JAKARTA - Mentioning Roy Marten's name would immediately remind him of the film. This father of six children (Monique, Aline, Galih, Gading, Menari and Gibran) has spent almost his entire life acting.
Acting is a necessity for Anna Maria's husband. Therefore, Roy has no intention to stop acting as long as life is still in the body. He is always passionate about acting.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Roy Marten, who is 70 years old and in the elderly category, was in the vulnerable and high-risk category. However, his desire to recover made him healthy again. Gratitude and joy are endless.
"Definitely happy. When I got covid, it was in February, if I'm not mistaken it was still fierce. All my friends were worried. I entered the Mitra Keluarga Hospital in East Bekasi, all worried because I was 70," said Roy when VOI visited to his residence in Bekasi, some time ago.
Returning to health and being able to go home to be grateful with his family was a blessing for him. "I was able to go home while there were many young people who died at that time, it's a feeling of gratitude. My family has been affected a lot but all of them are healthy again," he explained.
The ordeal made him remember the significance of his life. The success achieved is of no value if it is sick.
"What we are after is nothing, health is the main thing. Then all the knick-knacks, it turns out that we can stop our greed for material things, our greed for strange possessions is useless during a pandemic," said Roy.
Let alone for shooting, just to do daily activities is difficult. Keeping distance and restrictions in order to break the chain of COVID-19 is required.
In fact, since childhood Roy never took a break from filming. A handsome face typical of European peranakans became the main capital to pursue a career in acting in the 1970s. The sweetness of the role as an actor has been felt by Roy. He also totally devoted his life to the world of acting.
The man whose real name is Wicaksono Abdul Salam was born in Salatiga, Central Java, March 1, 1952. Young Roy came at the right time, when the Indonesian film world was developing. His debut in the film Bobby (1974) became a slick start. The following year he was immediately lined up to play in the film Cintaku di Kampus Biru (1975) with the late Rae Sita Supit.
Since then the couple's son Abdul Salam (Java) Nora Salam (Netherlands) has become a blockbuster movie star. Installing Roy as a player in a film becomes a powerful move to attract the audience. He became the target of every film producer. 1977 was the most Roy starred in films.
No less than 12 film titles starred in that year. Starting from the storm that must have passed, the result of free association, I reached for your love, living together, plastic flowers, the hall of love, first experiences, as bright as a smile, my lover, Christina, young wife witchcraft, and don't cry, Mama.
But the pandemic brought his filmography to a halt. He doesn't go out much to shoot.
"Because the pandemic can't go away, it's very limited, like in prison. The main lesson for us is that we are healthy, the second is family. Everything else will follow, but first is family health," he said.
As if reborn with a second chance, Roy is a living witness to the history of the development of the Indonesian state. "When the children were still in an atmosphere of independence, then I experienced an economic recession: queuing for rice, queuing for oil, I've eaten half an egg, I can't eat rice every day. It's an extraordinary luxury if we wear nice clothes. who wore burlap sacks for pants at that time," he recalls.
"Eating three meals is a luxury, then G30S happened, a very terrible event for me. My neighbor was kidnapped, killed, his family fell apart. His father was transported by land, yes, there was still an extraordinary chaos. It was an extraordinary humanitarian disaster at that time," continued Roy.
Life led him to continue to see the changes taking place in Indonesia. Roy Marten saw his beloved country in turmoil until it was economically stable.
"I experienced it when the economy changed. Indonesia was open, foreign goods came in, the times began to be modern. I went to Jakarta and continued to play films. I experienced all of those events," he explained.
Among all the events he experienced, Roy Marten said the COVID-19 pandemic was the most frightening disaster.
"The most frightening thing is the pandemic. Praise God at the age of 70, I can still recover and can still make calls. I am still active in all things," he said.
In the heyday of Roy Marten and four other film stars; Yatie Octavia, Robby Sugara, Jenny Rachman and Dorries Callebaut became Indonesian film stars whose salaries were the most expensive. The five of them were called The Big Five because they dared to set an "exorbitant" fee for playing in a film title in the 1977-1978 era.
Dozens of films have been starred until national film production was at its lowest point in the 1990s. At that time he did not lose his mind. The presence of national private television opens new opportunities for Roy and film stars and film workers to keep acting and doing activities. He also acted in electronic cinema through the soap opera Bella Vista, then Senja Makin Merah, Paper Butterfly, and dozens of other titles.
Roy's priorities change during the pandemic. Being healthy is the main thing. Surviving the endemic by giving vaccines evenly in old age is an achievement for him. Roy had to turn down acting offers, even though he couldn't stop filming.
"Not only the pandemic, I sometimes turn down offers. Maybe 6-7 months I don't shoot but I always want to. I miss the shooting atmosphere," he explained.
Filming is his way to always 'live'. Getting new energy from young people makes him not bored working. "What I miss from shooting is like getting together, living our respective roles, meeting young people whose stories are different, the planet is different, right like that. So I'm grateful that I can still get together with them," added Roy Marten.
Every disaster has a lesson. Whenever there is a loss, there is always an advantage. That is what Roy Marten believes so that he can accept the pandemic as God's way that must be lived.
"So when you brake for 2 years, you are imprisoned, people can't watch it, you can't, this socialization explodes now, the film explodes again," he explained.
Roy continues to follow the development of Indonesian films, including the achievement of a new record for the KKN film in Penari Village which broke a new record for the largest audience in Indonesia.
"Hopefully this awakens not only temporarily because it has been 2 years imprisoned at home but hopefully this is a good sign for Indonesian films," he hoped.
This makes him optimistic that Indonesia will be victorious in the future. Even if Roy Marten was no longer in this world, he could already feel his pride.
"I see Indonesia will be extraordinary, maybe I will not experience it but this republic will be successful if in the right hands," he was sure.
Challenges are always there, Roy doesn't deny it. "What I'm worried about is that our population is exploding. I see that the demographic bonus could be a burden. We have 270 million people to feed with less resources," he said.
Like a double-edged sword, demographic bonuses can be a boon but can also be a burden. But Roy believes Indonesia can handle it well.
"I believe the government is trying to improve this what is important is education. Second there is a revolution in technology where digital is discovered, the upcoming metaverse, inventions that have been unthinkable for 10 years. Don't let Indonesia just be a user but have to participate in it. Artificial intelligence is a bit worrying But it's a risk that must be faced," he said.
Young people, he continued, must learn about the future, not the past. "It's not that we don't study history. Our world is very different, so we have to be smart. The government must direct information to young people that we don't need 16 subjects. In total it is more useful than all of us know," hoped Roy Marten.
Having grandchildren as new hope, Roy Marten wants his grandchildren to get new knowledge lessons that are suitable for the needs of the new world. "Otherwise, we will only be in the past. Wanting to be a doctor, engineer, is not impractical but there will be a new paradigm. We are missing something, we will find something new. What is Indonesian democracy like," he said.
"When we are teenagers we can't go anywhere and suddenly we are released. There is excessive euphoria. When suddenly there is new technology, they have new toys without responsibility, we must experience it," he continued.
But change is not something to be afraid of. He believes that young people are agents of change themselves. They need flying hours, they need to make mistakes in order to know the consequences of right and wrong.
"Change is always from young people. First try, then find out. Sometimes we don't know which one is right. Let young people try to a certain extent and they will see because it takes flying hours," he explained.
He gave an example of himself who claimed to have experience dealing with various situations in Indonesia. In the end, the experience didn't help him deal with technological change. Therefore, young people have an important role for the progress of Indonesia.
"I have a fairly complete past experience but in terms of the future I have to learn from young people. I'm a bit clueless with technology, a different planet. I don't have time to learn about my age," he said.
Roy Marten is not just an old actor on the big screen and on the small screen. He is an aging actor in life. Hit by various trials, Roy remained upright, faced problems and became stronger. Now, it's time for Roy to fully devote himself to his family
"When I think about myself I have a beautiful wife, so loyal, my children who have a special family. I have a work, I look back quite blessed. I have got everything from God so I'm just grateful, what else is not? Still a lot but what else do I want to ask for, it feels like I got too much. It's not that I'm boasting, but that I'm grateful for too many things," he said.
Not wanting to be grandiose, Roy is now preparing to leave the best legacy for posterity. Not treasure, he wants to leave beautiful memories as the best legacy
"Human awareness about death must exist. Especially when our friends leave, we want to give something. I think the most beautiful memories are that children feel loved. . Have I ever disappointed them yes for sure. They have to believe their parents love them, "he said.
Closing the conversation, Roy Marten gave wise advice for all of us. "Life is like a match with a relay, there are times when we lose and win, but the important thing is how we win the match. God's help is certain. Don't stop when we lose. Losing doesn't mean when we fall, losing is when we refuse to get up," he said. .
"I have experienced defeats but I refuse to give up. I got up and I won the match," concluded Roy Marten.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
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