Postgresql 8.1.3 Debian installation encoding question

[Joost Kraaijeveld <J.Kraaijeveld@Askesis.nl>]

Hi,

I was forced to reinstall PostgreSQL 8.1.3 on my Debian machine, using
the deb installation files. I used to have UTF8 or LATIN1 encoding  for
the postgres, template0 and template1 databases (can't remember which
one I actualy had :-( ).  But after my reinstallation I suddenly had
SQL_ASII as (default) encoding. 

How can I change that? Why did the Debian encoding change? Can I still
use the Debian deb files or must I manually initdb PostgreSQL?

TIA

Joost