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Storyteller, puppeteer 'Pak Raden' Suyadi dies
Suyadi aka Pak Raden - JP/Seto WardhanaVeteran artist, legendary storyteller and puppeteer Suyadi, popularly known as Pak Raden, passed away on Friday night after being treated at Pelni Petamburan Hospital in West Jakarta for a lung infection
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Suyadi aka Pak Raden - JP/Seto Wardhana
Veteran artist, legendary storyteller and puppeteer Suyadi, popularly known as Pak Raden, passed away on Friday night after being treated at Pelni Petamburan Hospital in West Jakarta for a lung infection. He was 82.
His body was laid out at his home in Petamburan before being buried in Jeruk Purut Cemetery in South Jakarta on Saturday afternoon.
Soon after the news of his passing broke, condolences and people's childhood memories flooded social media.
'Pak Raden and his works have inspired my creativity. We had a happy childhood because of you,' actor and stand-up comedian Arie Kriting tweeted.
Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil posted on his Instagram account Suyadi's picture holding Unyil and Pak Raden puppets with a caption that read, 'Goodbye Pak Raden. My childhood was so beautiful because of your stories. Thank you very much.'
Pak Raden is the thickly mustachioed puppet character that wears traditional Javanese attire created by Suyadi for the hit puppet show Si Unyil, aired on state-owned television TVRI in the 1980s. Suyadi was also the dubber of Pak Raden and the creator of other characters, including Unyil and the bald Pak Ogah, for the show.
Si Unyil was not merely an entertainment program, as it also talked about patriotism, nationalism, health, the environment, arts and culture, fairy tales, fables and folk tales.
Despite the huge popularity of the series, it did not, however, give him a good life in his latter days.
For years he had to struggle on his own to obtain royalties from the State Film Production Company (PFN) for his puppet creations in the series that ran for more than 600 episodes from 1979 to 1991.
His struggles finally came to public light with the help of fans and supporters.
Suyadi also suffered from acute osteoarthritis, a degenerative bone disease that required him to use a cane and sometimes a wheelchair to move around.
But he did not let his physical condition stop him from doing art, as he kept painting and taking storytelling jobs to make a living.
Before his death, Suyadi was busy completing some paintings for his solo exhibition that was planned to be held at Bentara Budaya Jakarta (BBJ) on Nov. 21. In 2013, he also had a solo exhibition, entitled 'Noir et Blanc', at BBJ.
Born in Jember, East Java, on Nov. 28, 1932, Suyadi had always liked drawing, dreaming of becoming an animator like his idol, Walt Disney.
Suyadi, who could speak English, Dutch, French and Italian, studied fine arts and design at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), went to France to study animation and worked in two animation studios there before returning to Indonesia to work as art director for Si Unyil.
A few years ago, Si Unyil was revived with new concepts when private TV station Trans7 aired Laptop Si Unyil and Buku Harian Si Unyil, which focused on telling technology, science and cultural stories.
Si Unyil is to come out in a 3D animation version and is slated for release on TV next year. Unfortunately, Suyadi was already gone before he was able to see the animation.
