Lolo Soetoro
Encyclopedia
Lolo Soetoro, also known as Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo or Mangundikardjo, (EYD
: Lolo Sutoro) was the Indonesia
n stepfather of Barack Obama
, the 44th President of the United States of America
.
, West Java
, Soetoro was the ninth of ten children of Martodihardjo, who was from Yogyakarta
. Soetoro's father and eldest brother were killed during the Indonesian National Revolution
, when Indonesia won independence from the Dutch, and the Dutch army burned the family's home. Soetoro fled with his mother to the countryside.
Soetoro earned his bachelor's degree
in geography
from Gadjah Mada University
, Yogyakarta. In 1962, Soetoro, then a civilian employee of the Indonesian Army Topographic Service, obtained an East-West Center
grant for graduate study in geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
. He arrived in Honolulu in September 1962 and graduated from the university with a M.A.
in geography in June 1964.
, with her infant son Barack from September 1961 to June 1962 while taking classes at the University of Washington
, Ann Dunham
returned to Honolulu and resumed her undergraduate education at the University of Hawaii in January 1963. In January 1964 she filed for divorce from her estranged husband, Barack Obama Sr., who had left Hawaii in June 1962 to pursue graduate study at Harvard University
.
Soetoro and Dunham met at the East-West Center while both were students at the University of Hawaii.The Dutch had ceded Western New Guinea to Indonesia, and geographer Lolo Soetoro returned to map the new divide between Eastern Guinea, which was under British/Australian control, and the Western portion.
In the early 1970s … "He got a job with Union Oil," Dewey said. "Lolo joked that they got divorced because she was falling in love with Javanese handcrafts and he was becoming an American oil man, which wasn't far from the truth." Soetoro and Dunham married in Hawaii in 1965. Soetoro, a geographer
, returned to Indonesia in 1966, to help map Western New Guinea for the Indonesian government, while Dunham and her son moved into her parents' house in Honolulu to complete her studies at the University of Hawaii; she earned a B.A.
in anthropology
in 1967.
reprinted by:
Dunham (2009), p. 376: "S. Ann Dunham (1942–95), mother of President Barack Obama and Maya Soetoro-ng, earned her undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, all in anthropology, from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa." Her son attended kindergarten from 1966 to 1967 at Noelani Elementary School
in Honolulu.
In 1967, Dunham and her six-year-old son moved to Jakarta
to rejoin Soetoro.In their first neighborhood ... Soetoro usually was too busy working, first for the Indonesian army and later for a Western oil company.
Zulfan Adi, a former neighborhood playmate of Obama's who has been cited in news reports as saying Obama regularly attended Friday prayers with Soetoro, told the Tribune he was not certain about that when pressed about his recollections. He only knew Obama for a few months, during 1970, when his family moved to the neighborhood.
In late 1970, Obama's family moved to another neighborhood, and Obama enrolled in Public Elementary School Menteng No. 1 ... The reunited family initially lived in a new modest stucco and red tile house at 16 Kyai Haji Ramli Tengah Street in a newly-built neighborhood in the Menteng Dalam administrative village of the Tebet subdistrict
in South Jakarta
for two and a half years,
and owned a new Japanese motorcycle. From January 1968 to December 1969, Dunham taught English and was an assistant director of the Lembaga Persahabatan Indonesia Amerika (LIA)–the Indonesia-America Friendship Institute–which was subsidized by U.S. government. Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School around the corner from their house for 1st, 2nd, and part of 3rd grade.
In 1970, with his financial situation improved by a new job in government relations at Union Oil Company
, Soetoro moved his family two miles north to a rented house at 22 Taman Amir Hamzah Street in the Matraman Dalam neighborhood in the Pegangsaan administrative village of the Menteng
subdistrict in Central Jakarta
, with a car replacing their motorcycle. From January 1970 to August 1972, Dunham taught English and was a department head and a director of the Lembaga Pendidikan dan Pengembangan Manajemen (LPPM)–the Institute of Management Education and Development. Obama attended the Indonesian-language government-run Besuki School one and half miles east in the exclusive Menteng administrative village of the Menteng subdistrict for part of 3rd grade and for 4th grade.
In mid-1970, between 3rd and 4th grades at the Besuki School, Obama spent the summer in Hawaii with his grandparents, Stanley
and Madelyn Dunham
, and interviewed for admission to the Punahou School
in Honolulu. On August 15, 1970, Soetoro and Dunham had a daughter, Maya Kassandra Soetoro
.
In mid-1971, Obama moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend Punahou School starting in 5th grade. A year later, in August 1972, Dunham, with the help of her employer (LPPM), obtained an Asia Foundation
grant to begin graduate study in anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She and her daughter moved back to Hawaii where they rejoined Obama.
Dunham completed her coursework at the University of Hawaii for a M.A. in anthropology in December 1974, and after three years in Hawaii, returned with her daughter to Jakarta in 1975 to complete her contract with LPPM and do anthropological field work. Obama chose to stay with his grandparents in Hawaii to continue attending Punahou School for high school. In 1976, Dunham and her daughter moved to Yogyakarta
, living for half a year with Soetoro's 76-year-old mother.
During their years in Indonesia, Dunham became increasingly interested in the country's culture, while Soetoro became more interested in Western culture, and their relationship was in conflict over differing values. They divorced in 1980.
In his 1995 memoir Dreams from My Father
, Obama described Soetoro as well-mannered, even-tempered, and easy with people; he wrote of the struggles he felt Soetoro had to deal with after his return to Indonesia from Hawaii. He described his stepfather as following "a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths." In a 2007 article, Chicago Tribune
foreign correspondent Kim Barker reported that Soetoro "was much more of a free spirit than a devout Muslim, according to former friends and neighbors."
Soetoro died, age 52, on March 2, 1987 of liver failure, and was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta
.
Perfected Spelling System
The Perfected Spelling System is the latest Indonesian spelling system which was released in 1972 to replace the Soewandi Spelling System.-Soewandi to EYD letter changes:-Foreign Loan Letters:...
: Lolo Sutoro) was the Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n stepfather of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, the 44th President of the United States of America
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
Early life and education
Born in BandungBandung
Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's third largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area in Indonesia, with a population of 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 metres above sea level, approximately 140 km southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler...
, West Java
West Java
West Java , with a population of over 43 million, is the most populous and most densely populated province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, it is slightly smaller in area than densely populated Taiwan, but with nearly double the population...
, Soetoro was the ninth of ten children of Martodihardjo, who was from Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...
. Soetoro's father and eldest brother were killed during the Indonesian National Revolution
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...
, when Indonesia won independence from the Dutch, and the Dutch army burned the family's home. Soetoro fled with his mother to the countryside.
Soetoro earned his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
from Gadjah Mada University
Gadjah Mada University
The Gadjah Mada University is the largest and the oldest national university in Indonesia . founded on December 19, 1949; although the first lecture was given on 13 March 1946. The name was taken from the name of Majapahit's Prime Minister, Gajah Mada.UGM is located in Yogyakarta, Daerah Istimewa...
, Yogyakarta. In 1962, Soetoro, then a civilian employee of the Indonesian Army Topographic Service, obtained an East-West Center
East-West Center
The East–West Center , headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific and the United States....
grant for graduate study in geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
. He arrived in Honolulu in September 1962 and graduated from the university with a M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in geography in June 1964.
Marriage to Ann Dunham
After living in Seattle, WashingtonSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, with her infant son Barack from September 1961 to June 1962 while taking classes at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Ann Dunham
Ann Dunham
Stanley Ann Dunham , the mother of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, was an American anthropologist who specialized in economic anthropology and rural development. Dunham was nicknamed Anna, later known as Dr. Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, and finally Ann Dunham Sutoro...
returned to Honolulu and resumed her undergraduate education at the University of Hawaii in January 1963. In January 1964 she filed for divorce from her estranged husband, Barack Obama Sr., who had left Hawaii in June 1962 to pursue graduate study at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Soetoro and Dunham met at the East-West Center while both were students at the University of Hawaii.The Dutch had ceded Western New Guinea to Indonesia, and geographer Lolo Soetoro returned to map the new divide between Eastern Guinea, which was under British/Australian control, and the Western portion.
In the early 1970s … "He got a job with Union Oil," Dewey said. "Lolo joked that they got divorced because she was falling in love with Javanese handcrafts and he was becoming an American oil man, which wasn't far from the truth." Soetoro and Dunham married in Hawaii in 1965. Soetoro, a geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
, returned to Indonesia in 1966, to help map Western New Guinea for the Indonesian government, while Dunham and her son moved into her parents' house in Honolulu to complete her studies at the University of Hawaii; she earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
in 1967.
reprinted by:
Dunham (2009), p. 376: "S. Ann Dunham (1942–95), mother of President Barack Obama and Maya Soetoro-ng, earned her undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, all in anthropology, from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa." Her son attended kindergarten from 1966 to 1967 at Noelani Elementary School
Noelani Elementary School
Noelani Elementary School is a public elementary school located in Honolulu, Hawaii.-Basic information:Noelani is nestled in Mānoa Valley, a very old and established community. The school's address is 2655 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. The school has grown from a one building school in...
in Honolulu.
In 1967, Dunham and her six-year-old son moved to Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
to rejoin Soetoro.In their first neighborhood ... Soetoro usually was too busy working, first for the Indonesian army and later for a Western oil company.
Zulfan Adi, a former neighborhood playmate of Obama's who has been cited in news reports as saying Obama regularly attended Friday prayers with Soetoro, told the Tribune he was not certain about that when pressed about his recollections. He only knew Obama for a few months, during 1970, when his family moved to the neighborhood.
In late 1970, Obama's family moved to another neighborhood, and Obama enrolled in Public Elementary School Menteng No. 1 ... The reunited family initially lived in a new modest stucco and red tile house at 16 Kyai Haji Ramli Tengah Street in a newly-built neighborhood in the Menteng Dalam administrative village of the Tebet subdistrict
Subdistricts of Jakarta
The province of Jakarta in Indonesia is divided into 5 kota or municipalities and one kabupaten or regency, which in turn are divided administratively into districts, known as kecamatan....
in South Jakarta
South Jakarta
South Jakarta is a city within Jakarta Special District, Indonesia. It had a population of 2,057,080 at the 2010 Census, and is the third most populous among the five cities of Jakarta, after East Jakarta and West Jakarta...
for two and a half years,
and owned a new Japanese motorcycle. From January 1968 to December 1969, Dunham taught English and was an assistant director of the Lembaga Persahabatan Indonesia Amerika (LIA)–the Indonesia-America Friendship Institute–which was subsidized by U.S. government. Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School around the corner from their house for 1st, 2nd, and part of 3rd grade.
In 1970, with his financial situation improved by a new job in government relations at Union Oil Company
Unocal Corporation
Union Oil Company of California, dba Unocal is a defunct company that was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headquartered in El Segundo, California, United States.On August 10, 2005, Unocal merged...
, Soetoro moved his family two miles north to a rented house at 22 Taman Amir Hamzah Street in the Matraman Dalam neighborhood in the Pegangsaan administrative village of the Menteng
Menteng
Menteng is a subdistrict of Central Jakarta, one of the administrative city which forms the special capital territory of Jakarta, Indonesia.The subdistrict is best known as the location of the Menteng residential area, a new urban design developed in the 1910s to become a residential area for Dutch...
subdistrict in Central Jakarta
Central Jakarta
Central Jakarta is one of the five cities which form Jakarta, Indonesia. It had 898,883 inhabitants at the 2010 Census.Central Jakarta is the smallest in area and population of the five cities of Jakarta. It is the administrative and political center of Jakarta and Indonesia...
, with a car replacing their motorcycle. From January 1970 to August 1972, Dunham taught English and was a department head and a director of the Lembaga Pendidikan dan Pengembangan Manajemen (LPPM)–the Institute of Management Education and Development. Obama attended the Indonesian-language government-run Besuki School one and half miles east in the exclusive Menteng administrative village of the Menteng subdistrict for part of 3rd grade and for 4th grade.
In mid-1970, between 3rd and 4th grades at the Besuki School, Obama spent the summer in Hawaii with his grandparents, Stanley
Stanley Armour Dunham
Stanley Armour Dunham was the maternal grandfather of U.S. President Barack Obama. He and his wife Madelyn Payne Dunham raised Obama from the age of 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii.-Early life:...
and Madelyn Dunham
Madelyn Dunham
Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham was the American maternal grandmother of Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States of America...
, and interviewed for admission to the Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
in Honolulu. On August 15, 1970, Soetoro and Dunham had a daughter, Maya Kassandra Soetoro
Maya Soetoro-Ng
Maya Kassandra Soetoro-Ng is the maternal half-sister of Barack Obama, the 44th and current President of the United States. She was previously a high school history teacher and university instructor in Hawaii.-Early life:...
.
In mid-1971, Obama moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend Punahou School starting in 5th grade. A year later, in August 1972, Dunham, with the help of her employer (LPPM), obtained an Asia Foundation
Asia Foundation
The Asia Foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization professing a commitment to "development of a peaceful, prosperous, just, and open Asia-Pacific region." The Foundation supports Asian initiatives to improve governance, law, and civil society; women’s empowerment; economic reform...
grant to begin graduate study in anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She and her daughter moved back to Hawaii where they rejoined Obama.
Dunham completed her coursework at the University of Hawaii for a M.A. in anthropology in December 1974, and after three years in Hawaii, returned with her daughter to Jakarta in 1975 to complete her contract with LPPM and do anthropological field work. Obama chose to stay with his grandparents in Hawaii to continue attending Punahou School for high school. In 1976, Dunham and her daughter moved to Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to...
, living for half a year with Soetoro's 76-year-old mother.
During their years in Indonesia, Dunham became increasingly interested in the country's culture, while Soetoro became more interested in Western culture, and their relationship was in conflict over differing values. They divorced in 1980.
In his 1995 memoir Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by United States President Barack Obama. It was first published in July 1995 as he was preparing to launch his political career, five years after being elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in...
, Obama described Soetoro as well-mannered, even-tempered, and easy with people; he wrote of the struggles he felt Soetoro had to deal with after his return to Indonesia from Hawaii. He described his stepfather as following "a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths." In a 2007 article, Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
foreign correspondent Kim Barker reported that Soetoro "was much more of a free spirit than a devout Muslim, according to former friends and neighbors."
Later life
Soetoro married Erna Kustina in 1980 and had two children, a son, Yusuf Aji Soetoro (born 1981) and daughter, Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro (born 1987).Soetoro died, age 52, on March 2, 1987 of liver failure, and was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta
South Jakarta
South Jakarta is a city within Jakarta Special District, Indonesia. It had a population of 2,057,080 at the 2010 Census, and is the third most populous among the five cities of Jakarta, after East Jakarta and West Jakarta...
.