Suyadi remains villainous to this day

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For those who are well-versed in Javanese tradition, its shadow play (wayang) in particular, then you know the character named Buto Cakil, a villain so crooked and demented that, without him, the show would be dry and lack the adrenaline-pumping suspense.

In fact, shadow play enthusiasts are willing to wait until midnight before the beast finally appears -- which also augurs the show's finale -- for a final showdown that will pit him against the hero. And the bad person will always lose the battle.

Puppeter Suyadi was more than happy to liken himself to the villain.

Popularly known for lending his voice to Pak Raden, a fictional character in the famous television puppet show in the 1980s, Si Unyil, Suyadi will forever be known by his villainous role.

Long after the show was off the air, the villain remains with Suyadi.

In public appearances, Suyadi always wears a black Javanese traditional blouse (beskap), the same as Pak Raden's puppet in the show and he adopts a vicious look and a baritone voice every time people ask for a picture with him.

Speaking to Suyadi in person is also an eerie experience, as if the villain indeed existed and the one we were conversing with is merely his alter ego.

On the character, Suyadi said that it was created merely to give balance to the universe of Si Unyil. "Si Unyil, the main character in the show was a kind-hearted, if naughty kid, who was surrounded by a bunch of good people. His parents, siblings, friends and neighbors are good and we thought the story needed an antagonist role," he said.

Suyadi landed in the role only through a fortuitous circumstance.

It was later decided that a villain would help enliven the story, but the Si Unyil production team failed to arrive at a conclusion about what the character would be like.

Although the team members agreed that the villain would be a retired civil servant, Dutch Colonial system-educated, hot- tempered and suffering from a back problem, they were unable to settle on the character's ethnic background. Given the ugly portrayal of the character, the team feared that affiliation with one ethnic group would anger many people and disrupt the prevailing harmony among ethnic groups across the country.

The televised puppet show was a pet project of the New Order regime to disseminate information about its development program and members of the team certainly did not want to see it being used against them. Harmony, by any means necessary, was the order of the day.

Suyadi, the show's art director, then proposed that the character would assume Javanese as his ethnicity. "Javanese in general are patient folks, they will not be angered being portrayed as evil in the story," he said.

The production team could not agree more when Suyadi proposed a comical name for the character, Raden Mas Singa Menggala Jalma Wana, which meant a kind-hearted king of lions from the jungle.

Suyadi was later given the job of bringing the characters alive with his baritone voice as he was deemed the most fitting for the role. Later, the production team also decided that Suyadi's voice was the most suitable for the character of a senile Javanese man and the show's only person with a mental problem.

When the show was first aired on state-run television station TVRI in April 1981, it soon captivated viewers across the nation. When the show hit the airwaves on Sunday mornings -- roads, markets and public places were deserted as people were glued to their TV sets waiting for the madness of Pak Raden.

"I once overheard an Ambonese saying `where is that crazy Javanese', while waiting for Pak Raden to appear on screen," Suyadi said while giggling.

In almost all the Si Unyil series, Pak Raden was depicted having quarrels with almost everyone who came near him, apparently because he thought everyone was trying to steal his property and his fruit tree.

And viewers were apparently oblivious to the show's propaganda as they were fixated on the plot and its richly detailed characters, especially its villains.

Heeding to the public demand for more villains, the production team created more villains the likes of the lethargic unemployed Pak Ogah and his cohort Ableh, but none outshone the neurotic Pak Raden.

However, the fixation on villains began to worry Suyadi and his team. They became concerned that it would somehow eclipse the messages the government was trying to convey.

The team later took pains to ensure that the propaganda reached the viewers without being considered pedantic.

"On the family planning issue for example, we did not say anything directly about the government's program because the show was originally targeted to children. We conveyed the message through a character named Cuplis, a school kid who was always asleep during class because he was busy comforting his fussy siblings the night before. He was also the poorest in his class. We indirectly told children that was what happened when a family did not join the family planning program," he said.

He said that being a propaganda film was not enough reason to indulge in banality. "Not all the government-sponsored programs were bad. Campaigns on cleanliness for instance. We worked to make it as interesting as possible," Suyadi said.

In early 1992, after more than a decade on the air the government decided to end the show.

Eight years later, in collaboration with a Jakarta-based production house, the series copyright holder State Film Production Center (PPFN), produced a new series of the show, but with disappointing results. "I have nothing to do with the recent incarnation," he said.

Now, with Si Unyil shelved, the 73-year-old Suyadi strives to keep the legend alive.

In between his lecturing job at the Jakarta Institute of Art (IKJ), he regularly holds workshops on painting and puppet-making for children. Last week, on invitation from the Jakarta Art Council, Suyadi organized a three-day workshop and exhibition on Si Unyil.

"I have dedicated my life to Si Unyil and I consider my greatest achievement with the show was that I could put the country under my spell," he said.