Moenasiah

Moenasiah (born c. 1897) was a Sarekat Islam and Indonesian Communist Party leader active in Semarang, Central Java, Dutch East Indies during the 1920s. She was chairperson of the women's section of the Communist Party for a time in the 1920s. She was exiled by Dutch authorities to Boven-Digoel concentration camp from 1927 to 1930.

Biography Little is known about Moenasiah's early life. She made her livelihood in Semarang by operating a Warung (roadside food stall). She became vice-president of women’s section of Semarang SI in October 1921 and president in 1922. She was arrested in May 1923 along with other members of the women's committee (Soetitah and Napsiah) for speeches she gave during the VSTP (Rail and Tram worker's union). In 1923 the Semarang branch of the distanced itself increasingly from the central body of the organization in Batavia (led by H. O. S. Tjokroaminoto and reorganized itself more explicitly as the Indonesian Communist Party; Moenasiah became vice-chair of the women's section of the new party. Seeing the need for a mass organization like the SI, the Semarang activists also founded a new organization called the (people's union), with Moenasiah as chair and Soetitah as vice-chair of the women's section.

In February 1927, at age 30, she was detained in the mass arrests of Communist Party activists and leaders which took place across Java. Relatively few women activists were arrested and exiled there; among these were activists and educators including not only Moenasiah and Soetitah in Semarang but also Soekaesih and Saama, two activists in the women's division of the organization in Batavia.

She was released from her internment in Boven-Digoel in December 1930 along with a large group of 144 detainees. After her release it is unclear where she went or whether she remained politically active.