Hilman Hariwijaya passed away, Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at the age of 58. He was the author of the “Lupus” series, which was extremely popular in the 80s and 90s. The sad news was announced by Hilman’s ex-wife, Nessa Sadin, through her personal Instagram page. “Innalillahi wainnaillahi rojiun. Hilman Hariwijaya has passed away on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at 08:02 AM WIB,” Nessa wrote. She also asked for forgiveness for any mistakes Hilman may have made during his lifetime. “Please open your hearts and forgive him as much as possible.”
As quoted by Antara News, the exact cause of Hilman’s death is still unknown. However, if we look through his social media posts, Hilman had mentioned in December 2021 that he had been hospitalized.
The Life of Hilman Hariwijaya
Hilman Hariwijaya was a writer who gained fame by creating the character Lupus through a short story in Hai magazine in 1986. Eventually, the short story was turned into a novel series. In a nutshell, Lupus is a schoolboy who always rides the city bus and chews gum. In addition to Lupus, the novel also tells the stories of Mami and Lulu, who are Lupus’ siblings. The “Lupus” series, written by Hilman and Boim Lebon, has spawned five feature films and a TV series. Apart from “Lupus,” Hilman also wrote books such as “Vanya,” “Olga,” “Lulu,” “Keluarga Hantu,” and others.
In 2015, Hilman, Boim Lebon, and Gusur Adhikarya, known as the Lupus novel writing trio, participated in a talk show at the University Club of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta. During the event, Hilman mentioned that many people thought his personality was similar to Lupus, cheerful and talkative. However, in reality, he was a shy person. “I’m sorry, but I’m a shy person,” Hilman said. During the Q&A session, a woman asked about this.
“Mr. Hilman, Lupus is known for being cheerful and talkative, but you seem a bit different. Why is that?”
Hilman replied, “Maybe it’s just Boim who has been blessed with that ability. Even writers like Dee (Dewi Lestari) are reserved individuals.” “I’m a shy person, that’s why I wanted to create an ideal character in my eyes. Lupus is someone who has many problems, but he’s cheerful. Writing allows me to create a world that is difficult for me to reach in real life,” Hilman added.
Hilman never expected that his work would truly entertain people and momentarily make them forget their life problems. “There was an incident where a child was depressed because of their parents’ constant fighting. Every time they felt sad, they would escape to the library and read Lupus books. For a moment, they could laugh and forget about their life problems. They did this every time they faced difficulties,” he answered.
