DHARMA ANGKUW, MARGARITHA

(b. 1925)

   Indonesian ecumenist and social activist

   Margaritha Dharma Angkuw was born on october 11, 1925, in Bogor, West Java. After completing secondary school, she became one of only two female students at the theological seminary in Bogor (now the Sekolah Tinggi Theologia Jakarta). Following graduation in 1955, she was ordained, and she assumed a position in the synod office of the Protestant Church in Western Indonesia.

   At the synod office, she began two tasks that dominated the rest of her life. First, as a pioneering female minister, she promoted the status and role of women throughout the church. Second, she promoted diakonal service and popularized the notion that the church's ministrations were not just for church members but for whoever was in need.

   in 1962, she became head of the spiritual-care commission at Cikini Hospital in Jakarta, a facility sponsored by the national ecumenical association, the indonesian Commission of Churches. She became a member of the commission's executive committee, using her position to promote various health services and family planning. in 1958, she was one of the founders of the Asian Women's Christian Conference (later attached to the East Asia Christian Conference). She represented the commission at the World Council of Churches Assemblies in New Delhi (1961) and Uppsala (1968).

   See also Indonesia.

   Further reading:

   ■ Scott W. Sunquist, ed., A Dictionary of Asian Christianity (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2001).