NH Dini (JP/Anggara Mahendra)

One of Indonesia’s most celebrated writers, Nurhayati Sri Hardini Siti Nukatin — known by her pen name NH Dini, died following a car crash in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday. She was 82 years old.

The crash occurred on the Jatingaleh — Banyumanik toll road in Tembalang while Dini was on her way back to her retirement residence, Wisma Lansia Harapan Asri in Banyumanik, after attending an acupuncture therapy session. A truck that reportedly failed to make it up an incline rolled back and hit Dini’s car. Dini was immediately rushed to the Elisabeth hospital in Semarang.

“Our medical team tried our best to save her [...] but to no avail. She was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m.” the hospital’s spokesperson, Probowatie Tjondronegoro, told The Jakarta Post.

Her remains will be cremated at the Ambarawa Crematorium in Semarang at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

Born into Javanese aristocracy on Feb. 29, 1936, NH Dini is best known for breaking patriarchal conventions through her novels, short stories and poems.

“Literature is actually nutritious food for humans’ souls and minds. It is the basic foundation of humanity, a reflection of a society, reality, knowledge and wisdom,” the writer said in an interview last year.

In the 1970s and 1980s, her novels Pada Sebuah Kapal (On the Boat) and La Barka were deemed controversial and banned from public school libraries as they contained “taboo” subjects, such as male and female relationships and sexuality.

The two novels feature strong female protagonists — Sri (Pada Sebuah Kapal) and Rina (La Barka), are portrayed as women of Javanese descent who dare to challenge their roles as women and wives.

“She was one of the first female writers to convey the voice of women in an era when not many women knew about emancipation and gender equality,” said Mirna Yulistianti from Gramedia Pustaka Utama, who supervised the editorial process of NH Dini’s works in the last five years.

NH Dini received numerous literary awards, including the SEA Write Award from the government of Thailand in 2003 and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

She married French diplomat Yves Coffin in 1960 despite family opposition to her husband’s foreign background. They had two children, Marie-Claire Lintang Coffin and Pierre Louis Padang Coffin, the co-director of the Despicable Me and Minions animated movie franchise.

NH Dini followed her diplomat husband to live in Japan, France, the United States and other countries. The couple divorced in 1984 and NH Dini returned to Indonesia.

In her final years, NH Dini led a humble life and moved from one place to another — from Yogyakarta, to Ungaran in Semarang regency and lastly to Banyumanik in Semarang city.

“Honestly, I have neither savings nor health insurance. My insurance is my family, my friends and even doctors who have treated my illnesses,” said the writer, who had her uterus removed because of a cancer-related illness when she was 43.

Between 1996 and 2000, she sold many of her personal belongings to make ends meet.

In her sunset years, she remained a productive writer. One of her last works was Dari Ngalian Ke Sendowo (From Ngalian to Sendowo) published by Gramedia in 2015. In 2017, she revealed that she was working on a new literary project.

Yuliasri Perdani and Nedi Putra contributed to this story.

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