Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – In a bizarre twist to the continuing mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, a local television station claims the company at the center of the mess has agreed to make a TV soap opera to tell its "heroic" side of the story – an assertion the company denies.
East Java station Jawa Post Televisi (JTV) executive producer Awi Setiawan said the company, Lapindo Brantas Inc., had agreed to pay for a 13-episode drama, or sinetron, titled Gali Lubang Tutup Lubang (Digging a Hole, Filling a Hole).
"Production is likely to start in mid-September, while for the screening schedule, we are still waiting for further discussions with Lapindo," Awi told The Jakarta Post. All production costs – Rp 520 million at Rp 40 million (US$4,347) an episode – would be covered by Lapindo, he said.
Lapindo's image has been in free fall since the disaster, which began on May 29. The mudflows issuing from Lapindo's well site now cover more than 180 hectares of land in the district and have made about 10,000 residents in the area homeless.
Environmentalists say the hot mud has caused up to US$3 billion in damages, compensation and clean-up costs, and have urged the government to prosecute Lapindo under the country's environmental laws.
Lapindo is owned by the family of the Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.
Its management are already the subject of a criminal investigation after allegations surfaced that the company failed to put protective casing on its drilling well, a vital safety procedure that is being blamed for the catastrophe.
Responding to JTV's claims, Yuniwati Teryana, Lapindo's vice president and head of public relations, denied the company was producing a television drama to improve its image. She told the Post that Lapindo had no plans to make a TV drama or film about the situation in Sidoarjo.
JTV program director Ali Murtadlo, meanwhile, said the idea for the TV drama first came from JTV and Parfi, who wanted to develop a sinetron idea in Java. "The hot mudflow in Porong, Sidoarjo, is a big tragedy and it is Lapindo's responsibility to take care of the problem. We will highlight stories of Lapindo's heroism in this sinetron," Ali told the Post.
Despite the confusion over Lapindo's involvement in the project, Ali said pre-production was in full swing, with a number of locations decided on, including residential areas inundated by the mudflow. Awi said actors from the East Java branch of the Indonesian Actors Guild (Parfi) would play parts in the series.
Parfi talent manager Audy Utomo said that popular sinetron actors like Rizal Gibran and noted musician Sawung Jabo had expressed interest in playing leading roles. "We're still negotiating contracts with them. But local (East Java) actors are in the preparatory stage after going through a long audition process," he said.
It is not clear who will direct the series but the production's executive producer, Sonny Bule, suggested filmmaker Garin Nugroho was a frontrunner and would be approached.
Contacted by the Post, Garin said he had not heard of the project. "I've never been personally contacted (by Sonny)," he said by phone from Surakarta, Central Java. "But I've not been in the office lately. I've been busy promoting my film Opera Jawa (the Javanese Opera).
When asked whether he would be willing to make a drama on the mudflows, he said he was not sure. "I don't know the theme or the storyline just yet, so I can't answer that."
Previously, JTV has produced the Jula-Juli and Dollywood dramas based on the lives of commercial sex workers in Dolly, Surabaya's red light district.
[With additional reporting by Stevie Emilia in Jakarta.]