Mien takes life's twists and turns in stride<\/p>\n
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
When Minarshi (Mien) Soedarpo wakes up on her birthday this
\nSunday morning, her first thoughts will probably be about her
\nlate mother, whose spiritual and morale strength have guided Mien
\nthroughout her life.<\/p>\n
Mien's two books titled Reminiscences of The Past were written
\nas an homage to her beloved mother, Sjarifa Nawawi.<\/p>\n
As a young woman aged 20, Sjarifa -- a Dutch-educated
\nMinangkabau of West Sumatra whose father had been bestowed the
\ntitle of Ridder van Oranje (Knight of Orange) -- married Mien's
\nfather, R.M.A.A. Wiranatakoesoema, the regent of Bandoeng
\n(Bandung) at the time. Seven years later she was divorced and
\nleft with three children, devoting her life to doing the best for
\nthem and never remarrying.<\/p>\n
Mien praised her mother as a remarkable woman, a religious
\nperson with a strong sense of justice. She bore her sorrows with
\ndignity and without malice. Her dedication and virtuous bearing
\nmade a lifelong impression on Mien, whose humanitarian commitment
\nand religious integrity is known to all who have met her.<\/p>\n
It is therefore not surprising that turning points that
\nchanged her life have not been shattering, though they were
\nstirring and changed the direction of her \"becoming\".<\/p>\n
After her grandmother died, Mien's mother accepted the
\nposition of headmistress of a girls school in Batavia (present
\nday Jakarta). The move from Bukittinggi in West Sumatra to the
\ncapital was a major change, but it was World War II and the
\nJapanese invasion that caused a total turn in the direction of
\nher life.<\/p>\n
Like many of the Indonesian aristocracy, Mien's life had been
\nsheltered within a Western-oriented circle. She had gone to a
\nDutch school, had Dutch friends, spoke Dutch and even thought in
\nthat language. With the Japanese occupation, Dutch became a
\nforbidden language, Japanese learning was introduced, and the
\nsarong and kebaya (traditional blouse) became the dress code.<\/p>\n
Increasingly, Mien became interested in knowing her culture.
\nThe cause for a free Indonesia took her attention. As a student
\nof pharmacology she became drawn into the struggle for
\nrecognition of the Republic of Indonesia, and it became stronger
\nafter she became close to Soedarpo Sosrosatomo, a freedom
\nfighter.<\/p>\n
She had met him at the Ministry of Information, which
\npublished a Dutch-language weekly called Het Inzicht (Insights),
\nwhere she was responsible for coordinating the collection of
\narticles, layouts and the corrections. The magazine was the
\ncounter of Het Uitzicht (Outlook) published by the Dutch
\nInformation Center. She became caught up in the maelstrom of
\nevents that put an end to the established colonial order.<\/p>\n
Of course, she married Soedarpo, despite their completely
\ndifferent backgrounds; she of Western-oriented Sundanese-
\nMinangkabau origin, he a Javanese whose parents' house had always
\nbeen filled with people of the movement.<\/p>\n
The independence revolution brought them together, she stated
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
\"I would otherwise never have married him. Our social circles
\nwere so widely different, we would never have met.\"<\/p>\n
This was the second most important turning point in her life,
\nwhich changed drastically with her marriage, and there were some
\ndifficulties.<\/p>\n
As a newly married woman, for instance, she had expected to
\nspend a lot of time with him. He, however, continued in his old
\nways of spending night and day with the foreign media, sometimes
\neven forgetting to come home, Mien recollected.<\/p>\n
Sudden changes were the worst, like getting a note about her
\nhusband's departure to join the Indonesian delegation at the
\nSecurity Council in New York. Her baby was not even 40 days old;
\nshe was nursing the child, but because of the shock, the flow of
\nmilk stopped immediately. She wondered what fate awaited them,
\nremembering the trauma of her mother's marriage and divorce.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, in many other situations, thinking of her
\nmother gave her strength and the words she uttered were a
\nreminder that things would turn out OK.<\/p>\n
Her mother used to say, \"A great love can never reach
\nperfection unless it has survived all perils\".<\/p>\n
It helped her overcome every possible challenge, whether it
\nwas as a diplomat's wife who had to do without servants and
\nsubsist on a meager salary in a foreign land, or the emotional
\ntrial of her husband's arrest.<\/p>\n
She stood by her man in good times and in bad. Mien was for
\nSoedarpo the support that spurred him to high levels of
\ncreativity. Patient and undemanding, she was forever supportive.
\nHe says it was her trust and generosity that helped them overcome
\ntheir ethnic and social differences, giving him the freedom to do
\nwhat he thought best in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n
\"I have to acknowledge her contribution to the progress of my
\nlife,\" her husband said in his biography Against the Stream that
\ndescribes his rise to success.<\/p>\n
Broadminded, deeply religious, with a genuine interest in
\npeople, Mien Soedarpo stands as an example of a woman whose
\nunconditional love and warm personality have been inspiring in
\nthe acts that led her husband to be of service to his country. To
\nher friends, she has been and is a friend indeed.<\/p>\n
Her 80th birthday today certainly deserves a special
\ncelebration. No doubt, she will be feted by her three daughters
\nwith their families and her numerous friends from various
\nbackgrounds, religions, ethnicities and nationalities. But for
\nMien what comes first is a special prayer of thanks for all she
\nhas had in a fulfilling life -- and a loving prayer for her
\nbeloved mother.<\/p>",
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