THE news stung Hatta and infuriated him: Sukarno had decided to marry Hartini. Hatta couldn't accept his best friend's decision to treat Fatmawati so, hanging her without a rope. Hatta, said Deliar Noer, author of Mohammad Hatta: A Political Biography, had great respect for Fatmawati, not only as Sukarno's wife but also as the First Lady.

Hatta was so angry at Hartini that for a long time he refused to meet Sukarno's second wife. If Hartini was