Puppet master Ki Manteb Sudarsono passes away at 72

Popular wayang kulit (leather shadow puppet) master Ki Manteb Sudarsono passed away on Friday, 2 July in Karanganyar, Central Java. 

Ki Manteb's nephew Jengkung Setia Utomo told Kompas that the famous puppeteer passed away from lung disease. However, his other nephew, Ade Irawan, told The Jakarta Post that Ki Manteb died from COVID-19. 

Ade said that the puppet master died in self-isolation at his house, as the family could not find a hospital because all health facilities within reach were full.

“The antigen swab test showed that he had contracted the coronavirus. The condition was exacerbated by the lung disease he had for a while,” he added.

Ki Manteb's health started to decline after he did his last two performances on 25 and 27 June at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. He left six children and an adopted child, as well as some 60 young puppeteers-in-training under his supervision.

Ki Manteb Sudarsono was born in Sukoharjo in 1948 into a family of puppeteers and has been pursuing the art of wayang kulit since childhood. He debuted as a puppeteer at the age of 12.

He is often referred to as “dalang setan” (satan puppeteer) due to this sabetan puppetry technique, which employs agile hand movements to enliven the performance.

Ki Manteb introduced wayang kulit internationally, bringing his stage to the United States, Japan, Suriname, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Austria. 

The puppeteer received various prestigious international awards, including the 2010 Nikkei Asia Prize Award in the cultural category. Ki Manteb also accepted the honour on behalf of Indonesian puppet masters when UNESCO named wayang kulit as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible of Heritage of Humanity.