Armando Siahaan

This Citi Peka program teaches primary school children how to manage their money. (Photo courtesy of ‘Petualangan Agen Penny)

In Indonesia, Money Management Made Fun With Music

In the educational musical “Petualangan Agen Penny” (“The Adventures of Agent Penny”), dynamic duo Agent Penny and Will Power embark on a special mission — one that doesn’t involve fighting criminals or earth-invading aliens.

Penny is a cheery super agent who specializes in helping people with financial management, while Will Power is her somewhat sloppy sidekick.

In one scene from this school program, the special agents have to figure out how to help elementary student Mariah, whose family is going through a financial predicament, as her father has been recently laid off from his company due to the economic crisis.

Mariah’s father is ready to cash in the family’s insurance policy and Mariah’s education fund to survive the predicament. But Penny stops him from doing so, and instead brings him to meet Professor Wang, the wacky-but-brilliant financial adviser.

Professor Wang tells Mariah’s father to keep the insurance and her college fund, because those are “long-term commitments. If you let them go now, the value decreases,” he says.

Instead, Professor Wang advises the father to persevere in looking for a new job. Problem solved.

This is a typical story line from the series “Petualangan Agen Penny.” The theatrical performance usually entails funny yet educative stories about money management, colorful costumes, comical characters and playful songs.

The play’s main topics revolve around the issues of budget planning, smart spending and saving habits — the basic principles of finance.

A joint initiative by Citi Peka, Yayasan Mitra Mandiri and Teater Koma, the program aims to provide early-age financial education program for primary students.

Since its launch in 2007, “Petualangan Agen Penny” has been performed in 125 schools throughout Jakarta, and this year the program is targeting 65 additional schools, said David Gormley of Citi Private Bank Indonesia, which runs the Citi Peka community initiative.

Any school in the city can register and request Penny to perform at their school for free. Aside from the show, the school will also receive comic books.

“We understand that young children begin to understand complex messages such as effective financial management from as early an age as 10 to 12 years old,” explained Gino Latief, the executive director of Yayasan Mitra Mandiri, an NGO that focuses on education, health and welfare issues.

“Therefore, we seek to take advantage of this bright potential in a child by conveying message through the means of interesting musical performances.”

The plays are written and directed by Teater Koma, one of the most reputable theater companies in Indonesia that has been around for 31 years, know for its satiric take on the country’s social and political take.

Senior actress Ratna Riantiarno, the company’s project manager, said, “We take pleasure in being able to perform an interactive and entertaining play, while at the same time conveying the message of good financial management for students.”

The program also manifests in the form of a comic book, which features the same characters, Agent Penny and Will Power.

One story has a lesson on how Agent Penny and Will Power lecture a group of kids on why buying a pair of cool sneakers for Rp 2 million ($200) is financially imprudent.

“Kids like you need to learn the difference between buying and investing!” Agent Penny said.

This year, Agent Penny has also launched her own Web site.

“We hope that through the new Agent Penny Web site, more students will be able to gain access to basic knowledge on financial management,” Gormley said.

The bilingual Web site includes a Teacher Zone, Student Zone and Fun Zone, with content ranging from news about the program, a photo gallery of previous school visits and teacher guidelines.

The Fun Zone is made of comics, a simple budgeting program, interactive games and quizzes.

Citi’s Gormley summed up the whole program.

“The comics give an interesting story for the students to follow, the Web site serves as an interactive platform for the students to relate with Agent Penny and Will Power, and the musical play brings the secret agents and stories to life,” he said.

Now if only Agent Penny can help the kids save any money.

For more information visit: www.agenpenny-id.com

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