GM Sudarta (Kompas/Yuniadhi Agung)

Renowned and respected cartoonist and caricaturist Gerardus Mayela Sudarta, known widely as GM Sudarta, passed away on Saturday at the age of 72, leaving behind a staunch legacy led by his famous Oom Pasikom (Uncle Pasikom) comic strip featured almost daily in Kompas. GM, who preferred to be called a cartoonist than a caricaturist, started drawing his trademark simple lines and quotes in 1967, consistently contributing his Oom Pasikom comic strip to the daily newspaper until his retirement in 2005.  

He had published several books, some of which include collections of his most prominent comic strips and received a number of awards, including the Adinegoro Journalistic Award from the Indonesian Journalists Union (PWI) for a straight five years (1983 to 1987).

GM’s passing was preceded by a series of health problems. In 2010, he underwent surgery to repair a broken leg. In the same year, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C during his guest professorship at Seika University in Kyoto, Japan, forcing him to cut short his five-year tenure.

Frans Sartono, director of the Bentara Budaya Jakarta cultural center, which is owned by Kompas, said in the last few months of his life, the artist underwent hemodialysis to treat his illness. GM is scheduled to be cremated on Monday.

“His passing is a great loss for Kompas,” said Kompas editor-in-chief Budiman Tanurejo. “There has yet to be a cartoonist of his caliber […] Even though his drawings acted as raw photographs showing crucial social issues, he rarely irked the critics.”

Oom Pasikom, the character itself, depicts the typical Indonesian everyman: the eternally middle-aged man in his signature beret and suit who tries to make sense of his country’s issues.

Sometimes the character is flanked by others, such as a recurring child character, and sometimes Oom Pasikom himself is put in the place of whoever GM was trying to critique.

His critiques on social and political issues tended to edge more toward sarcasm against the actions of the country’s politicians, the state of life today in Indonesia and the country’s more sensational members of society — all packaged in a light-hearted but weighted piece of caricature.

On some days, Oom Pasikom returns to Kompas daily’s pages but no longer as a constant force.

In the eyes of his juniors, GM was seen primarily as a man who had the intelligence to build arguments to criticize and make fun of certain situations in a subtle way.

Comic artist and film critic Hikmat Darmawan expressed his condolences on his Facebook account after learning of GM’s passing. “He will be forever remembered as the creator of Oom Pasikom, while his illustrations and paintings are, for me, no less impressive.”

Cartoonist Tommy “Thom Dean” T, who has been drawing for Kompas since 2010, said he was directly mentored by the cartoonist when he joined the daily.

Courtesy of Kompas

He admired how GM managed to build criticisms through humor without being over-the-top, as well as his consistency of quality over decades.

Through that experience, he not only learned how to display messages effectively, but also to adopt a humble mindset in order to develop as a cartoonist.

“GM Sudarta also taught me that whenever we are praised for our work, we must be careful as to not be complacent and always be vigilant and sharp. In this case, I have lost a mentor and inspiration to how I approach opinion-based cartoons,” Thom said on Sunday.

GM himself held a pragmatic view of the role of his cartoons in shaping the minds of millions. While he agreed that a cartoon’s power tends to be overstated at times, this depends mainly on the ability of the cartoonist to convey the message at hand.

“I agree with Jakob Oetama’s words that cartoons could not necessarily stoke a real revolution. But cartoons still should be smart, sharp and wise in photographing the reality of life and churning out valuable criticisms nonetheless,” GM said once as quoted by kompas.com, referring to one of the daily’s founders.

“At the very least, cartoons should point out any wrongdoings or injustices in their subjects. They can’t start revolutions. They can only help prevent these injustices from happening again.”