One of the four new characters of "Jalan Sesama," the Indonesian version of "Sesame Street"
© AFP Bay Ismoyo

JAKARTA (AFP) - Jalan Sesama will feature stories, songs and music in the Bahasa language and will be set in an Indonesian village rather than the New York neighbourhood featured in the main American version of the educational programme.

"We want to raise local cultural values, which in the cities are often no longer held, such as gotong royong," said Mohammad Zuhdi, the research director of Indonesia's PSI Studio Center, the show's co-producer along with the New York-based Sesame Workshop.

"Gotong royong" is the tradition of pulling together during a crisis or when problems arise, a value still strong in the country's rural communities.

The Indonesian version, launched in the capital Jakarta on Tuesday, will feature four main local puppets and several live characters.

The puppets are a boy called Momon, who enjoys reading and writing, Putri, a girl who loves to sing and have a good adventure, Tantan the banana-munching orangutan and baby Sumatran rhino Jabrik.

Children sing along with two puppets at the "Jalan Sesama," the Indonesian version of "Sesame Street"
© AFP Bay Ismoyo

Electricity polls with low hanging cables will replace urban lamposts in the show's backdrop and a billboard will promote a fictitious false teeth maker.

The US government aid agency USAID has provided an initial 8.5 million dollars to finance the show.

"Sesame Street is really a benchmark for children's education," said US Charge d'Affaires John Heffern.

It would air a message of tolerance, understanding, health and cleanliness, he said. Producers plan to make 156 episodes.

"Sesame Street" broadcasts in about 120 countries but is co-produced in about a dozen nations, including Egypt, Japan and South Africa.

The programme was first aired in the US in 1969 and is one of the most successful shows in television history. Tens of millions of children are estimated to have watched it.

©AFP