Obituary: Myrna Soekasah

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's sports community lost a highly dedicated role model when Myrna Hardjolukita Soekasah passed away Saturday at 9.15 a.m. at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital due to breast cancer.

Myrna, formerly a platform diver, had suffered the illness since 1996. After being treated in Rotterdam for several months, she was taken to the hospital on Monday.

Wahyu Myrnawati was born in Jakarta on Sept. 8 1953. She served as the deputy secretary general of the National Sports Council (KONI) and the official in charge of organizational structure of the Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI).

She won the 1977 Southeast Asian Games gold medal in Kuala Lumpur, the 1970 Asian Games bronze medal in Bangkok and she reached the final in the 1973 Universiade in Moscow and competed in the 1972 Olympics in Muenchen, Germany.

KONI vice chairman Arie Sudewo, who attended the service, said: "We lost a great role model in sports. She was very concerned with sports development in the country. Even when I visited her at the hospital, she still remembered to ask about the progress of KONI's Olympic Games training program."

Myrna's husband, Rahim Soekasah, said the time of his wife's death was exactly the same as their first daughter's birth time. Besides her husband, Myrna is survived by two daughters, Indira Kartiza Putri and Insana Kartiza Putri.

As Myrna's body was buried at the Tanah Kusir cemetery in South Jakarta, Indira was still in on her way from the United States where she is studying. (yan)