Ratna Sarumpaet (born 16 July 1948) is an Indonesian human rights
activist. She is also a theatrical producer, actress, film director,
and writer. In July 2019 she was sentenced to two years in jail for
spreading hoaxes.Sarumpaet, born into a politically active Christian
family in North Sumatra, initially studied architecture in Jakarta.
After seeing a play by Willibrordus S. Rendra in 1969, she dropped out
and joined his troupe. Five years later, after marrying and converting
to Islam, she founded the Satu Merah Panggung; the troupe did mostly
adaptations of foreign dramas. As she became increasingly concerned
about her marriage and unhappy about the local theatre scene, two
years later Sarumpaet left her troupe and began to work in television;
she only returned in 1989, after divorcing her abusive husband.The
murder of Marsinah, a labour activist, in 1993 led Sarumpaet to become
politically active. She wrote her first original stageplay, Marsinah:
Nyanyian dari Bawah Tanah (Marsinah: Song from the Underground), in
1994 after becoming obsessed with the case. This was followed by
several other politically charged works, several of which were banned
or restricted by the government. Increasingly disillusioned by the
autocratic acts of Suharto's New Order government, during the 1997
legislative elections Sarumpaet and her troupe led pro-democracy
protests. For one of these, in March 1998, she was arrested and jailed
for seventy days for spreading hatred and attending an
"anti-revolutionary" political gathering.After her release, Sarumpaet
continued to participate in pro-democracy movements; these actions led
to her fleeing Indonesia after hearing rumours that she would be
arrested for dissent. When she returned to Indonesia, Sarumpaet
continued to write politically charged stageplays. She became head of
the Jakarta Art Board in 2003; two years later she was approached by
UNICEF and asked to write a drama to raise awareness of child
trafficking in Southeast Asia. The resulting work served as the
foundation for her 2009 feature film debut, Jamila dan Sang Presiden
(Jamila and the President). This film was submitted to the 82nd
Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film but not nominated. The
following year, she released her first novel, Maluku, Kobaran Cintaku
(Maluku, Flame of My Love). Ratna Sarumpaet Top Movies & Young Movies