The Sad Story Behind Si Unyil Who Is Now Going International

Doll Unyil and his friends (Photo: wikimedia.org File: Unyil and friends)

JAKARTA - Indonesian people can be proud of the screening of the doll series Si Unyil at the Kino Luna cinema, Warsaw, Poland, yesterday, Wednesday, December 12. But behind the success of the film Si Unyil is the sad story of the filmmaker, Suryadi alias Pak Raden.

This film, which tells the story of an elementary school boy named Unyil with his friends Ucrit and Usro, was first shown on TVRI since April 5, 1981. This spectacle filled Indonesia's childhood until 1993, every Sunday morning.

The story in Si Unyil's story is very simple and is based on the daily activities of the Indonesian people. This makes Si Unyil close to the community.

Although it was stopped until it entered the 2000s, Si Unyil then aired again on a private TV station in 2002-2003 and when it was adapted into Si Unyil's Laptop.

Mr. Raden lost his copyright

After Si Unyil achieved success, a polemic emerged. Pak Raden seemed to have lost his "child". He lost his copyright as a doll maker for Si Unyil.

After Si Unyil went on the air, until 2012 according to Tempo.co's news, Pak Raden had not yet enjoyed a dime in the figure's royalties. He also had to fight for the copyright of the work he created.

Pak Raden had to 'busk' at his house in Jakarta to fight for his life and Si Unyil's copyright.

Mr. Raden (Photo: wikimedia.org File: Pak Raden Drs. Suyadi)

The coordinator of Pak Raden's young friends, Arief Maulana, was quoted as saying by republika.co.id, as saying that this event was to knock the hearts of the Indonesian people towards Pak Raden's life and asked for support in fighting for Si Unyil's copyright back to Mr. Raden.

Apart from singing, Pak Raden also sells accessories such as t-shirts at a price that is entirely up to the audience who comes and books he has made for Rp. 125 thousand for four series.

So here's the chronology. Si Unyil was first produced by Negara Film Production (PFN) in 1979. Si Unyil was the idea of the Director of PFN at that time, G. Dwipayana.

To make the film, Dwipayana took Pak Raden and Kurnain Suhadirman. Pak Raden worked on the puppets, while Kurnain wrote the script for Si Unyil. At that time, the status of Pak Raden and Kurnain were not PFN employees.

The agreement between Pak Raden and PFN was signed in 1995. Its contents, submitted it to PFN to process the copyright for Unyil dolls. The agreement is valid for five years from the time it was signed.

According to Pak Raden, a few days later, a similar agreement appeared with the same date: December 14, 1995, but did not mention the validity period.

Three years later, Pak Raden signed a letter of submission of copyright for 11 puppet paintings, including Si Unyil, Pak Raden, Pak Ogah, and others. On January 15, 1999, PFN received a letter of acceptance of a copyright registration application from the Directorate General of Patent and Trademark Copyright of the Ministry of Justice for the 11 figures. However, until now, Raden has not received a penny from the copyright of the dolls he created.

After struggling for two years, finally Pak Raden can breathe a sigh of relief. On 15 April 2014, he entered into an agreement with PFN.

Still reported by tempo.co, according to Pak Raden's attorney, Dwiyanto Prihartono, Pak Raden gave PFN trust to manage the character economy of the Si Unyil series for ten years. In addition, Si Unyil is also subject to a progressive contract, meaning that Unyil's character is not only referred to as a doll, but also includes three-dimensional cartoon paintings, dolls, and mini operetta.