Dewi Sukarno

Naoko Nemoto was born on February 6, 1940, in Tokyo, to Heishichiro Nemoto and Masako Nemoto. Nemoto had a younger brother, Yasoo Nemoto, and her mother was constantly sick. Her father was a carpenter, who passed away when she was 15. To make ends meet, Nemoto worked at a famous club named "Copacabana".

In 1959, Nemoto, who was 19, met Sukarno, who was 38 years her senior, at the Ginza hostess bar in Tokyo, near the Imperial Hotel. Nemoto was an arts student and entertainer,[2] while the latter was on a state visit to Japan.

Naoko married Sukarno in Indonesia in 1962 and converted to Islam. Sukarno gave her the Indonesian name "Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno"; derived from Javanese-Sanskrit which means "the jewel essence of a goddess". They had one daughter, Kartika (born March 11, 1967, and is now going by the name "Carina"), who was Sukarno's eighth child.[2] Sukarno was eventually overthrown by General Suharto in 1967 and died three years later.[3]

The widowed Dewi Sukarno moved to Europe after Sukarno's ousting and has since lived in different countries, including three years in Switzerland, ten years in France, and another decade in the United States. By 2008, she had returned to Japan and lived in Shibuya, Tokyo, where she lived in her memorabilia-filled residence.[4]

As of 2012, Dewi Sukarno enjoys caring for her 16 dogs and her cosmetics business. She has her own charity business that is often scrutinized by the National Tax Agency. She makes a living doing part-time jobs, appearing on Japanese television and has served as a judge for a beauty contest, as in the Miss International 2005 pageant held in Tokyo. She is well known for her sculpted beauty and often claims to have not had the facelifts and plastic surgery that her doctor has rumored performing.

In Japanese media, Sukarno has become known for her outspoken personality. In an interview with Desi Anwar of CNN Indonesia, she expressed reservations about being known solely as the late President Sukarno's widow 40 years after his death.[5]

In January 1992, Dewi Sukarno became involved in a much-publicised altercation at a party in Aspen, Colorado, United States with fellow international socialite and heiress, Minnie Osmeña. A granddaughter of former Philippine President Sergio Osmeña, she reportedly commented on Sukarno's past, and the spat culminated in Sukarno hitting Osmeña's face with a champagne flute.[6] Osmeña needed 37 stitches to seal the gash, while Sukarno was later detained for 34 days in Aspen for disorderly conduct.[2][7] Sukarno and Osmeña had already been hostile to each other after an exchange at an earlier party months before, where Sukarno was heard to laugh at Osmeña's political plans (among which was to run for Vice President of the Philippines).

The following year, Sukarno posed for Madame d'Syuga: Dewi with Love, a book of photography by Hideki Fujii that was published in her native Japan in 1993.[8] Many of the images feature her semi-nude, with some showing what appeared to be tattoo-like body art. The photo-book, while not distributed in Indonesia, was immediately banned by the New Order government, and many Indonesians felt offended by what they perceived to be a disgrace of late President Sukarno's name and legacy.[2]

In 1997, the New York Daily News published anonymous rumors that Sukarno had been involved in a "hair-pulling tiff" at a Halloween party with Kaethe Schuchter, a companion of fraudulent money manager Martin Frankel. Sukarno denied the allegations and after failing to make Schuchter publicly retract the claim, launched a defamation lawsuit against her.[9] Not long after, federal conspiracy and fraud charges were brought up against Frankel and Schuchter, who fled the United States in May 1999.[10] This left Sukarno's lawsuit in limbo and it wasn't until 2009 that Schuchter was apprehended by Italian authorities.[11]

In the aftermath of the controversial launch of the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite in April 2009, Sukarno was invited to comment by Japanese media, since her late husband had managed to maintain favorable relations with North Korea during his reign. In an interview, she commented that "Japan is making too much noise, it's only an artificial satellite", which outraged Japanese right-wing groups. On the evening of April 19, one of their sound trucks appeared at Sukarno's residence in affluent Minato, Tokyo and staged a loud protest. In response, she threw two plant pots from her second-floor balcony and allegedly hit the van's mirrors. Immediately afterward, Sukarno came out to confront the right-wingers, which resulted in a heated argument. A nearby police officer stationed outside the home of Tarō Asō prevented further escalation and the protesters left without seeking compensation for damages. The following day, Sukarno held a press conference in front of her home to voice her dissatisfaction with the police response.[12]

In July 2012, in response to a bullying incident at Otsu City Ojiyama Junior High School, which resulted in the suicide of a student, Sukarno published names and photos of a woman who was the supposed bully and people who appeared to be related to her in a blog post. It was soon revealed that the perpetrator had been misidentified, however, and Sukarno removed the entry from her blog. When a public apology from Sukarno was not forthcoming, the woman filed a lawsuit against her, demanding 11 million yen (c. US$75,000) in damages. In February 2014, the Kobe District Court deemed Sukarno's actions "extremely thoughtless" and ordered her to pay 1.65 million yen (c. US$11,000).[13] Sukarno claimed that the judgment was unfair and that she would fight it all the way to the Supreme Court,[14] but an undisclosed settlement was later reached at the Osaka High Court.[15]

Tokyo police investigated a complaint against Sukarno in January 2014, following her appearance on the TBS Television show Okusama wa Monster 2 where she had allegedly slapped a fellow guest.[16] Speaking to reporters, Sukarno expressed regret for "having caused an uproar" and said that she and the victim had resolved the incident during a phone call.[17]

In January 2017, Sukarno attracted Chinese criticism when she spoke out in support of APA Group president Toshio Motoya,[18] who had come under fire for distributing political propaganda in the group's hotels, referring to Japanese war crimes such as the Nanjing massacre and wartime sex slavery as "fabricated stories created to dishonor Japan".[19][20] During a broadcast of TV Asahi's Abema Prime, Sukarno opinioned that Motoya's beliefs and actions fell under his right to freedom of expression and redirected attention towards the issues of Tibetan sovereignty and the Senkaku Islands and South China Sea disputes.[18] Several years later, her involvement in the controversy contributed to a domestic boycott of the Chinese entertainer Zhang Zhehan, who had posed for a photo with Sukarno at a friend's wedding at the Nogi Shrine in 2019, after he had also taken pictures at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine a year earlier.[21]

On October 28, 2020, Sukarno issued an apology for remarks she had made on the Kansai TV variety show Mune-ippai Summit!, where she linked female infertility to abortions. Expressing support for an abortion ban, she had claimed that "the biggest reason for infertility is abortions by pregnant women who don't want to have children", adding that "it's best not to let women in Japan undergo curettage".[22]

Sukarno speaking in support of the Tokyo gubernatorial candidacy of Toshio Tamogami, February 2014

Dewi Sukarno remains an Indonesian national, being registered on the Permanent Elector's Roll (Daftar Pemilih Tetap) of the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo as of 2008. However, she has not exercised her right to vote.[1] Sukarno has expressed the intention to keep her Indonesian nationality – stating that an Indonesian passport is the only way she can freely travel to and from e.g. Blitar (where her late husband's resting place is), i.e. as an Indonesian citizen.[5]

Since the ousting of her husband, Sukarno has had little involvement with Indonesian politics.[23] When asked in 2004 to comment about the reign of her stepdaughter, Megawati, she replied; "I think Megawati is gradually doing whatever she can. It's not easy being a Muslim woman president."[4]

After the January 2008 death of her husband's successor, Suharto, Sukarno made appearances in the news media, blaming him for instituting a repressive regime and likening him to Cambodian despot Pol Pot.[24]

In 2011, Sukarno ran an online petition to disinherit then-crown prince Naruhito and make his younger brother Fumihito heir to the throne.[25]

Sukarno has worked with the Japanese Red Cross Society and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and has expressed the wish to help refugees as well as people living under regimes like North Korea.[4]

• PriPara Mi~nna no Akogare Let's Go PriPari (2016) as Ploria Ōkanda (voice)[26]
• Idol Time PriPara (2017) as Ploria Ōkanda (voice, episode 39)
• The Confidence Man JP: Episode of the Princess (2020)

Cited sources

• Lo, Ricardo F. (2003-10-23). "What's the Buzz". Philippine Star. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
• Mydans, Seth (1998-02-17). "Jakarta Journal; Weighty Past Pins the Wings of a Social Butterfly". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
• Ricklefs, M.C. (2008) [1981]. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300 (4th ed.). London: MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-230-54685-1.
• "Suharto was Indonesia's Pol Pot: Sukarno widow". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. AFP. 2008-01-28.
• Sukarno, Dewi (February 2003). "New York on S5,000 a Day". Harper's: 20.(subscription required)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dewi Sukarno.

• Dewi Sukarno, JapanZone
• Dewi Sukarno at IMDb