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‘Nyai’ Ontosoroh
The most famous Nyai for the last 40 years was named Ontosoroh. She is a fictional character in the novel Bumi Manusia (The Earth of Mankind, 1980) by Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
A cut from the film "Bumi Manusia" depicting the role of Nyai Ontosoroh.
Nyai were local women who were taken as mistresses by European men during the Dutch East Indies era, before the country was named Indonesia. Some were later legally married, but many were not. Their descendants were called “Indo” (half Indonesian, half Dutch).
Not all Indos were white or had blonde hair. Not all spoke Dutch. Not all of them had the status of "European" citizens, except those officially recognized by their fathers. Not all of them ever set foot in the Netherlands.