Quotes of the Day

As Indonesia prepared to send its athletes to the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last month, a mock government Cabinet on satirical TV show Dreaming Republic discussed why the nation was no longer the regional sporting powerhouse it was during the 1980s and '90s. Actors impersonating leaders past and present blamed the 1997 financial crisis, before appealing to the live audience and viewers at home for more funding to help prepare Indonesian athletes. One of the show's most popular characters, impersonating former President Suharto, had a simpler solution: "Just return me to power!"

Routines like that have turned the production — loosely modeled on U.S. news parody The Daily Show with Jon Stewart — into one of the most highly anticipated programs on Indonesian television each week, with a viewership estimated in the tens of millions and spanning all social strata from politicians to parking-lot attendants. The actors are ostensibly members of government from a parallel Indonesia — the "dreaming republic" of the show's title — where everything is the same apart from the spelling of leaders' names. Cast members always refer to Indonesia as "the neighboring country," introducing a modicum of libel defense that allows them to criticize the shortcomings of those who hold power, as well as talk about controversial issues from deforestation to illiteracy and corruption. "We are trying to let viewers know what is really happening behind the news," says Effendi Gazali, who plays the program's "political adviser."

The show is the brainchild of writers Gazali and Butet Kartaredjasa. The latter, in particular, is a well-known actor, comedian and vocal government critic, who had several works banned in the 1990s because they supposedly stirred up "social tension." But he is back in the mainstream now, playing the popular part of Si Butet Yogya, a character who shares the same initials and mannerisms as real life President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. As the coordinator of a master's program at the University of Indonesia in political communications, Gazali brings an academic knowledge to the program, but he leavens it with his previous TV experience. His first skits aired in the early 1980s on government-run TVRI, but Gazali says several were pulled because they were considered hostile toward the Suharto regime.

Gazali insists that his new show is mindful of societal norms. "We won't be vulgar and have to keep Indonesian culture in mind," he says. "But we won't shy away from dealing with hypocrisy when we see it." But more than adroit scriptwriting, it is reformasi — the popularly cherished climate of political and social liberalization that has developed since Suharto's fall in 1998 — that has protected the show from interference. Indeed, Dreaming Republic has emerged as one of the great triumphs of reformasi. "The show really is one of the best examples of democracy in action," says Juniwati Masjchun Sofwan, a national board member of the Golkar party, which is a part of Indonesia's ruling coalition. "To be able to make fun of the President and not offend anyone was pretty much unheard of until now."

Ultimately, though, the creators of Dreaming Republic want to deliver the news in a way that will entertain more than depress. "People are tired of bad news but they need to know what is happening in the country," says Olga Lydia, the show's "special minister" and host. "We present it in a way that people will enjoy and want to watch every week." With millions of Indonesians tuning in, the show's producers hope the country's leaders will develop a sense of humor even as they realize that their decisions are often seen as no laughing matter.

• Jason Tedjasukmana