Lolo Soetoro was an Indonesian geographer who was the stepfather of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He married Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, in 1965 and had a daughter, Maya Soetoro-Ng, with her. He also raised Obama as his own son for several years in Jakarta, Indonesia. But how did he die and what was his cause of death?
Contents
Lolo Soetoro’s Early Life and Education
Lolo Soetoro was born on January 2, 1935, in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), the ninth of 10 children of Soewarno Martodihardjo, an employee of a mining office from Yogyakarta. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geography from Gadjah Mada University, in Yogyakarta. In 1962, he obtained an East–West Center grant for graduate study in geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He arrived in Honolulu in September 1962 and graduated with a M.A. in geography in June 1964.
Lolo Soetoro’s Marriage to Ann Dunham and Family Life
Lolo Soetoro met Ann Dunham at the East-West Center while both were students at the University of Hawaii. They married on March 15, 1965. Soetoro returned to Indonesia in 1966 to work as a civilian employee of the Indonesian Army Topographic Service, while Dunham and her son Barack Obama moved into her parents’ house in Honolulu to complete her studies. Dunham and her six-year-old son joined Soetoro in Jakarta in 1967. The family initially lived in a modest house in Menteng Dalam village in South Jakarta 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 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 August 15, 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.
Lolo Soetoro’s Divorce from Ann Dunham and Second Marriage
Lolo Soetoro and Ann Dunham divorced on November 5, 1980. Soetoro married Erna Kustina in 1980 and had two children with her: a son named Yusuf Aji Soetoro (born 1981), and a daughter named Rahayu Nurmaida Soetoro (born 1984).
Lolo Soetoro’s Death and Burial
Lolo Soetoro died of liver failure on March 2, 1987, at the age of 52, according to Wikipedia. He was buried in Tanah Kusir Cemetery, South Jakarta.
Lolo Soetoro’s Legacy and Influence on Barack Obama
Lolo Soetoro was a significant figure in Barack Obama’s life, as he exposed him to a different culture and worldview than his American upbringing. Obama described him as “a man who had left behind any respect for human life” after witnessing the brutality of the Indonesian military regime. However, he also acknowledged that he learned from him “the power of tolerance” and “the ability to navigate different worlds”. Obama also credited him for instilling in him a love of basketball and an appreciation of nature.
Lolo Soetoro’s death affected Obama deeply, as he wrote in his memoir Dreams from My Father: “I felt as if I’d just woken up to discover that half my body had been amputated”1. He also expressed regret for not being able to reconcile with him before he died. He visited his grave in Jakarta in 2010 during his official visit to Indonesia as president.
Lolo Soetoro was a complex and influential person who shaped Barack Obama’s identity and worldview. His life story and cause of death are part of the history of Indonesia and the United States.
