Kartini Muljadi

Kartini Muljadi (born 17 May 1930) is an Indonesian businesswoman and corporate lawyer, who previously worked as a judge and notary.

Kartini was born Pauline Fanny Kho on 17 May 1930 in Kebumen, Central Java, the Dutch East Indies.

Her parents were Budi Tjahono and Marianne Han.

Her mother, who was of partial Dutch ancestry, was a teacher at a local school.

Her father worked as an accountant for the colony's electricity company, Algemene Nederlandsch Indische Electriciteit Maatschappij.

When Kartini was about two-and-a-half years old, her mother died.

Her father then married a woman of Chinese descent, who worked as a trader and taught Kartini to work industriously, especially during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies when there was no school.

Her father encouraged her to save money.

After Indonesia's 1945 declaration of independence, when ethnic Chinese citizens were encouraged to adopt Indonesian names, her father changed his name from Kho (Xu in Chinese) to Budi Tjahjono, while Pauline Fanny Kho became Kartini, choosing the name of pioneering Indonesian feminist Kartini.

Kartini and her brother were among a few non-Dutch children permitted to attend a European school, where they studied Indonesian, Dutch, English, German and French, before opting for elective mathematics.

Kartini also studied in Surabaya and Yogyakarta, before moving to Jakarta, where she majored in Law and Social Sciences at the University of Indonesia.

During her studies, she worked at Candra Naya Social Organization (established 1946 as Sin Ming Hui), which provided health and legal services for the poor.

This business became Tempo Scan, which was established in 1953.

Later renamed Tempo Scan Pacific, it became one of Indonesia's leading pharmaceutical firms.

The group's branded pharmaceutical products include Bodrex and Hemaviton.

Cosmetics include Marina brand body lotion and the My Baby range of oils, powders and wipes.

She received her law degree in 1958.

In 1958, Kartini was appointed a judge at Jakarta Special Court, where she was assigned to handle criminal, civil and bankruptcy cases.

At that time, Dutch judges had been replaced by Indonesian judges.

During her time as a judge, she undertook notary studies at the University of Indonesia, completing her course in 1967.

She served on the court until 1970 and had a reputation for not being corrupt.

She became a prominent notary, working for major companies in the 1970s and 1980s.

Following the death on 21 February 1973 of her husband, Djojo Muljadi, who was a notary, Kartini resigned as a civil servant because her income was insufficient to cover her family's needs.

She was appointed a notary domiciled in Jakarta.

Her clients included state-owned companies such as Widya Karya and multinationals such as Unilever.

She also began to lecture in civil procedural law at various law faculties in Jakarta.

In 1990, she retired as a notary and established her own law office and legal consultancy, named Muljadi & Rekan.

Her clients included large national and multinational companies.

When the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis struck, she provided legal guidance to the banking sector.

She was part of a team that provided legal advice to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

She also provided legal opinions and recommendations to government agencies and shareholders of insolvent banks.

She has also advisor to the World Bank.

Kartini was involved in drafting laws, such as the Limited Liability Company Law and the Bankruptcy Law.

During her studies in Jakarta, Kartini worked at a beauty salon owned by a Dutch woman married to an Indonesian doctor.

The Dutch woman taught her how to make cosmetics.

When the woman went back to the Netherlands, Kartini took over the business, paying for it in installments and bought its trademark.

Since 2007, she has been listed as one of the richest women in Indonesia.

In 2007, Kartini was ranked 28th on Forbes' list of richest Indonesians, with wealth of $260 million.

In 2008, she was ranked 32nd, with a fortune of $130 million.

In 2019, Kartini was listed 48th on Forbes' list of 50 richest Indonesians, with a fortune of $630 million.