The Final Journey Home

The lights began to come on at the army hospital on the night of Wednesday, October 17, 1962. Doctors recorded the time of death of the patient, who was lying in a room that had once been occupied by the late Lieutenant-General Gatot Soebroto, as 7:28pm. "Pak Yamin passed away not long after his son arrived," said Kusumo, whom Muhammad Yamin's family considered an adopted son. Kusumo recalled that night at the Yamin family residence in Central Jakarta two weeks ago. The 78-year-old's memory was still sharp enough to recall in detail the final moments of the father of his friend, Dang Rahadian Sinayangsih Yamin.

Earlier on that afternoon in 1962, Kusumo picked up Rahadian, who had just returned from the United States, at Jakarta's Kemayoran Airport. From there Rahadian went straight to the hospital to kiss his father's hand. Rahadian's touch was like a sign to his father. "One hour later, Pak Yamin's heart rate weakened," Kusumo recalled. In the end, Yamin passed away just after sunset after four days of treatment for various ailments. He was 59. "Everyone was silent. No one spoke, and there was no wailing," Kusumo remembered of the demeanor of Rahadian and his mother, Raden Ajeng Siti Sundari, who had been at Yamin's side in his final moments.