Sumiyarsi Siwirini

Sumiyarsi Siwirini (20 November 1925 – 17 July 2003), whose name was sometimes spelled Sumiarsih, was an Indonesian doctor, writer, activist, and political prisoner.

She became an activist in the Association of Indonesian Academics (Himpunan Sarjana Indonesia), and had become a member of its executive council shortly before the attempted coup of 30 September 1965.

[1] On 13 October 1965, she was targeted for arrest by the military and their paramilitary forces; her house was ransacked, with her books, music collection, and personal documents all destroyed.

[6] She was not at home when it was raided, and she managed to evade arrest and spent some time hiding out in other parts of Jakarta, with the help of friends and the HSI, including at the Hotel Indonesia where a conference was taking place.

[1] She spent the following two years hiding in out in other cities in Java, including Semarang, Salatiga, and Bandung, living in hotels and in the houses of former academic colleagues.

[12] In the mid-1970s the Indonesian government came under increasing scrutiny by Amnesty International and other organizations for their indefinite imprisonment of large number of political prisoners.