When Nurhayati Sri Hardini Siti Nukatin, popularly known as NH Dini, learned she had been chosen to receive a distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), she cried but felt relief.

“The award really humbled me. For me, this is a recognition of a writer’s efforts, endurance, persistence and patience to stand tall on the fast-changing Indonesian literary stage,” she said, sharing her emotions and experience in a special interview in Ubud after the award ceremony.

The award ceremony was so special for the highly acclaimed octogenarian writer because her beloved son Pierre Louis Padang Coffin, or Pierre Coffin, was at her side. Coffin is best known for co-directing the famed Despicable Me franchise, Minions and other movies.

“As a mother, I am very happy that Padang [as she fondly calls her youngest son] was with me during the award ceremony,” NH Dini said proudly of her famous son.

That was the last literary award dedicated to NH Dini and the last time Coffin witnessed his mother’s extraordinary literary prowess. She had previously received an SEA Writing Award among other achievements.

In the course of her writing career that spanned more than 60 years, NH Dini was one of the towering figures of Indonesian literature. On Dec. 4, the prolific 82-year-old writer passed away, leaving the country’s literary world in deep mourning.

When speaking about her late years, NH Dini, who stayed at Wisma Lansia Harapan Asri Banyumanik, a home for the elderly in Semarang, Central Java, said she had made peace with herself.

“In Javanese philosophy, a human being must be alert and perform endless tirakat [soul searching] in order to humbly accept everything that comes to one’s life. This is the way I am now, a life filled with gratitude.”

Her life was both bright and cloudy, as she had to grapple with a colorful but turbulent marriage and various physical issues.

A generous, talented and open-minded character, NH Dini went through various stages of her life — a curious reader and writer, a radio broadcaster, an ardent Javanese classical dancer, a flight attendant, an advocate for women and girls (if not a feminist) and a soul searcher.

Born to the Javanese noble couple RM Salyowijoyo and Aminah on Feb. 29, 1936, NH Dini was the youngest of five siblings. She began writing when she was still at junior high school.

“It was my mother who kept encouraging me to write. She prepared a special room belonging to my late father equipped with his old Remington typewriter,” she remembered.

Her father died of tuberculosis following his imprisonment for helping Tentara Pelajar Indonesia, the Indonesian Student Soldiers.

Between the 1950s and 2018, NH Dini penned an extraordinary range of literary works from novels to short stories, poems and radio dramas that explore various themes mostly around society’s attitudes toward and unjust treatment of girls and women.

Her most memorable works reveal the inner hearts of her female characters, their lives and sexual desires —
a taboo theme at that time.  Through her works, NH Dini often raised questions about women in the 60s and 70s era.  “Is it better for a woman to be married or to remain single? What would people think of a single woman at that time,” she asked.

There was one disturbing question for her: “Is a woman denying her intellect if she wants to get married and raise children?”

“There are so many fellow women writers in Indonesia who gave up their writing careers because they have to raise children and take care of their husband and families,” Dini lamented.

In her two controversial novels (by the standards of 1960s and 70s society), NH Dini’s two female protagonists — Sri (Pada Sebuah Kapal) and Rina (La Barka), are Javanese women, who dare to break patriarchal expectations of women and wives.

In the Javanese concept of patriarchy, women’s roles are said to be a konco wingking (a partner in the house and bedroom). Their roles are limited to raising children and serving their husband and family. There was no place for women to be regarded as individual sexual beings. 

Her female characters are always painted in opposition to this Javanese patriarchal system.

“At that time, I did not relate my writings to the Western theory of feminism. What I strongly believe is that a woman, wherever she lives, deserves to be treated equally and respectfully. She should also have the rights to her own body,” she recounted.

Those are her literary characters. In real life, NH Dini also broke from her Javanese roots by marrying a foreigner. Despite her family’s opposition to her foreign husband, NH Dini and French diplomat Yves Coffin married in January 1960. “My family said Yves was a kumpeni,” she said, referring to a Dutch Colonial era term.

The couple had two children — Marie-Claire Lintang Coffin and Pierre Louis Padang Coffin.  They divorced in l984 and NH Dini returned to Indonesia.

“There was no regret [about the divorce] but I am happy with Lintang and Padang and beloved grandchildren, even though they live so far away but they are all in my heart.”

NH Dini with her powerful and astonishing works helped define early feminism in the Indonesian literary world of the post-independence era. She paved the way for other Indonesian women writers to come.

“There is no instant fame for a writer. It requires life-long and continuous hard work,” she said as her last message to young and aspiring writers.

NH Dini finally found peace. Her fruitful life and inspiring work will always be remembered as a precious gem in the Indonesian literary world.

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