Amelia Naim Indrajaya
IPMI International Business School
Amelia Naim Indrajaya
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Indonesia is a nation of 13,000 islands combining many different cultures and languages. The Bolang television show has traveled throughout Indonesia for the past 9 years using children to teach other children about their unique heritage and the environments in which they live. In the process they have increased the knowledge of a generation of Indonesian children about how to love and care for the environment and honor Indonesian heritage. They have also stimulated many local economies by increasing tourism.
The Bolang Show (Si Bolang) stands as an icon of true Indonesian youth, how they see nature, wisely harvesting advantage from it, and innocently loving it. “Bolang” stands for “Bocah Petualang” or Adventurous Boy. It has been a successful and profitable television program for 9 years broadcasting over 1200 episodes.
Si Bolang is a reflection of Indonesian children’s lives always close to nature, always keeping their values in life and maintaining their traditions. The program has no stars, it uses local children as the main characters. In each program the children teach viewers locally and overseas how they keep nature and take advantage of all that exists in nature to help them in their daily lives.
For example children of Sasak ethnic origin, North Lombok, show how they use castor beans and cotton that exists in the environment for torches providing light after dark. Another outcome generated by Si Bolang is the promotion of tourism to explore Indonesian heritage, natural wealth and remote areas in Indonesia. In each episode Si Bolang introduces a remote area with cultural diversity, a wide range of natural resources and natural beauty that sometimes makes us wonder.
The program starts with the children introducing their place of origin and giving the viewers a brief background about the area. Then they show the hallmark of their culture, such as how they work to help their parents, games, dances, or a variety of things they do together with knowledge and resources specific to the area. Third, the children show a nature friendly behavior that protects or preserves their environment, flora and fauna. The finale shows how the natives earn their livelihood and how the Si Bolang children go to school and live a meaningful life.
On many occasions the children invent their own games and fashion tools from everything the forest provides. But kids are still kids. They often seek knowledge from parents or other relevant sources. Funny moments often arise from their effort to find answers.
Trans 7 is a national privately owned television station in Indonesia. They constantly innovate and deliver creative programs so that the audience always watches Trans 7. The innovations they develop are not just to increase profits, but also to raise awareness about the culture, environment, natural richness, and diversity in Indonesia.
The idea for Si Bolang comes from the founder, Dudit Widodo. He got the idea from his experiences traveling around Indonesia. He found that Indonesian children are very creative, close to nature, strong and highly appreciate nature. From there came the idea to create a children's program that reflects these characteristics of Indonesian children.
For 9 years Si Bolang has toured Indonesia to introduce their audience to the multifaceted culture and environment of the country. The legacy of Indonesian heritage and the importance of caring for nature has been taught to the next generation. The program has many outstanding achievements and has been profitable since the start of the program in 2005. Several achievements represent the success of Bolang show:
The nine-year run of the Bolang show, since 2005, represents the sustainability and profitability of the program. The performance rate and rating card from AGB Nielsen agency, a certified and well-known television rating company, demonstrates that Si Bolang delivers outstanding results. In addition, the Department of Tourism of Indonesia, confirms that several areas have increased their income from tourism. Si Bolang program has a positive impact in business, social and environmental terms. Si Bolang also creates a positive image for Trans7, as can be seen from the many awards given by government and other institutions.
The Bolang program does not have a business model like other television programs. It delivers quality education, and low production costs, as the shows does not need an expensive actor/actress, does not need any stage or effects as it presents the environment as it is, and does not need special preparation beyond research information. This proves that to be sustainable in a business does not always need intensive investment to deliver value behind what really counts.
Si Bolang has proved successful at having children teach future generations to protect the environment and preserve their cultural heritage. Si Bolang is aired nationally so it creates many opportunities to promote the areas they visit. This has proved to increase tourism and increase the income of local residents. Si Bolang also boosts the confidence of Indonesian children by making them the main talent for the program. They each use their native language to communicate so viewers came to know the rich diversity of languages spoken in Indonesia.
In terms of the environment, the program teaches people to appreciate and get close to nature. Provide cleaner and healthier environments, specifically in the target areas of the program, as people are proud that their environmental practices will be shown in all over Indonesia. They stress the importance of enforcing the natural preservation law by building an understanding of how important nature preservation is to their economy.
The program has built a bridge of communication between people and governments, between people and Indonesian heritage, between people from the city and natives.
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Bapak Hilman, Producer
