Siti Latifah Herawati Diah: Google Doodle celebrates Indonesian journalist’s 105th birthday

Google Doodle celebrates the 105th birthday of Indonesian journalist Siti Latifah Herawati Diah on April 3, 2022.

Who was Siti Latifah Herawati Diah?

Siti Latifah Herawati Diah was born on April 3, 1917 in Tanjung Pandan, Belitung. Diah went to the Europeesche Lagere School in Salemba, Central Jakarta for elementary school and later went to secondary school at the American High School in Tokyo.

Affected by her mom, Herawati Diah decided to additional her studies in America while different intellectuals had their eyes set on either the Netherlands or Western Europe. Preceding going to Barnard, where “the seeds of her Journalism career take root,” Diah studied English with a host family for two years.

In 1941, Siti Latifah Herawati Diah graduated from Barnard and became the first Indonesian woman to be academically trained abroad in a respected American university. She additionally finished a journalism course at Stanford University amidst her principal studies of sociology at Barnard and UC Berkley.

Siti Latifah Herawati Diah, at last, got back to Indonesia in 1942, which was about to start a major world conflict war, and became a freelance reporter for the United Press International (UPI) newswire before taking on a position as a commentator for Hosokyoku radio. She later married the legendary journalist Burhanuddin Mohammad “BM” Diah, who was working for the Asia Raya newspaper at the time, in that same year and had three children in 1945.

In 1968, BM Diah acquired the job of minister of information, for which Diah quit reporting to seek a new job close by and represent Indonesia to the world. In pursuit of monitoring her country’s culture, Diah led Borobudur Temple to be pronounced a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and settled foundations, for example, Indonesian Cultural Partners to protect fortunes and textiles, Indonesian Women’s Association, and others, which brought political awareness in women. She diligently kept on revealing insight into women’s concerns during the 1990s.

Siti Latifah Herawati Diah and her husband were known as the giants of Indonesian journalism of the 1945 Generation, in any case, accept to be the country’s “Greatest Generation,” alongside Rosihan Anwar and Mochtar Lubis. Diah additionally established The Indonesian Observer, Indonesia’s only English newspaper (until the 1960s) giving her people a way to report their battles, and launched it just before the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference which was held in Bandung.

Besides, Siti Latifah Herawati Diah established the Movement toward Education of Women Voters (Gerakan Perempuan Sadar Pemilu), presently the Women’s Voice Empowerment Movement (Gerakan Pemberdayaan Swara Perempuan)- a movement to empower the voice of women,- planning to give political education for women to promote the use of their rights to vote as indicated by their awareness.

Diah likewise procured acknowledgment from that point education minister Anies Baswedan for her contribution to promoting United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization programs in Indonesia.

Siti Latifah Herawati Diah died on September 30, 2016, at the humble age of 99.

On April 3, 2022, Google featured a Doodle on its homepage for celebrating Siti Latifah Herawati Diah’s 105th Birthday.

The present Google Doodle artwork celebrates Siti Latifah Herawati Diah’s legacy and the way she earned for women in Indonesia.