Kartini Day

Bibliographic Data

ID4052486
AuthorsCallan Swaim-Fox (corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume19
Issue1
Pages136-146
Publication date2020-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMeridians (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1536-6936 • E-ISSN: 1547-8424
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/15366936-8117757
OpenAlexW4243522916
LanguageEN
References cited6

In the following document, the press secretary to the Indonesian United Nations delegation, Rochmuljati Wirjohatmodjo, celebrates the pioneering Indonesian women’s activist, Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879–1904), by giving a speech describing her life and work on the seventy-seventh anniversary of her birthday in 1956 (Indonesian Panel for Travel Section 1956). Wirjohatmodjo’s celebration of Kartini—ostensibly for the “Community of Indonesian Women in New York”—offers a window into the larger implications of celebrating Kartini Day and Kartini’s shifting legacy throughout Indonesian transnational history. The use of Kartini as a model in Indonesian history by three successive regimes—first the Dutch Colonial regime, then the “Old Order” of Sukarno, and eventually Suharto’s “New Order”—illustrates how Kartini’s ideas and writing were interpreted according to the agendas of those in power. Wirjohatmodjo’s speech in 1956 exemplifies that pattern.Kartini lived and worked during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during the long period of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia. Her life and work, detailed in Wirjohatmodjo’s speech, focused on women’s education and rights. As an upper-class Javanese woman, Kartini had unique access to a Dutch education and her Dutch social networks led to the posthumous publication of her work and letters by J. H. Abendanon, a colonial official (Rutherford 1993: 23–24; Taylor 2003: 296–97). Following the publication of Door Duisternis Tot Licht, or “From Darkness into Light,” Kartini brought the lack of education of Indonesian women and girls to the attention of Dutch circles, inspiring the establishment of the Kartini Foundation and the opening of “Kartini Schools” in the first decades of the twentieth century (Gouda 1995: 37). These schools provided a Dutch education to young Indonesian girls and sparked the proliferation of Dutch education initiatives that fell within the new model of Dutch “ethical colonialism” (Gouda 1995: 37). Kartini’s legacy during the Dutch colonial period of Indonesia was generally used to encourage female domesticity and collaboration with the Dutch; nonetheless, Kartini’s example inspired a generation of Indonesians who would soon rebel against the same colonial system that extolled her words and ideas.Following three years of Japanese occupation during World War II, nationalists in Indonesia led by the politician Sukarno declared independence from the Dutch and established the Republic of Indonesia in 1945 (Yang 2014: 402). The Dutch formally recognized Indonesian sovereignty in 1949, and by 1950, the Republic of Indonesia became a member of the United Nations (Vickers 2005: 112; Yang 2014: 402). In the following years, Sukarno became “president for life” and introduced “Guided Democracy,” a new plan for the Indonesian government that would integrate indigenous traditions into Western democratic models (Yang 2014: 402).1 The young government placed particular emphasis on increasing educational access for its citizens, forging new international relationships, and forming a distinct national identity amongst citizens across the thousands of islands that made up the new country (Vickers 2005: 123–33). Though the government did not actively seek to assimilate feminist agendas into their national goals, it claimed to work toward the abolition of the gender and racial discrimination of the colonial period (Vickers 2005: 123–33). Subsequently, women’s activism flourished during this time (Vickers 2005: 123–33). Though little is known about Wirjohatmodjo herself, her celebration of Kartini and the values she emphasized within her speech reflect many of the goals of the new Indonesian government, which she espoused as a representative of its United Nations delegation.Though a small wave of Indonesian immigrants came to the United States in the 1950s, it was not until the after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act removed restrictions on Asian immigration that a large group of Indonesians would settle in the United States (Cunningham 2008: 93). Thus, Wirjohatmodjo’s speech can be seen in this vein not only as working to unite the small Indonesian American community but to inform the broader U.S. public about the work of the new Indonesian government. Records of Kartini Day celebrations in the United States appear in local newspapers as early as 1950, and almost all of them were led by Indonesian women diplomats who invited U.S. women to teas or dances to celebrate Kartini and Indonesian culture (Indonesian Tea Honors Feminist 1950; McNair 1951).Wirjohatmodjo’s commemoration of Kartini in the United States allowed the Indonesian government to proclaim its nascent women’s rights ideals abroad as it forged its national identity in the new community of nations. Despite a history of celebrating Kartini’s birthday, Kartini Day did not formally become a national holiday until 1964. It was then that Sukarno declared Kartini—whom he christened “Ibu Kartini” or Mother Kartini—one of the new “national heroes” of Indonesia (Woodward 2015: 34–35). The title of “mother” allowed Sukarno and his government to both separate from the colonial connotations of her previous title, and also use Kartini as a uniting force that would bring women’s participation into the sphere of Indonesian nationalism (Tiwon 1996: 54; Woodward 2015: 35).When the military leader Suharto took power from Sukarno and formed the “New Order” in 1965, he began to reframe national ideology to promote women’s domesticity (Mahy 2012). By restructuring Kartini’s legacy as a national heroine, he was able to advance his ideology. (Woodward 2015: 37–38). Under Suharto, Mother Kartini helped promote “state ibuism” that defined women as “appendages . . . to their husbands, procreators of the nation, as mothers . . . as housekeepers, and members of Indonesian society—in that order” (Suryakusuma 1996: 100).Kartini Day celebrations have since evolved over time to include Kartini look-alike competitions and elaborate dressing rituals alongside celebrations of Kartini’s achievements (Mahy 2012). They have been critiqued for acquiescing to different regimes’ interpretations of Kartini and therefore restricting instead of emancipating women (Woodward 2015: 46). However, Raden Adjeng Kartini remains a beloved figure in Indonesian history. The shifting interpretation and representation of Kartini’s legacy during different political regimes illustrates how her progressive ideas were manipulated by colonial, liberal, and authoritarian regimes alike. Recent feminist scholars question whether Kartini’s vision for Indonesian women has been fulfilled, refuting Wirjohatmodjo’s claim over sixty years ago that it had (Mahy 2012). The following In the Archives selection invites the reader to ponder the ways that Kartini’s legacy has shifted over time, and what those shifts mean for the Indonesian feminists that come after her. All documents are from the Ruth Frances Woodsmall Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts).My thanks to Gillian Mitchell-Love, Ada Comstock Scholar and Quigley Fellow at Smith College, for her assistance with preliminary research for these introductory notes

Asian Studies and History · Gender and Women's Rights · History · Philippine History and Culture

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