Siti Sukaptinah Sunaryo Mangunpuspito

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Siti Sukaptinah Sunaryo Mangunpuspito (28 December 1907 – 31 August 1991) was an Indonesian women’s rights activist and politician. She was one of only two women on the BPUPK, the body formed by the Japanese to prepare Indonesia for independence, and later served in the Indonesian parliament.

She was born in Yogyakarta, where her father worked at the sultan’s palace. From an early age she opposed arranged marriages and believed women should choose their own partners.

Siti's education included Dutch schools from 1916 to 1924, then a Dutch higher primary school. She joined the Jong Java youth group, which began her political career. She studied at a Taman Siswa school until 1926 and worked as a teacher after graduating. In 1926 she left Jong Java and joined Pemuda Indonesia (Indonesian Youth).

In 1928 she attended the first Indonesian Women’s Congress, serving as secretary and representing a Yogyakarta women’s Islamic group. She wrote a song that was sung at the congress. The congress established the Indonesian Women’s Association, and Siti became its first secretary. In 1932 a group of organizations formed Indonesian Wives (Isteri Indonesia) and she became chair.

From 1934 to 1938 she was a member of the Budi Utomo political organization. At the 1938 Bandung Indonesian Women’s Congress she proposed Mother’s Day, which was accepted and first celebrated on 22 December 1938. That year she was also appointed to the Semarang City Council, representing the Parindra Party. In 1940 she chaired the board for the fourth Indonesian Women’s Congress in Semarang, again for Parindra.

Because of her activism, in 1942 she was summoned by the Visman Commission to share nationalist views on governance. She told them she wanted Indonesia to have a parliament. When the Japanese invaded, she moved to Semarang and joined occupation-era organizations, heading the women’s sections of Putera (1943–1944) and Jawa Hokokai (1944–1945).

In 1945 she became one of only two women on the 62-member BPUPK, the committee set up to prepare for independence. She discussed nation-building and suggested that an independent Indonesia use a government form similar to the Japanese system but with a head of state.

After Indonesia proclaimed independence in August 1945, Siti joined the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), an advisory and later legislative body. She later served on the KNIP Working Committee, representing the Masyumi Party, which she joined in 1946. From 1947 to 1949 she chaired the Indonesian Women’s Congress (KOWANI). After the Dutch recognition of independence, she served in Indonesia’s provisional parliament from 1950 to 1956, and then in the legislature for another 12 years. She retired in 1968, saying she was too old and wanted to make room for younger people.

Her work was honored with a gold chain in 1978 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Indonesian Women’s Congress, and she was honored by President Suharto on the 45th Mother’s Day.

In her later years she lived quietly with her youngest daughter in Yogyakarta and died there in 1991. She had married Soenaryo Mangunpuspito in 1929; he was also in Jong Java. They had five children, and he died in 1964.