Soekaesih

Soekaesih (EYD: Sukaesih, born c. 1895) was a Communist Party of Indonesia activist known for being one of only a handful of female political prisoners exiled by the Netherlands government to Boven-Digoel concentration camp (from 1928 to 1931).

[3][2][4][1] Her political activity began when she was shocked by sugar strikes in her district and the Dutch massacres of peasants; she was influenced by the Sarekat Islam movement, a mass anti-colonial organization of the Indonesian National Awakening.

[5] In February 1927 she and her husband were detained in the mass arrests of Communist Party activists and leaders which took place across Java; they were in Tasikmalaya at the time.

[6][5] She was nominated for exile to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp in early 1927; although she was not formally charged, the accusations against her were that she had acted as a courier for Communist Party cells during the 1926 uprisings and that her speeches against forced marriage and other topics contravened the colonial Penal code.

[14] She remarried once again to a Dutch man named J. H. Philippo in 1931; he was a Communist Party of the Netherlands member and dock worker at Tanjung Priok.

[20] She stayed there for several years lecturing on Digoel, especially to local groups of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, and advocating for the camp to be shut down.

[20][27] She continued to be active in documenting the former camp at Digul (which was closed after World War II) and in 1955 joined a new organization that sought to promote research about it and to build connections between the families of former internees.