ALI SADIKIN

Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin died in Singapore at 6:30 p.m. local time Tuesday after five weeks of treatment at Gleneagles Hospital.

Around the same time, another prominent figure, Surastri Karma Trimurti, one of the country's remaining freedom fighters, died of an illness at Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Central Jakarta. She was 96.

Ali's eldest son Boy Sadikin said his father had liver and gallbladder problems, compounded with a complication resulting from a kidney transplant he underwent in China last year.

"He went to Singapore for a regular check, but later doctors also found other health problems," Boy said at Ali's residence on Jl. Borobudur in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Ali was 80, and is survived by his second wife, five children and 13 grandchildren. His first wife, Nani Arnasih Sadikin, died in 1986.

Boy said Ali's remains would be flown back to Indonesia on Wednesday morning. The burial will take place later that day at Tanah Kusir public cemetery in South Jakarta.

Ali was born in Sumedang, West Java, on July 7, 1927. He was a navy lieutenant general until president Sukarno appointed him Jakarta's seventh governor in 1966.

Popularly known as Bang Ali, he coordinated many development projects in Jakarta including the building of Taman Ismail Marzuki, Ragunan Zoo, Proyek Senen, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, Taman Ria Monas, Taman Ria Remaja, the satellite city in Pluit, North Jakarta, and the Betawi culture preservation project in Condet.

He was responsible for the controversial policy providing nightclubs with greater freedom, allowing gambling and the construction of Kramat Tunggak for prostitution.

He finished his term in 1977 and was replaced by Lt. Gen. Tjokropranolo. He received a number of awards including the Philippines' Ramon Magsaysay.

Along with a number of military retirees and businessmen, he signed a petition against Soeharto in 1980 known as the Petition of 50.

Born on May 11, 1912, Trimurti was the wife of Sayuti Melik, the typist of the proclamation of independence that was read out by Sukarno on Aug. 17, 1945.

Trimurti was also known as a critical journalist. She was appointed the first manpower minister under prime minister Amir Sjarifuddin in 1947-1948.

As a freedom fighter, Trimurti was imprisoned by the Dutch colonial government for nine months in Bulu Prison, Semarang, in 1936.

In 1950 she cofounded the women's organization Gerwis, later renamed Gerwani. She quit the organization in 1965.

She spent the rest of her life in her rented house in Bekasi, West Java. She had been confined to her bedroom for the past year.

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