Suyadi, puppeteer and children’s television show host, Died at 82

  Dead Famous

Pak Raden or Suyadi was born on November 28, 1932 in Jember, East Java, and died on October 30, 2015.

He was legendary, a storyteller and puppeteer.

He had always liked drawing, dreaming of becoming an animator like his idol, Walt Disney.

Suyadi, was known as Pak Raden.

Pak Raden or Suyadi 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.

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.

Pak Raden or Suyadi struggles finally came to public light with the help of fans and supporters.

He spoke 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.

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 a few years ago.

Si Unyil was meant 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.

Suyadi passed away on Friday night after being treated at Pelni Petamburan Hospital in West Jakarta for a lung infection.

Suyadi passed away at age 82 in October 2015.