Raden Ajeng Kartini was a leading feminist of women emancipation in Indonesia

Raden Ajeng Kartini was a leading feminist of women emancipation in Indonesia Raden Ajeng Kartini was a leading feminist of women emancipation in Indonesia  who was born on 21 April 1879 in Jepara, Central Java.

R. A. Kartini has been variously described as a harbinger of the Indonesian revolution, a nationalist hero, a romantic idealist, a proud promoter of Javanese traditions, a champion of the country’s long struggle for gender equality. What is not open to question is that this remarkable woman heralded Indonesia’s modern age and the name Kartini holds a special place in the history of international feminism.

Kartini was born into an aristocratic Javanese family, her father was the Regent of Jepara and her mother his first wife. The family had a strong intellectual tradition and she attended school where she learned to speak fluent Dutch, an unusual accomplishment for a Javanese woman of the time. When she turned 12, Kartini was secluded in the home, a common practice among the nobility to prepare young girls to be married.

During her seclusion, Kartini continued her education, reading European magazines and newspapers, which fed her interest in such issues as child marriage, the role of women as second wives and mothers, and racial disharmony in colonial affairs. Starting in 1901, this well-educated young woman made the acquaintance of several Dutch pen pals and began writing a series of letters in which she wrote eloquently and passionately not just about the struggle of women to obtain autonomy and legal equality under a feudal and autocratic Javanese patriarchalism, but also about the problems Indonesian society faced as a whole. Against her wishes, Kartini’s parents arranged her marriage to the Regent of Rembang, who already had three wives. Kartini’s only son was born on September 13, 1904. A few days later Kartini died of complications from childbirth. Kartini had only realized one of her wishes during her short lifetime. Her husband understood his wife’s aims and allowed her to establish a school for women, the first of a dozen that were to follow throughout Java.

From the earliest years of the independence movement, Indonesians have found in this young intellectual a symbol of modern Indonesian womanhood. Her dreams of improving education, promoting the traditional arts, public health and economic justice preceded the nationalist movement by at least a decade. To this day, successful women entrepreneurs and women’s groups strongly identify with her, using her life as a model for their own political and social agendas. The manner of her untimely death even influenced the training of midwives in Batavia.

But the events of R. A. Kartini’s life and her mythological status as a nationalist figure are riddled with ironies. Though men largely carried out the fight for independence, discussions of early Indonesian nationalism can’t even begin without mention of her name. Though a hero of Indonesia’s independence struggle, she would not have recognized herself as Indonesian but only as a member of the privileged Javanese aristocracy who worked hand-in-hand with the Dutch colonial authorities.

Two of the greatest works in Indonesian literature - Kartini’s passionate Letters as well as Multatuli’s anti-imperialist novel Max Havelaar - were written in Dutch. Although Kartini is revered as an outspoken advocate for the liberation of women, Kartini Day is celebrated by girls dressing up in elaborate Kartini look-alike competitions exalting feminine beauty.

On April 21st, Kartini’s birthday, busloads of schoolgirls make a pilgrimage to Kartini’s gravesite in Bulu Village, 17 km south of Rembang. Many bring flowers, as is customary when showing respect for one’s mentor. Within the complex is the guesthouse “Puncak Winahyu” modeled after an old Javanese-style residence. In the one-room museum, there are a few photocopies of Kartini’s letters, framed certificates, some portraits of Kartini, wedding clothes, paintings by Kartini. The burial site on the top of a hill is actually the Adhiningrat family’s grave complex where 40 of her husband’s family and her descendants are also buried, including her son, Major General R.M. Soesalit Djojo Adhiningrat, who fought against the Dutch as commander of the Diponegoro Division.

Kartini’s Life & Legacy

1879 – Raden Ajeng Kartini born in Moyang, central Java

1903 – Kartini marries Raden Adipati Joyodiningrat, Regent of Rembang

1904, September 13 - Kartini’s only son born; Kartini dies several days later

1911- 1st edition Door Duisternis tot Licht (Through Darkness to Light), a selection of 53 of Kartini’s letters published for the first time in Holland

1920 – the 1st English edition of Letters of a Javanese Princess published in The Hague

1938 – publication of 1st Indonesian edition, Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang (Out of Dark Comes Light), translated by Armijn Pane, Balai Pustaka Djakarta

1964 - President Sukarno declares April 21st as ‘Kartini Day’ in honor of her birth

1984 – 1st film depiction of Kartini’s life, Raden Ajeng Kartni, starring Jenny Rachman

1987 – 1st publication of Kartini’s complete letters: Brieven aan R.M. Abendanon-Mandri en haar echtgernoot met andere documenten, door F.G.P. Jaquet, Dordrecht, Holland.

1989 – 1st publication in Indonesian of Kartini’s complete letters: Kartini: Surat-surat kepada Ny. R.M. Abendanon-Mandri dan suaminya. Djambatan, Jakarta

2009 - The national publishing company, Balai Pustaka, publishes a lavish new release of Out of Darkness Comes Light with ornamental batik cover, hologram, embossed gold-plated lettering, serial number and certificate of authenticity.

Sukarno's Old Order state declared 21 April as Kartini Day to remind women that they should participate in "the hegemonic state discourse of perkembangan (development)".^[5] After 1965, however, Suharto's New Order state reconfigured the image of Kartini from that of radical women's emancipator to one that portrayed her as dutiful wife and obedient daughter, "as only a woman dressed in a kebaya who can cook."^[6] On that occasion, popularly known as Hari Ibu (Mother) Kartini or Mother Kartini Day, "young girls were to wear tight, fitter jackets, batik shirts, elaborate hairstyles, and ornate jewelry to school, supposedly replicating Kartini's attire but in reality wearing an invented and more constricting ensemble than she ever did."^[7]
"Ibu Kita Kartini" by W.R. Supratman

source :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartini

http://www.baliadvertiser.biz/articles/feature/2012/kartini.html