Sam Ratulangi

Who was Sam Ratulangi?

Dr. Gerungan Saul Samuel Jozias Ratulangi or Ratu Langie, usually known as Sam Ratulangi, was a Minahasa politician, journalist and teacher from North Sulawesi, Indonesia. His famous saying in the Tondano language 'Si Tou Timou Tumou Tou' is translated as 'men lives to help others live'.

The son of Jozias Ratulangi and Augustina Gerungan, both from wealthy, well-respected Minahasa families, Sam Ratulangi was born in Tondano, North Sulawesi, at the time a part of the Dutch East Indies. He was a gifted student, who after completing his studies in Tondano and Batavia went to Amsterdam in the Netherlands for further studies. He graduated from a teacher's college as a science teacher in 1915, studied for two more years at the University of Amsterdam, and in 1919 earned his Ph.D. at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

On his return to Indonesia, he moved to Yogyakarta to teach science at a high school, and then moved on to Bandung to found the insurance company Assurantie Maatschappij Indonesia — the first known instance of the word "Indonesia" being used in an official document.