Ernest François Eugène Douwes Dekker (8 October 1879 – 28 August 1950) was an Indonesian freedom fighter and politician of Indo descent. He was related to the famous Dutch writer, Multatuli, whose real name was Eduard Douwes Dekker. In his youth, he took part in the Second Boer War in South Africa on the Boer side. His thoughts were highly influential in early years of the Indonesian freedom movement.After Indonesian independence, he adopted the Sundanese name, Danoedirdja Setiaboedi.
In the Dutch East Indies, Dekker, then still in his twenties, started a career as a journalist, first in Semarang and later in Batavia. There he worked with Indo activist Karel Zaalberg, the chief editor of the newspaper Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad, whom he befriended. On 5 May 1903 he married Clara Charlotte Deije, who would bear him three children. Unlike other people of European descent, he did not favour colonialism, strongly advocating self-management, and finally the independence, of the Dutch East Indies. This was prompted partly by his experience in watching the lives of plantation workers and partly by discrimination he had suffered, through being only considered half-Dutch and a second-class citizen.
During these times, he published many articles advocating independence, and "Indies nationalism". In 1913, close associates of Douwes Dekker, including physicians Tjipto Mangunkusumo and Suwardi Surjaningrat, established the Native Committee in Bandung, which later became the Indische Party. This was considered a breakthrough, because most organisations had never so openly advocated independence. In March 1913, the party claimed approximately 7000 members, approximately 5500 of whom where Indos (people of mixed Dutch-Indonesian ancestry) along with 1500 native Indonesians. The Colonial government quickly became worried and the party was forbidden. This led to the exile to the Netherlands of Douwes Dekker and his two Javanese associates.
In exile, they worked with liberal Dutchmen and compatriot students. It is believed that the term Indonesia was first used in the name of an organization, the Indonesian Alliance of Students, with which they were associated during the early 1920s.After his party was forbidden it directly inspired the foundation of the Insulinde and an Indo-European party named 'Indo Europeesch Verbond' chaired by his friend Karel Zaalberg and also advocated independence. Many of the former 'Indische Partij' members joined the new party that grew to 10.000 members.
In 1918 he was allowed to return to the East Indies and was responsible for reforming the 'Insulinde' into the new 'National Indische Party' (NIP). Together with his new associate P.F.Dahler and old companion Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo he became a prominent leader of the NIP. After the NIP was involved in the Surakarta farmers' strike he was imprisoned again by the colonial authorities in 1921.
After his release from prison in 1922, he taught in Bandung in a lower school. Two years later as head of the school, he renamed it the "Ksatrian Institute". This institute was officially recognised by the government in 1926. In the same year, he married Johanna Mussel, one of its teachers, six years after divorcing his first wife. Sukarno was a teacher at one of his schools.
Later, however, his activities were branded illegal, and in 1936 he was condemned to three months in prison. He was still actively advocating independence and sharing his thoughts with other intellectuals, among them Sukarno, who considered Douwes Dekker as his teacher. Later, however, his influence was overshadowed by the politics of his student Sukarno's Indonesian National Party (PNI), Islamist Sarekat Islam, and Communist Party of Indonesia.
During World War II, Dutch authorities, who considered him a dangerous activist, exiled him, along with many Indo-European of German descent, to Suriname. He would spend years in a forest prison camp called "Joden Savanne".
Dekker returned to Indonesia on 2 January 1947.
After he returned to Indonesia, he was appointed a member of the provisional parliament, or Komite Nasional Indonesia Pusat (Indonesian National Central Committee). In February 1947, he changed his name to Danudirja Setiabudi which means 'powerful substance, faithful spirit'. In 1947 he divorced his second wife and married the Indo European Nelly Alberta Kruymel, who had changed her name to Haroemi Wanasita, in an Islamic ceremony.
In December 1948 he was lifted from his sick bed and arrested by Dutch troops, but released due to his poor health.
He spent his last years in Bandung, writing his autobiography, 70 Jaar Konsekwent. On his seventieth birthday to his delight he witnessed the formal Dutch transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia in 1949. He died eight months later in 1950.
adapted from :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Douwes_Dekker