The first women's magazine

The first women's magazine

In a feature article on the highly distinguished Indonesian
woman reporter Mrs. Herawati Diah (The Jakarta Post, April 9,
1995, page 8), the author indicated that the country's first
women's magazine, called Duta Kita, was established in Java, in
1942, by Mrs. Herawati Diah's mother.

At the risk of appearing parochial, I would like to point out
that according to my sources of information Indonesia's first
women's magazine was Soenting Melajoe (Malay Ornament),
established in Padang, West Sumatra, in 1912.

The chief editor of the magazine was Mrs. Zubaidah Ratna
Djuita, whose father, Datuk Sutan Maharadjo, was widely known in
the later part of the 19th century as the Father of Malay
Journalism. My sources further mention that the first
Malay/Indonesian language newspaper in Sumatra, called Bintang
Oetara, was founded also in Padang in 1855.

MASLI ARMAN

Jakarta