Writer Hilman Hariwijaya, creator of popular teen series Lupus, passed away this morning. He was 57 years old.
“Innalillahi wa innailaihi rojiun (We surely belong to God, and to Him we shall return). Condolences for the death of our good friend Hilman Hariwijaya, writer of teen novel Lupus and screenplay of sinetron (Indonesian soap opera) Ikatan Cinta today at 8:02am,” a message received by local news outlets read.
Hilman’s health had reportedly been in decline since the end of last year, as seen from his latest Instagram posts in late December 2021, in which he was posing with his Spider-Man figurines and his family while lying in a hospital bed.
His death has been confirmed by his ex-wife, sinetron actress Nessa Sadin, in a post with their daughters.
“Please forgive the deceased’s mistakes,” Nessa wrote in the caption.
Hilman’s best friend, fellow writer Gola Gong, said that he had suffered a light stroke in the past year. After he remarried, he got sick again.
“With a heavy heart, I’ve lost my best friend,” Gola said.
Lupus first appeared in a short story published in teen magazine Hai in 1986. He was described as a student and young reporter at the magazine who lives with his mother, Mami, and younger sister Lulu. Written by Hilman along with Gusur Adhikarya and Boim Lebon, Lupus was then developed as novels and became a cultural phenomenon in the ‘80s and well into the ‘90s.
Lupus was synonymous with chewing gum and his ‘80s mullet hair, which Lulu called a bird’s nest. The series spurred a number of spin-offs such as Lulu, as well as prequels, Lupus Kecil and Lupus ABG, which depicted the protagonist during elementary and junior high school, respectively. There were at least five movie adaptations and a sinetron of the series.
After Lupus, Hilman had published a number of novel series as well as written scripts for films and sinetrons over the years, such as Dealova (2005) and Cinta Fitri (2007).
