Honouring Indonesia’s first ladies

Dedicated: First Lady Iriana Widodo (centre) waves with Mufidah Jusuf Kalla (right), wife of previous vice-president Jusuf Kalla, and Wuri Estu Handayani, wife of Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, prior to the presidential inauguration at the House of Representatives building in Jakarta on Oct 20, 2019. — Filepic/AFP

AFTER watching two United States television series, The First Lady and First Ladies Revealed, the faces of Indonesia’s former first ladies Tien Soeharto and Sinta Nuriyah Wahid and current First Lady Iriana Widodo crossed my mind.

Like the US women, these three Indonesian first ladies have contributed much to their husbands’ work as chief executives of the nation. The First Lady is a revelatory reframing of US leadership through the lens of three first ladies. Starring Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Anne Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, this series delves deep into the women’s personal and political lives. Meanwhile, documentary-based First Ladies Revealed portrays Nancy Reagan, Rosalyn Carter and Jacqueline Kennedy, who all left an eternal legacy at the White House and the history of the US.