K'tut Tantri, born Muriel Stuart Walker, was a Scottish American woman who was best known for her work as a radio broadcaster for the Indonesian Republicans during the Indonesian National Revolution.
16 Facts About K'tut Tantri
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K'tut Tantri was reportedly enslaved as a "comfort woman" by the Japanese Imperial Army during this time.
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K'tut Tantri wanted to become an artist there and abandoned her life in suburban America.
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K'tut Tantri became a radio broadcaster for the Voice of Free Indonesia.
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K'tut Tantri witnessed the Battle of Surabaya and later joined President Sukarno's Republican administration as a speech writer and broadcaster.
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K'tut Tantri took a personal liking to Sukarno's oratory and charismatic personality.
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K'tut Tantri claimed that she had successfully exposed a plot by pro-Dutch Indonesians to overthrow Sukarno and install Hamengkubuwono IX, the Sultan of Yogyakarta, as the new President.
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In January 1947, K'tut Tantri took part in an Indonesian operation to sail a boat through the Dutch naval blockade to reach British-controlled Singapore.
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K'tut Tantri sailed from the port of Tegal in East Java in a boat that was captained by a pro-Indonesian Ambonese captain known as "Captain Ambon" and a sympathetic British skipper.
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Since she lacked proper documents other than a passport issued by the Indonesian Republic, K'tut Tantri had to fake her way through the Singaporean immigration authorities by assuming the identity of an intoxicated woman who was the partner of a Chinese trader.
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K'tut Tantri subsequently reported her case to the Singapore Criminal Investigation Department which provided her with temporary identity papers.
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K'tut Tantri took the credit for exposing a corrupt Indonesian agent who had been pocketing from the sale of sugar used to raise funds for the Indonesian Republic.
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K'tut Tantri spent her last years at a nursing home in Sydney, Australia where she died on 27 July 1997.
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K'tut Tantri's funeral was attended by the deputy Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, by Bill Morrison the former Australian Ambassador to Indonesia and his wife, and by several filmmakers, scriptwriters, anthropologists, and a historian.
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K'tut Tantri's remains were cremated while her estate was distributed to poor Indonesian children.
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The Indonesian diplomat Suryono Darusman confirmed most of K'tut Tantri's account including her work as a broadcaster for the Voice of Free Indonesia and speechwriter for President Sukarno, and her voyage to Singapore and Australia to publicize the Indonesian republican cause.