The patriarchal orders used her as a symbol of proper womanhood in her role as wife and mother, but she developed an image as an independent and successful modern woman who supported her husbands and other family members. Titiek's voice and body were contested terrain in both presidential regimes they patronized and celebrated her, but also wanted to control her. However, she was not a mouthpiece of these divergent political "orders" that is, her relatively autonomous voice did not align neatly with either regime. Titiek Puspa (hereafter Titiek) cultivated a proximity to state power-to Sukarno, one of Indonesia's founding fathers, and Suharto, the "Father of Development" (Bapak Pembangunan)-that amplified her voice and enabled it to circulate more widely and freely than other female singers. This period of Indonesian history is divided politically by first president Sukarno's anti-imperialist "Old Order" (Orde Lama, 1950-1965) and second president Suharto's pro-Western "New Order" (Orde Baru, 1966-1998). Chanteuse and composer Titiek Puspa (1937-) vocalized the tensions and contradictions of gendered modernity in Indonesia during the socially turbulent 1960s and 1970s.
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