Wahid Satay

Abdul Wahid bin Ahmad (1 January 1930 – 22 May 2023), also known as Wahid Satay, A. Wahid or S. M. Wahid, was a Singaporean actor, comedian and singer. Early life and education Wahid was born in Indragiri, Riau, Sumatra, in the Dutch East Indies. and migrated to Singapore in 1935. He received his early education at the Geylang Malay School. Career Prior to his acting career, he took painting, which was his hobby since his school days. Because of the quality of his paintings, Wahid was offered a job as a studio set painter at the Cathay Keris Studios at East Coast Road at the end of 1956. In 1957, director B.N. Rao needed a young comedian to be given a role in the film Pontianak. Rao noted that Wahid was always telling jokes to his co-workers and always making everyone on the set laugh, and thus decided to include him in Pontianak as a comedic role. The role given to Wahid is the part of a satay seller (hence the stage name 'Wahid Satay', given by Cathay Keris Studios owner Loke Wan Tho) in a village where the people are afraid of Pontianak. Wahid so effectively acted the part of the satay seller that the scene became one of the most memorable scenes of the film Pontianak. The movie Pontianak created its own history when it broke Malay movie theatre records, with total takings of more than one million dollars, the highest amount then in 1957.