Laksamana Kumahayalati (1550-1615) was the first woman admiral of the Aceh Sultanate navy, which ruled the area of modern day Aceh Province, Sumatra in Indonesia. With her army of widows, the Inong Balee, she fought against the Dutch and the Portuguese.

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Sitie, of whom no surname or date of birth or death are known, was taken from South-Celebes (modern day Sulawesi, Indonesia) to Utrecht in the Netherlands in May 1752. Here she served in the household of Joan Gideon Loten, who had a long career in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), including a position as governor of Makassar. Sitie was shipped from Makassar to Batavia and then traveled to the Netherlands. A friend of Loten called her the most beautiful girl in Makassar.

 

Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), was a noblewoman from Java, Indonesia. In her published articles and in the letters she wrote with Dutch friends she shared her views on the unfair treatment of women, the lack of education for girls, and colonial inequality. Kartini fiercely opposed polygamy. With three of her sisters she founded and operated schools for girls that later became known as Kartini Schools.

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Siti Aminah (1919 – 1983)  grandmother of Asih Nije-Sungkono, dancer, pencak silat specialist and storyteller in Forget to Remember. Siti Aminah grew up on the island of Java, Indonesia. In her younger years, she was active in various women's movements. She married Sukrisno, a journalist who became ambassador under Sukarno's regime (the first president of Indonesia). After the coup carried out by Suharto and his army in 1965, Siti Aminah fled with her children to China via Vietnam (where her husband was stationed). Had she not fled, she would likely have been arrested by the army, or executed.

 

Siti Krisnowati (1949) mother of Asih Nije-Sungkono, dancer, pencak silat specialist and storyteller in Forget to Remember. Aged 16, Siti Krisnowati cycled on her own to the Vietnamese embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia to arrange her family's escape. Once in China, they lived there for many years together with other Indonesian people, all stateless, because they disagreed with the new government. In 1981, she arrived in the Netherlands with her husband and son. She did not speak Dutch, and her medical degree was not recognized. In a new country and a different culture, she raised her children with Indonesian norms and values, so they wouldn't forget their roots. Now she enjoys her two grandchildren, the second generation born in the Netherlands. They too, with lighter skin and brown hair, still feel connected to Indonesia.