Myra Sidharta (born Auw Jong Tjhoen Moy on 6 March 1927,

Belitung Belitung (Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers (including offshore islands such as Mendanau Island), and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Cen ...

) is an Indonesian writer, psychologist, and educator of Chinese descent. She specializes in

Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians (), or simply ''Orang Tionghoa'' or ''Tionghoa'', are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese Indonesians are the fourth largest community of Overseas Chinese in th ...

communities and Malay literature. In 2001, she published ''In Search of My Ancestral Home'', which followed her journey back to her grandfather's town in China.

Biography

Sidharta was born on the Indonesian island of

into a

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

Peranakan Chinese family. Her grandfather had emigrated from

Meixian, Meizhou Meixian District () is a district of Meizhou City, in northeastern Guangdong Province, China. The district is an important Hakka settlement and is the ancestral home of many Hakka descendants living in Taiwan and other countries worldwide. H ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, China in 1872 and married a local Hakka woman. He and Sidharta's father worked for a Dutch mining company in town, allowing them to send their children to the Dutch schools available to employees. Her grandfather was concerned that his children and grandchildren would lose touch with their Chinese heritage, so encouraged them to learn

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, which Sidharta excelled at. She also spoke

Hakka Chinese Hakka ( zh, c=, p=Kèjiāhuà; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '', zh, c=, p=Kèjiāyǔ; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '') forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas ...

at home. When the Japanese invaded in 1942, she finished her education at a

hogere burgerschool The ''Hogere Burgerschool'' (''HBS'') (Dutch: Higher Civic School) was a secondary school type that existed between 1863 and 1974 in the Netherlands and the Dutch Empire. These schools, with a five- or sometimes six-year program, continued in 1 ...

in Batavia. She then studied psychology at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

before returning home to study

Indonesian literature Indonesian literature is a term grouping various genres of South-East Asian literature. Indonesian literature can refer to literature produced in the List of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian archipelago. It is also used to refer more broadly ...

at the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

. She also began teaching psychology at the University of Indonesia at that time. Sidharta, who was born Auw Jong Tjhoen Moy, and other Chinese Indonesians were forced to change their names in 1966, so she adopted the name Myra Sidharta. Around this time, she began writing for publications including ''

Kompas ''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national newspaper published in Jakarta, founded on 28 June 1965. It is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is part of Kompas Gramedia Group. The paper's head office is located at the Kompas Multimedia ...

'' and ''

The Jakarta Post ''The Jakarta Post'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Indonesia. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara and based in the nation's capital, Jakarta. ''The Jakarta Post'' started as a collaboration between four Indonesian media ...

''. Sidharta speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

, Malay,

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

, and English, and is proficient in

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

and Minnan.

Personal life

Sidharta met her husband, neuroscientist Priguna Sidharta (born Sie Pek Giok), while studying in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

. They married on 31 January 1953 and had three children: Sylvia, Julie, and Amir. After his death, she donated his medical books to

Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (, abbreviated as ''Unika Atma Jaya''), also known as Atma Jaya University or Atma Jaya, is an institute of higher learning in Jakarta, Indonesia, which was founded by the Atma Jaya Foundation on 1 J ...

Selected works

;Articles * * * * * ;Books * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidharta, Myra 1927 births Living people Indonesian columnists Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian writers Indonesian women writers People from Meixian District Hakka writers Indonesian women columnists 20th-century Indonesian women journalists 20th-century Indonesian journalists 21st-century Indonesian women journalists 21st-century Indonesian journalists Leiden University alumni Academic staff of the University of Indonesia University of Indonesia alumni