R.A. Kosasih: Pioneer of Indonesian comics

By T. Sima Gunawan

JAKARTA (JP): The pioneer of Indonesian comics, R.A. Kosasih, will never forget the golden age of local comic books three decades ago.

"Thousands copies of my books were sold every week," the 76- year-old artist recalled.

Kosasih, who started creating comic books in 1954, produced 80 pages a month.

Late in the 1950s, comic books declined, Kosasih said. But a few years later Indonesians once again turned to comic books, especially after the emergence of young artists Jan Mintaraga, Ganes TH, Teguh and Zaldi. They presented romance and silat (traditional martial arts) stories in comic strips.

Kosasih's first comic book was about a crime fighting woman called Sri Asih who had super powers. He said he was inspired by Flash Gordon, but he created a female character "to make it more interesting". Sri Asih, the first Indonesian fantasy comic book, was a big success.

Sri Asih was the alias of Nani, a charming young girl who dressed in Western clothes and rode a motorcycle. Whenever she read some magic words, she turned into Sri Asih, a super woman clad in a wayang (Javanese puppet show) costume.

Kosasih has been obsessed by wayang since he was a kid. He has tried to put the characters, originally from the Indian Mahabharata tales, into his comic books. He said he was not quite sure if people would enjoy his wayang books, but his comics became best sellers in Java and other parts of the country.

A junior high school graduate, he started working as an illustrator for the Agriculture Department in 1939. He drew animals, including microscopic ones, to illustrate Dutch text books used at the agriculture institute in Bogor.

"But they were not fair, they did not mention my name in the books," he said.

This, however, was not why he resigned. He said he quit because he wanted to concentrate on his new career in the comic world.

Kosasih could make up to Rp 4,000 a month from his comics, while his last salary as a civil servant was only Rp 300.

Kosasih completed a set of 40 comic books based on the Mahabharata in two years.

"I could make more money compared to the time when I worked at the Agriculture Department," he said.

Three years after he started his career as a comic illustrator, he bought a house in a small alley in his hometown of Bogor, West Java for Rp 15,000.

"Rp 15,000 was a lot of money. At that time, you could have a sack of cement for Rp 3," he said.

Today, a 40 kilogram sack of cement retails at Rp 8,000.

Similar

In the 1980s Kosasih was not as productive as before. He continued to produce comic books but some of them were similar to old comics he had drawn. Kosasih was requested to re-draw the comics by the Maranatha publishing company, which published the books in a larger seize compared to the original ones published by the Melody publishing company.

Kosasih worked with his nephew, M.E. Atmadja, who helped him write the texts.

"I didn't have time to write the text in the books by myself," Kosasih said.

Kosasih would scratch out the text on a separate paper and give it to Atmadja, who would neatly write it in the book.

Atmadja, a tailor who served low-income people, said that he earned the same at both jobs.

At the age of 66, Atmadja, a widow, lives on his own in a 24- square-meter semi-permanent house, not far from Kosasih's former house in Bogor.

Kosasih, who moved to Jakarta in 1991, lives with his wife, their only daughter and her family. After leaving his old house in Bogor, he stopped drawing.

"I am old now. My hands tremble when I draw," he said.

He now spends his time taking care of his grandson, who is in the second grade of elementary school.

"Sometimes I tell him wayang stories, but I think he is too young to understand. He is more interested in Doraemon," Kosasih said.

Kosasih is concerned that children love foreign comics, like the Japanese Doraemon, more than Indonesian ones. He admitted that foreign comic books are better drawn, but the stories aren't any better.