Fatmawati (5 February 1923 – 14 May 1980) is a

National Hero of Indonesia National Hero of Indonesia ( id, Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia) is the highest-level title awarded in Indonesia. It is posthumously given by the Government of Indonesia for actions which are deemed to be heroic, defined as "actual deeds which can b ...

( id, Pahlawan Nasional Indonesia). As the inaugural

First Lady of Indonesia Throughout Indonesian history, the title of First Lady ( id, Ibu Negara) or, in an instance, First Gentleman ( id, Bapak Negara) has been used to refer to the wife or husband of the president of Indonesia. While the Constitution of Indonesia does ...

, she was the third wife of the first president of Indonesia,

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

, and the mother of Indonesia's first female president,

Megawati Sukarnoputri Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth Vice President of Indonesia, vice president f ...

. She constructed the first

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

flown by Indonesia.

Life

Fatmawati was born on 5 February 1923 in

Bengkulu Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...

to Hasan Din and Chadijah. One of her ancestors was a princess of a

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see belo ...

kingdom, Sultanate of Inderapura. When she met Sukarno she was a teenager and he was married to a 53-year-old woman named Inggit. Unsurprisingly, Sukarno's wife was unwilling to release her husband but, after two years, Inggit agreed to a divorce. Sukarno rationalised the need for his new wife by stating his desire to have a child to carry on his name. Sukarno family Proklamasi 11 February 1956 p1

Sukarno family Proklamasi 11 February 1956 p1

In 1943 Fatmawati became the third wife of

. In 1945 she was his wife when Indonesia declared independence. The flag of the new country was sewn by Fatmawati, and the same flag was flown again every year until 1967. She was not his first wife, as he had married twice before. However, all his previous wives had been divorced in accordance with state law. Fatmawati was therefore his only wife at that time.

Polygamy

There was a growing movement to reform women's rights in Indonesia and part of this was to reform the marriage laws. Fatmawati was not initially in favour of reforming these laws until she found out about her husband's intentions to marry again. Moreover, this time Sukarno had decided that he did not want to divorce Fatmawati but intended to have two wives. Fatmawati objected when her husband took Hartini, his new wife, according to Muslim law. Sukarno married another woman from Java in 1953 and Fatmawati moved out of the presidential palace and lived separately in Jakarta. As part of the settlement Fatmawati was allowed to keep the title of First Lady. This development was a major blow to the growing women's movement. Fatmawati decided that she was going to divorce the President, but she could not find a religious leader who was willing to oppose the will of Sukarno. The women's organisation consoled and advised Fatmawati and they tried to encourage her to return to the palace and reestablish her rights. Sukarno himself was annoyed by this development although his new wife understood Fatmawati's anger. Sukarno's new wife bore him two additional children; however, Sukarno reacted badly when he heard that his latest wife had allowed a women's group to consider transferring the title of First Lady to her. Sukarno returned and had her thrown out of the meeting and exiled to

Bogor Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide. In 1953 Fatmawati became concerned about the plight of children with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. She founded the ''Ibu Soekarno Foundation'' to fund a hospital. The following year a hospital was opened with the assistance of government funding. This was called the ''Madam Soekarno Hospital'' and Fatmawati laid the foundation stone in 1954. The birth of the hospital was a long one. The construction of the new building was halted by financial problems and it was not until 1961 that the hospital opened. By that time the hospital was run by the Ministry of Health and it did not specialise in tuberculosis or children but was a general hospital. In 1967 the name was changed to the ''Fatmawati Central General Hospital''. Fatmawati's second child,

Megawati Soekarnoputri Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri (; born 23 January 1947) is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. She previously served as the eighth vice president from 1999 to 2001. Megawati i ...

, became president in 2001.

Death

Grave of Fatmawati, Karet Bivak Cemetery

Fatmawati died of a heart attack on 14 May 1980 in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, on her way back to

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

from an umra in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

. She is buried in

Karet Bivak Cemetery Karet Bivak is a cemetery in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the second largest in the city. Description Karet Bivak is located in Central Jakarta, Jakarta. It covers an area of , making it the second-largest cemetery in Jakarta. In 2007 it contained ...

Central Jakarta Central Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Pusat) is one of the five administrative cities () which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta. It had 902,973 inhabitants according to the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 1,056,896 at the 2 ...

Legacy

Her childhood home in Bengkulu has become a tourist attraction, and lies on Jalan Fatmawati (Fatmawati Street). The city’s airport is named Fatmawati Soekarno Airport after her. Fatmawati Central Public Hospital (RSUP Fatmawati) in

South Jakarta South Jakarta ( id, Jakarta Selatan; bew, Jakarte Beludik ), colloquially known as ''Jaksel'', is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not h ...

is named after her, as well as a major artery to the hospital (Jalan RS Fatmawati) and a rapid transit station ( Fatmawati MRT station) nearby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatmawati 1923 births 1980 deaths Minangkabau people Indonesian Muslims National Heroes of Indonesia People from Bengkulu First Ladies and Gentlemen of Indonesia Sukarno Sukarno family