President's mother-in-law laid to rest

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's mother-in-law Hamzatoen Roefdza Kiemas died on Tuesday morning at the age of 84 after being treated in the hospital for some time.

Suffering from old age, the former freedom fighter had repeatedly been admitted to the hospital in recent months. She passed away at 6:15 a.m.

Megawati and visiting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika paid their respects early in the morning, before continuing with their schedule of visiting the Bogor Presidential Palace.

Later in the afternoon the President returned to Jakarta to attend the burial ceremony at the Kalibata Heroes cemetery.

Hundreds of noted figures in the country, especially from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), were also present at the funeral.

Almost all of the Cabinet ministers also turned out to offer condolences.

The late Hamzatoen was active within the Murba Party during the 1945-1949 independence struggle, along with other figures such as the former vice president Adam Malik.

Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas is the eldest of 10 children of the couple of Hamzatoen and Tjik Agus Kiemas, who was granted the Mahaputera medal posthumously by Megawati last year in conjunction with the country's independence anniversary.

Hamzatoen represented her husband during the medal presentation at the Presidential Palace.

The mourning period should not affect Megawati's duties as she is slated to leave for Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to attend the Organization of the Islamic Conference Summit, a presidential staffer said.