Opu Daeng Risaju (born 1880 in Palopo, Dutch East Indies – died 10 February 1964) was an Indonesian independence activist. She was canonized as a National Hero of Indonesia in 2006.[1]
Biography
She was born to Muhammad Abdullah To Baresseng and Opu Daeng Mawellu in 1880, and at birth was named Famajjah.[2] She was from a Buginese community in Luwu in South Sulawesi.[3][4]:198 When she married H. Muhammad Daud, she assumed the Luwu royal title Opu Daeng Risaju, which is how she was known for the rest of her life.[2] She was Muslim and wore hijab.[4]:63[2]
Opu Daeng Risaju primarily fought against the Dutch colonization of what were, at the time, the Dutch East Indies.[5][3] She became active in politics relative late in her life. She first became a member of the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (PSII) in 1927, around age forty-seven, in Parepare.[6] She quickly became involved in the nationalist movement and rose through the PSII's organization.
In 1930, she established a local branch of PSII in Palopo.[4]:198 She would serve as chairman.[2] In 1933, she attended the Indonesian Islamic Union Congress in Batavia (now Jakarta).[7]
Due to her political agitation and growing popularity, her peerage was revoked, and the Dutch government in Masamba arrested her and tried her for sedition.[2][6] Beginning in 1934, she was imprisoned for fourteen months, sentenced to forced labor, and tortured.[4]:64[2][6] After her release from prison and throughout the Japanese occupation, she continued to travel and establish branches of the PSII in South Sulawesi.[6] She was arrested again after the Japanese surrender and transferred between various prisons, where she was tortured.[6] This torture rendered her deaf for the remainder of her life and also damaged one of her eyes.[4]:64[2][6]
In 1949, she moved to Pare-Pare to live with her son Abdul Kadir Daud.[8] She died on 10 February 1964, at age eighty-four.[8] She was buried in the cemetery of the rulers of Luwu in Lokkoe in Palopo.[9]
In 2006, Opu Daeng Risaju was named a National Hero of Indonesia, one of the few women who have received the honor.[10]