Fairy Mahdzan: My first Lupus book!

The Selamat Datang Statues at Bulatan Hotel Indonesia; just another item in Jakarta's vividly odd and expressive statue collection

My first Lupus book!

by Farah 'Fairy' Mahdzan

(26-Jul-2002) | Readers Say

Indonesians who grew up in the 1980s will remember this popular reading icon that was the Jakartan schoolboy created by Hilman: LUPUS. Lupus was most infamous for his mischievous acts in and out of school but he had this amazing talent of smooth-talking his way of out trouble (a trait many of us would die to master, I'm sure). His favorite 'food' is permen karet (bubble gum) and so popular was Lupus that children who read his adventures became avid chewers of the stuff to appear keren (cool). Unfortunately for some people, kids also mimicked Lupus' band habit of sticking the remains of the gum on his neighbor's chair in class as a prank. Nonetheless, I bet you permen karet sales in Indonesia during the 80s were phenomenal considering the Indonesia's huge consumer population!

"Tangkaplah Daku Kau KuJitak!" was my very first Lupus book given to me by Riga Saleh who sent it to me from Melbourne (1998). I had wanted to own one badly because I had started reading the few Lupus books that I found in the Southeast Asian floor of my college library in the US (yey Ohio University!). I had this Indonesian friend who was always checking those books out of the library. Curious, I tried reading one and haven't been able to put down Hilman's books since.

However if you speak and know Bahasa Malaysia and think you can pick up one of these Lupus books and understand it right away without knowing a little bit (oklah - a lot!) of Indonesian slang and sentence structure, prepare to be baffled to death. I remember asking my dad to buy me a few Lupus books when he went to Jakarta for a business trip and he gave me the books looking utterly confused and asked me if I could understand what the books were about. Hehe.

Hilman has many, MANY books on Lupus' adventures, and he has also written books on other characters like LULU (Lupus' little sister) and OLGA, the sassy rollerskate-crazy, part-time DJ girl (of course when inline skates became popular, Olga dumped her skates for those). Some Lupus book titles (like this one) were made into movies but weren't as successful as the books were. The Olga books were made into TV series I believe, and Sarah Sechan (ex-MTV Asia VJ) played Olga.

Due to Hilman's success as a writer, his books have been republished many times. The book cover designs are also changed accordingly over the years to attract newer and younger readers of Lupus.

And why do I like these Lupus books exactly (childish as some people might think they are)? Because the antics, behaviours and expressions that Hilman writes for each of his characters make me snort in laughter (bahasa Indonesia can be very funny, let me tell you). I need a good laugh once in a while.

RELATED STORIES:

Cheap Bubble Gum, Priceless Memories

Ali Topan - Boy - Lupus: Hero Remaja Indonesia

WHAT READERS SAY ABOUT My first Lupus book!:

#11. fairy, hilman akan sangat bangga bila mengetahui bahwa karyanya berserakan di Ohio University.. haha.. Lupus adalah salah satu karakter terbaik yang pernah hadir di Indonesia
Posted by dimas - Website on 13-Dec-2007, 17:40 MYT

#10. Lupus, sosok yang slalu gw cari pada setiap cowok, dan slama ini baru satu orang yang nyaris-nyaris mirip. . .Gw sayang banget ma orang ini. . .
Posted by vidia on 1-Feb-2006, 20:49 MYT

#9. damn tas yang ituh yak.........hueheheh eh gw punya tuh pas kelas 4 sd warna biru dengan grafis lupus dengan permen karetnya itu...tapi talinya gak panjang bgt kayaknya...trus tuh tas bisa di kecilin jadi kayak dompet......damn fairy kamu pinter bgt bringing back my childhood memories.
keren abissssssss
Posted by andhra - Website on 6-Nov-2005, 23:21 MYT

#8. OMFG, I grew up reading Lupus and Olga! I even watched the first Olga movie, produced in 1990, with Deasy Ratnasari as Olga, Nike Ardilla (the late, RIP) as Wina, Mandra as Somad, Ida Kusumah as Olga's mum, and Ami Priyono (the late) as Olga's dad. The last time Lupus was made into a TV series was in 1999-2000. I forgot who played Lupus in that last version, but Lulu was played by Agnes Monica (who was back then a sweet, charming 13-year-old, now a wannabe X-tina). And I still have the first Olga book, Sepatu Roda, in its original cover, and Lupus ABG. Mau?
Posted by Nana - Website on 18-Sep-2004, 20:42 MYT

#7. Siryn, CUEK can mean casual or ignore. I guess in Malaysia the equivalent is sempoi or "buat dek."
Posted by Fairy on 20-Aug-2003, 17:16 MYT

#6. apa itu cuek?
Posted by Siryn on 20-Aug-2003, 16:54 MYT

#5. wah rasanya tak de photo fai, sorry. tapi the worse our bag the more proud we are kan, lupus tuh orangnya cuek, jadi kita juga berlomba-lomba untuk cuek, yang penting gaya..
Posted by Bagas on 25-Jul-2003, 12:24 MYT

#4. Oooo gituuu. Hehe! Kocak juga ya? Rusak donk tasnya diseret2in atas tanah! So did the boys had to replace their bags often because of the dragging??

Ada foto ga Bagas? Mayan tuh buat cerita2, anak2 lagi seret2 tas ala Lupus! Tapi jaman sekarang ga begitu lah ya?
Posted by Fairy on 10-Jul-2003, 14:37 MYT

#3. Iya fai, beside the chewing gum and his hair, Lupus also made a style in school bag's belt. Jadi schoolbag yang trendy waktu itu harus yang talinya puanjaaanngg, sampai-sampai nyentuh tanah! cara pakainya: diselempangin/disele ndangkan across the shoulder. wahh..jadi ingat waktu muda
Posted by Bagas on 10-Jul-2003, 14:19 MYT

#2. Hey there Bagas, glad you're reminiscing about your childhood days, those were the great times eh. Great to hear our friends in Bandung chewed the same bear gum that we did in Malaysia too!

I am not too sure what you meant by the 2 meter long bag's belt, if someone can tell me more about this interesting teenage phenomenon of the 1980s in Indo, that would be great.
Posted by Fairy on 10-Jul-2003, 13:34 MYT

#1. Ughfai, you remind me of my childhood. Tahu tak, saya dulu waktu masih budak lagi di sini (Bandung), sering chewing tu bear gum/murakwa, bcos I think it was the cheapest one, so we (elementary school students) leluasa lagi bought and bought...Sekarang sih zamannya wrigley's. You have to note bag's belt in Lupus era Do you know that we had 2 meter long bag's belt so the bag can wipe your way? -lol-
Posted by Bagas on 10-Jul-2003, 13:13 MYT

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