Ibu Tien passes away

Ibu Tien passes away

JAKARTA (JP): First Lady Mrs. Siti Fatimah Hartinah Soeharto,
popularly known as Ibu Tien, died of a heart attack at the Army
Gatot Subroto Hospital at dawn yesterday. She was 72.

Her sudden death was announced by the State Secretariat in a
short statement broadcast on television nationwide.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher also gave the news
before a congregation of Moslems ahead of the Idul Adha (Day of
Sacrifice) prayers at the State Istiqlal Grand Mosque.

"President Soeharto informed me that she died in Gatot
Soebroto Hospital at 5:10 a.m. The President cannot say the Idul
Adha prayers here today with us," he said.

The television announcement also called for seven days of
national mourning and the hoisting of the red-and-white flag to
half mast during that period.

According to officials, Mrs. Tien died about an hour after she
was admitted to the hospital after complaining of breathing
difficulties. President Soeharto and all but two of her six
children were present at her bedside.

The two missing daughters, Titik Prabowo and Siti Hardiyanti
Rukmana were both abroad. They were on their way home yesterday.

Upon hearing the news, thousands of people joined government
officials and foreign diplomats to stream to the President's
residence on Jl. Cendana No. 8 to pay their last respects.

Chief of the Indonesian Ulema Council Hasan Basri led the
prayers in the packed house with Vice President Try Sutrisno and
other dignitaries on hand.

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, former chief of the
Provisional People's Consultative Assembly Gen. (ret.) A.H.
Nasution and daughter of former President Sukarno, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, also paid their tributes.

At 1:30 p.m. the solemn sound of a trumpet began the honors,
as a coffin draped in the red and white flag and jasmine banquets
were carried by pallbearers.

Vice-President Try Sutrisno delivered a short eulogy.

"Farewell First Lady, a fighter, Ibu Tien, an exemplary
Indonesian woman. Our prayers are with you... You have
contributed so much to our society and our nation... We bid you
farewell with an open, strong heart... to your eternal place of
rest."

The green army hearse carrying the coffin moved down the road
slowly, with President Soeharto in a car behind it, surrounded by
security officers.

The main streets turned into a sea of mourners as the convoy
proceeded to Halim Perdana Kusumah airport in East Jakarta from
whence it was flown to her hometown of Surakarta (Solo).

She was laid in state at her residence in the ancient city
before burial in a family cemetery in Giribangun village in a
state ceremony today.

In a message conveyed to the public by Minister/State
Secretary Moerdiono, President Soeharto thanked the people for
their sympathy and asked them to forgive her for any mistakes.

The daughter of a district officer descended from Javanese
royalty of Surakarta, she was born on Aug. 23, 1923. Mrs. Tien is
survived by six children and several grandchildren.

American writer O.G. Roeder, in President Soeharto's biography
The Smiling General, describes Mrs. Tien as the President's most
trusted person.

"The only ones who initially supported me crushing the G-
30S/PKI plotters in 1965 were my wife and children," President
Soeharto said in the book.

Mrs. Tien was well-known as a social activist. Like many other
middle-class women during the Dutch colonial period she was a
member of the Girl Scout Movement. She was an employee of
Surakarta Cultural Center in 1944 and an activist of the
Indonesian Women Youth Movement in 1945.

She and then Lt. Col. Soeharto married in Surakarta in 1947
during a brief lull in the armed revolution, a few days before
Soeharto had to rejoin his battalion in Yogyakarta.

A recipient of several medals of honor, including the highest,
the Mahaputra, she was the founder of the famous Beautiful
Indonesia in Miniature Park and numerous charity organizations
such as the Harapan Kita hospital and the Gotong Royong
Humanitarian Funds.

One of the preoccupations of Mrs. Tien, known as an admirer of
local heroes such as R.A. Kartini, Dewi Sartika and Tjoet Nya
Dien, was promoting the role of Indonesian women in development.

Minister Tarmizi said when he met her on Friday to discuss a
plan to build a museum at the Indonesian Miniature Park, he did
not notice anything to suggest she had any health problem.

"She looked perfectly healthy," he told journalists. She was
also seen visiting the Fruit Garden in Cileungsi, West Java, with
her grandchildren on Saturday.

Moerdiono said a number of friendly countries had sent their
condolences.

Singaporean President Ong Teng Cheong and Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhamad and Brunei
ruler Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah are among the foreign government
leaders expected to attend the funeral in Surakarta, officials
said. (riz/anr/pan)

Editorial -- Page 4