Fatmawati (5 February 1923 – 14 May 1980) was the first lady of Indonesia from 1945 until 1967. She was the third wife of the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, and the mother of Indonesia's first female president, Megawati Sukarnoputri. She also made the first flag flown by Indonesia.
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Life
Fatmawati was born on 5 February 1923 in Bengkulu to Hasan Din and Chadijah. One of her ancestors was a princess of a Minangkabau kingdom, Sultanate of Inderapura. When she met Sukarno she was a teenager and he was married to a 53-year-old woman named Inggit Garnasih. Unsurprisingly, Sukarno's wife was unwilling to release her husband but, after two years, Inggit agreed to a divorce. Sukarno rationalised the need for his new wife by stating his desire to have a child to carry on his name.
In 1943, Fatmawati became the third wife of Sukarno. In 1945 she was his wife when Indonesia declared independence. The flag of the new country was sewn by Fatmawati, and the same flag was flown again every year until 1967. Although she was Sukarno's third wife, all his previous wives had been divorced in accordance with state law. Fatmawati was therefore his only wife at that time.
Polygamy
There was a growing movement to reform women's rights in Indonesia and part of this was to reform the marriage laws. Fatmawati was not initially in favour of reforming these laws until she found out about her husband's intentions to marry again. Moreover, this time Sukarno had decided that he did not want to divorce Fatmawati but intended to have two wives.