Lolo Soetoro

Lolo Soetoro

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Lolo Soetoro

Lolo Soetoro in 1971

Born Lolo Soetoro

c. 1935

Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies

Died 2 March 1987 (aged 52)

Jakarta, Indonesia

Cause of death Liver failure

Nationality Indonesian

Alma mater University of Hawaii at Manoa

Occupation Geologist

Employer Government of Indonesia;

Mobil Oil Corporation

Religion Cultural Muslim

Spouse(s) Ann Dunham (married 1965–1980)

Erna Kustina

Children Maya Kassandra Soetoro-Ng

Yusuf Aji Soetoro

Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro

Lolo Soetoro also known as Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo[1][2] or Mangundikardjo,[3] (EYD: Lolo Sutoro) (pronounced [%CB%88l%C9%92l%C9%92 suːˈtɒrɒː]; ca. 1935[4]- 2 March 1987) was the Indonesian stepfather of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America.[5]

[edit] Biography

Born in Bandung, Soetoro was the ninth of ten children of Martodihardjo, who was from Yogyakarta.[4] 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.[6]

Soetoro earned his bachelor's degree in Geography from Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta.[4] He later obtained a scholarship to study for a master's degree at the University of Hawaii, where he met Barack Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, also a student.[7] Soetoro and Dunham married, and Soetoro returned to Indonesia when the government called home its citizens who were studying abroad. A year later,[6] Dunham and six-year-old Barack Obama followed Soetoro to Indonesia, where the family took up residence in Menteng Dalam, Jakarta.[8][9] It was apparent that during the year of separation he was conscripted to fight communist rebels.[6] In 1970 Soetoro and Dunham had a daughter, Maya.[10]

After returning to Indonesia, Soetoro first worked for the army as a geologist, then became a government relations consultant with Mobil Oil.[9][11][12] Obama describes 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.[13]

During their years in Indonesia, Ann Dunham became increasingly interested in the country's culture, while Soetoro became more Western.[7] She left Soetoro in 1972, returning to Hawaii to further study in anthropology and to be with her son, who had left Indonesia in 1971 to attend school. Soetoro visited Hawaii frequently, but he and Dunham did not live together again. They were divorced in 1980.[7]

After their divorce, Soetoro married Erna Kustina. She bore him two children, Yusuf Aji Soetoro (b. 1981) and Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro (b. 1984).[14]

Soetoro was more of a free thinker than a devout Muslim, according to friends and neighbors.[15] He died of a liver ailment in Jakarta in 1987 at age 52,[16][17] and was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta.