Sarumpaet's first original stageplay, Marsinah: Nyanyian dari Bawah Tanah (Marsinah: Song from the Underground), was performed in 1994 despite a sponsor abandoning the project near the showing date.
On 11 March 1998, Sarumpaet and eight others were arrested during a gathering held in concurrence with a meeting of the People's Consultative Assembly, in which she and the gathered persons sang the national anthem "Indonesia Raya" and "Padamu Negeri" ("To You, My Country") in front of security forces.