Ernest François Eugène Douwes Dekker[needs IPA] also known as Setyabudi or Setiabudi (8 October 1879 – 28 August 1950) was an Indonesian-Dutch nationalist and politician of Indo descent.

Douwes Dekker was born in Pasuruan, in the north east of Java, 50 miles (80 km) south of Surabaya.

His father was Auguste Henri Edouard Douwes Dekker, a broker and bank agent,[1] of a Dutch family living in the then-Dutch East Indies.

[1] He based his actions on the belief that the Boers were victims of British expansionism, and as a fellow descendant of the Dutch, he was obliged to help.

Unlike other people of European descent, he did not favour colonialism, strongly advocating self-management, and finally the independence, of the Dutch East Indies.

"[3] He established contact with Indian anti-colonial radicals like Shyamji Krishna Varma and Har Dayal, whose work was published in Dekker's publication Het Tijdschrift.

[4] In 1913, close associates of Douwes Dekker, including physicians Tjipto Mangunkusumo and Suwardi Surjaningrat, established the Native Committee in Bandung, which later became the Indische Partij.

[1] He was still actively advocating independence and sharing his thoughts with other intellectuals, among them Sukarno, who considered Douwes Dekker as his teacher.

During World War II, Dutch authorities, who considered him a dangerous activist, exiled him, along with many Indo-European of German descent, to Suriname.

In 1947 he divorced his second wife and married the Indo European author Nelly Alberta Kruymel, who had changed her name to Harumi Wanasita, in an Islamic ceremony.

His life is recorded in a biography, Het Leven van EFE Douwes Dekker, by Frans Glissenaar in 1999.