HIM Damsyik

HIM Damsyik was a prominent dancer and actor in Indonesia. He was born in Teluk Betung, Lampung, Dutch East Indies on 14 March 1929. His father was the director of employees of the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij, a shipping company. In the 1950s, he moved to Jakarta to further his education; at the same time he learned and competed in ballroom dance. After winning a competition, he spent four years studying at the Rellum Dancing School in the Netherlands. Upon returning to Indonesia, Damsyik began giving private dance lessons. In 1959 he was approached by Wim Umboh to do the choreography for Bertamasaya (Picnic); Damsyik ended up acting in the film as well. He appeared in almost forty films, mostly in comedic roles, until the end of the 1960s. He worked with different production houses and directors, including Wim Umboh, who gave him his last film role in Laki-Laki Tak Bernama in 1969. Damsyik became popular in 1992 after playing the antagonist Datuk Meringgih in Dedi Setiadi's serial adaptation of Marah Roesli's novel Sitti Nurbaya (1922). Although he first considered not taking the role, after the series' cancellation he continued to identify with it. On 12 July 2002 Damsyik was selected as the head of the Indonesian Dance Association, under the National Sports Committee of Indonesia. Towards the end of 2011, Damsyik fell ill and in and out of the hospital. A first diagnosis, at Puri Cinere Hospital, was for dengue. Two weeks afterwards, he was admitted to the Metropolitan Medical Centre (MMC); two weeks after his release, he was back at MMC, where he began undergoing treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome. Damsyik died at Cinere Hospital in South Jakarta at roughly 2:00 a.m. local time (UTC+7) on 3 February 2012. He was buried at Karet Bivak the same day. He left behind a large collection of film stills from the colonial period, which inspired the film producer Misbach Yusa Biran to establish Sinematek Indonesia, a film archive and museum, in 1975. Damsyik is remembered as one of the pioneers of Indonesian cinema and journalism.