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Indonesian geographer and stepfather of Barack Obama (1935–1987) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lolo Soetoro (EYD: Lolo Sutoro; Javanese pronunciation: [ˈlɒlɒ suːˈtɒrɒː]; 2 January 1935[1] – 2 March 1987), also known as Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo[2][3] or Mangundikardjo,[4] was an Indonesian geographer who was the ex-stepfather of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States.[5]
Lolo Soetoro | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 2 March 1987 52) Jakarta, Indonesia | (aged
Education | Gadjah Mada University (BA) University of Hawaii, Manoa (MA) |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 (including Maya Soetoro-Ng) |
Relatives | Barack Obama (former stepson) |
Soetoro was born in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), the ninth of ten children of Soewarno Martodihardjo, an employee of a mining office from Yogyakarta.[1] Soetoro earned his bachelor's degree in geography from Gadjah Mada University, in Yogyakarta.[1] 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.[6] He arrived in Honolulu in September 1962 and graduated from the university with a M.A. in geography in June 1964.[7]
Soetoro met the divorced Ann Dunham at the East-West Center while both were students at the University of Hawaii,[8][9][10] and married on 15 March 1965.[10][11] Soetoro, a geographer,[10][12] returned to Indonesia in 1966[13] to help map Western New Guinea[14] for the Indonesian government, while Dunham and her son Barack Obama moved into her parents' house in Honolulu to complete her studies.[15][16]
Dunham and her six-year-old son joined Soetoro in Jakarta in 1967.[17] The family initially lived for two and a half years in a modest stucco and red tile house in a newly built neighborhood in Menteng Dalam village in South Jakarta[17][18][19] and owned a new Japanese motorcycle.[20] Dunham worked as assistant director of the Indonesia-America Friendship Institute[21] while Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School.[17][18][19]
In 1970, with a new job in government relations[22] at Union Oil Company,[1][14][10] Soetoro moved his family two miles north to a rented house,[17][19] with a car replacing their motorcycle.[23] Dunham was a department head and a director of the Lembaga Pendidikan dan Pengembangan Manajemen (LPPM)–the Institute of Management Education and Development.[21] Obama attended the Indonesian-language Besuki School.[17][18][19]
On 15 August 1970, Soetoro and Dunham had a daughter, Maya Kasandra Soetoro.[24][25]
In mid-1971, Obama moved back to Hawaii to attend Punahou School.[26] In August 1972, Dunham rejoined Obama with her daughter and began graduate study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.[21][27] She gained an M.A. in anthropology in December 1974[16] and returned with her daughter to Jakarta in 1975[21][27] while Obama remained in Hawaii.[28] In 1976, Dunham and her daughter lived for half a year with Soetoro's 76-year-old mother.[27]
Dunham became increasingly interested in Indonesian culture while Soetoro became more interested in that of the West,[8] and their relationship was in conflict over differing values.[29] They divorced on 6 November 1980.[8]
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.[30] He described his stepfather as following "a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths."[31][32] 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."[17]
Soetoro married Erna Kustina in 1980 and had two children, son Yusuf Aji Soetoro (born 1981), and daughter Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro (born 1984).[33]
Soetoro died, age 52, on 2 March 1987, of liver failure,[24][31] and was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta.
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