Lolo Soetoro
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Lolo Soetoro ( EYD: Lolo Sutoro; ; 2 January 1935
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English translation
Lolo studied geography at Gadjah Mada University and got a scholarship from the Indonesian Army Topographic Service. After working for the Indonesian Army Topographic Service, he worked for an American oil company, Unocal nion Oil Company
– 2 March 1987), also known as Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo or Mangundikardjo, was an Indonesian geographer who was the ex-stepfather of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, the 44th
president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
.


Early life and education

Soetoro was born on 2 January 1935 in
Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...
,
West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...
, as the ninth of ten children of Soewarno Martodihardjo (1897–1951), an employee of a mining office from
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
, and Djoeminah (born 1900). His brothers were Supoyo (1919–1955), Supomo (born 1921), Sugiyo (born 1925), Bambang Sugito (born 1927), and Soemitro Soetoro (born 1933), and his sisters were Cuk Muhsidi (born 1923), Titik Imam Sutiknyo (born 1929), Soewardinah (born 1931), and Uki Gunowiyono Soetoro. As of 2010, all of his siblings had died. Soetoro earned his
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
from
Gadjah Mada University Gadjah Mada University (; , abbreviated as UGM) is a public research university located in Sleman, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Officially founded on 19 December 1949, Gadjah Mada University is one of the oldest and largest institut ...
, in
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
. In 1962, Soetoro, then a civilian employee of the
Indonesian Army The Indonesian Army ( (TNI-AD), ) is the army, land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,400 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its roots in 1945 when the (TKR) "People's Se ...
Topographic Service, obtained an
East–West Center The East–West Center (EWC), or the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peop ...
grant for graduate study in geography at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
. He arrived in
Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
in September 1962 and graduated from the university with a M.A. in geography in June 1964.


Marriage to Ann Dunham

Soetoro met the divorced Ann Dunham at the East-West Center while both were students at the University of Hawaii,
At UH, she fell in love with a Javanese candidate for a master's degree in geography named Soetoro Martodihardjo, who went by the Javanese nickname, "Lolo" Soetoro. They married in 1965 ...
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," lice G.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.
and married on 15 March 1965. Soetoro, a
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
,Obama (1995, 2004), p. 43: He was working for the army as a geologist ic surveying roads and tunnels, when she arrived. It was mind-numbing work that didn't pay very much … returned to Indonesia in 1966 to help map
Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region ...


for the Indonesian government, while Dunham and her son Barack Obama moved into her parents' house in Honolulu to complete her studies.

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."
Dunham and her six-year-old son joined Soetoro in
Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
in 1967.
Obama and his mother moved from Honolulu to Jakarta to join Soetoro in 1967, when Obama was 6.
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 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 South Jakarta (; ), abbreviated as Jaksel, is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not have a city council, hence it is not classified as a ...



and owned a new Japanese motorcycle. Dunham worked as assistant director of the Indonesia-America Friendship Institute while Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School. In 1970, with a new job in government relations on 2007-02-01 by ''The Muslim Observer'' at Union Oil Company, Soetoro moved his family two miles north to a rented house, with a car replacing their motorcycle. Dunham 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 Besuki School. On 15 August 1970, Soetoro and Dunham had a daughter, Maya Kasandra Soetoro. In mid-1971, Obama moved back to Hawaii to attend Punahou School. In August 1972, Dunham rejoined Obama with her daughter and began graduate study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.Dunham (2009), pp. xli–xliv: "January 8, 1976 letter from Ann Dunham Soetoro (Jl. Polowijan 3, Kraton, Yogyakarta) to Prof. Alice G. Dewey (Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu)." She gained an M.A. in anthropology in December 1974 and returned with her daughter to Jakarta in 1975 while Obama remained in Hawaii. In 1976, Dunham and her daughter lived for half a year with Soetoro's 76-year-old mother. Dunham became increasingly interested in
Indonesian culture The culture of Indonesia () has been shaped by the interplay of indigenous customs and diverse foreign influences. As the world’s largest archipelagic country, it is home to over Ethnic groups in Indonesia, 600 ethnic groups, including Austr ...
while Soetoro became more interested in that of the West, and their relationship was in conflict over differing values. They divorced on 6 November 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 Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
that could make room for the remnants of more ancient
animist Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in ...
and
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
faiths." In a 2007 article, ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' 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, son Bayu Yusuf Aji Soetoro (born 1981), and daughter Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro (born 1984). He also had an adoptive daughter, Holiah Soetoro (1957–2010). Soetoro died at Pertamina Central Hospital in
Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
, on 2 March 1987 (some source reported the year as 1993), due to
liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...
and secondary to unreported causes at the time of this note, at the age of 52 and was buried at Tanah Kusir Cemetery.


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soetoro, Lolo 1935 births 1987 deaths 20th-century geographers 20th-century Indonesian businesspeople Deaths from liver failure Gadjah Mada University alumni Indonesian Muslims Javanese people Obama family People from Bandung University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni