NING, A Cadre’s Memoir

ISBN: 978-623-88739-7-5
Author: Edi Sutrisno
Publisher: Focus Publishing Intermedia

Serving in the Indonesian Parliament (Senayan) for four consecutive terms, while bearing the stigma of being a PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) child, has raised many questions about the woman named Dr. Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariyati: how did she manage to achieve this?

It all began when the 2004 legislative election drum was beaten. Her senior, Taufik Kiemas, tasked her with fighting in the Sukabumi and Cianjur electoral districts, areas widely known for their strong Islamic majority. Faced with this challenge, the only word in her mind was: “execute!” Despite fully understanding the rough road ahead, not only because of her PKI label, but also because she was a Christian, not Sundanese, and came from a left-wing party, she found herself in an insecure position—no easy task.

Indeed, in the early days, Mbak Ning had to break new ground. Armed with nothing but determination and a belief that God never sleeps, she ventured into unfamiliar territory. “I only had determination and the conviction that God never sleeps,” she recalled.

Not only did she have to compete against candidates from other parties, but within the PDI Perjuangan itself, she also had to contend with powerful figures like Amris Fuad Hasan, Muhammad Nurdin, Ria Dwi Latifa, Silmy Karim, and others. Securing the second position on the list, Mbak Ning finally succeeded, alongside Amris Fuad Hasan, representing PDI Perjuangan from the West Java III electoral district.

This book, A Cadre’s Memoir, is not merely about the struggles Mbak Ning faced during her journey in Senayan. It also takes the reader back to her early years, exploring her involvement in youth organizations and her eventual journey to PDI Perjuangan, which at that time was still called PDI and carried the emblem of a five-pointed star bull. ~