Unsurprisingly, Sukarno's wife was unwilling to release her husband but, after two years, Inggit agreed to a divorce.

Sukarno rationalised the need for his new wife by stating his desire to have a child to carry on his name.

Fatmawati was not initially in favour of reforming these laws until she found out about her husband's intentions to marry again.

Sukarno married another woman from Java in 1953 and Fatmawati moved out of the presidential palace and lived separately in Jakarta.

Fatmawati decided that she was going to divorce the president, but she could not find a religious leader who was willing to oppose the will of Sukarno.

[6] The women's organisation consoled and advised Fatmawati and they tried to encourage her to return to the palace and reestablish her rights.

This was called the Madam Soekarno Hospital and Fatmawati laid the foundation stone in 1954.

Fatmawati died of a heart attack on 14 May 1980 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on her way back to Jakarta from an umra in Mecca.