center's name means "Lovers of Radio, Theater, TV and Film"; it was initially focused on human development issues concerning family, youth, and civic issues. They also researched ethnological folk stories coming from the different areas of Indonesia; they refer to these as the "cultural programs." Their biggest success, however, came with radio soap operas, or "dramatizations," which were produced daily.

Fr. Brotodosarno came to Sanggar Prathivi in 1970 and became its head in 1974; he is very proud of the fact that these soap operas have been used as a plot source for subsequent film and TV programs made by others. He explained that the dramatizations were a response to government censorship which did not allow direct journalism but accepted human development and dramatic programs. They own their own building, using funds from European funding agencies, although they last received European funding in 1985. In 1974 they started a limited company to do commercial radio recording; in 1976 they began a similar but distinct company (Prathivi Kardiba Film, PKF) to do commercial video production. The radio company went bankrupt in 1998, but the other company continues, doing mostly post-production work. The day I visited they were dubbing the Indonesian soundtrack for a Disney animated movie. This commercial activity has been increasing its income during the last years. The commercial radio collapse in 1987-88 was part of a larger economic downturn from which the country has not yet recovered. They ask for payments from the stations that air their programs but do not get much in return.

At its height, Sanggar Prathivi had 70 staff members working for commercial radio, 10 in film/video and 50 in non-commercial. The low point came in 1998 when severe financial problems forced them to cut staff and they dropped to only 10 people. Now they have 15 in the non-profit area and 20 working in PKF. They face serious competition from other production houses, which now number over 200. Thgere are 13 TV stations in Jakarta (two government and 11 private) which are eager for programs if they are locally-produced and if they are "infotainment." Their currrent format is based on interviewing an expert on politics (there are three Jesuits among the 20 or so experts they use). They discuss the issues with the expert and make the program based on that discussion.

Yojgakarta: Kanisius Printing and Publishing House Founded in 1922 to print school books, Kanisius became a publishing house in 1952 and now has 263 employees and publishes over 200 titles per year. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 drove many publishers out of business, but Kanisius managed to survive and invest in new equipment. Their equipment is very up-to-date and high quality, including a new German six-color printing press. Kanisius is part of a larger educational foundation that supports primary school education in the whole region. Profits from publishing support the schools; each year 13% of net profit goes to the foundation.

Fr. Sarwanto is director of the operation. Kanisius also publishes four magazines under the editorship of Fr. Sindhunata. Basis is similar to the European cultural journals except that it is much more graphically developed; it has a good reputation among the well-educated people it addresses.

Jakarta: Cipta Loka Caraka
Cipta Loka Caraka is a small publishing house established by Father Adolph Heuken SJ who came to Indonesia in 1963 and initially was assigned to work at the Sodality because he had already written some books while he was in studies. He wanted to expand the scope of the foundation beyond the small group of the sodality and he wanted to make the changes of Vatican II known to people. He was part of the meeting that moved from Sodality to Christian Life Communities, and for awhile he continued both working with members of that group and with publishing but eventually could not do both. He gave the responsibility for the Christian Life Community to someone else but he wanted to keep the CLC initials so he chose this phrase which gives the acronym CLC. Cipta Loka Caraka in Sanskrit means "a place where a man with good ideas yells them out.")

From the beginning his focus was clear: educated Christians who wanted to deepen their faith. He never aimed at more popular audience or at devotional work. Cipta Loka Caraka is now a foundation with sufficient funds to manage the upfront costs of publishing books. It maintains a book club, but there are many more book stores now than in the 60's when Jakarta only had four or five. Book-selling has grown, but publishing is still weak, except for the increase in Muslim publishing.

Yojgakarta: Pusat Musik Liturgi
Father Karl Edmund Prier, a German Jesuit, heads this research and training center. He uses his musicology training to develop an indigenous liturgical music drawn from the local roots of Indonesian music. Over the years he has also amassed a rich collection of instruments. Pusat Musik Liturgi also offers training courses for church organists at its classrooms as well as going on location to train church choirs.

Jakarta: Hidup magazine
Fr. Greg Soetomo SJ edits this weekly general interest magazine, with a press run of 16,000 copies. It is sold nationally, mostly by subscription but also by newstand sales. It was begun by Jesuits and its editor has always been a Jesuit, but it is not a province work, strictly speaking since it is owned by a corporation controlled by the archdiocese. They have their own building with a good amount of space and about 60 staff people.

They aim for a level a bit less academic than "America" but more Catholic than Australia's "Eureka Street." They have more Church news, but also economic analysis. They do a profile of important people, who are mainly Catholic but also some are Muslim. Many people think that all Catholics need to do is go to church and pray. Hidup attempts to address the social dimension of faith along with other issues. Soetomo is the only Jesuit on staff but seems to have a good relationship with the lay people. Besides being editor, he also resides in the major seminary and works with the seminarians.

Jakarta: Fr. Alex Soesilo Wijoyo
Fr. Alex Soesilo Wijoyo serves as the director of the communication office of the national bishops' conference. Most of his efforts focus on getting the bishops to communicate better among themselves and to take strong public stances when necessary. He has had to encourage them to build a communication network from the ground level up. Now bishops all have email and are have become accustomed to the quick interchange of ideas. They have also developed a stronger voice to address national issues, which can be difficult given the overwhelming Muslim majority in the country.