These letters which breathe the modern spirit, in all of its restless
intensity, were written by a girl of the Orient, reared in an ancient
and outworn civilization. They unfold the story of the writer with
unconscious simplicity and present a vivid picture of Javanese life and
manners.
But perhaps their chief interest lies in their value as a human
document.
In them the old truth of the oneness of humanity is once more made
manifest and we see that the magnificent altruism, the spirit of
inquiry, and the almost morbid desire for self-searching and analysis
that characterize the opening years of the Twentieth Century were not
peculiar to Europe or to America, but were universal and belonged to the
world, to the East as well as to the West.
Kartini, that was her only name--Raden Adjeng is a title--wrote to her
Dutch friends in the language of the Netherlands. In her home circle she
spoke always Javanese, and she was Javanese in her intense love for her
land and people, as well as in dress and manners.
She did not live to see the work that has been accomplished in her name
during the last ten years. Today there are "Kartini Schools" in all
parts of Java. The influence of her life and teachings is perhaps
greater than that of any other woman of modern times because it reaches
all of the thirty-eight millions of Javanese and extends to some extent
throughout the entire East.
She did not desire to make of her people pseudo-Europeans but better
Javanese. Not the material freedom for which during the three hundred
years of Dutch rule the Javanese of the past had sometimes waged a
bloody warfare, but the greater freedom of the mind and of the spirit.
The Dutch rule had become enlightened. In local affairs the Javanese had
self-government under their own officials. But they were bowed down by
superstition and under the sway of tradition. The "adat," or law which
cannot be changed, was fostered by religion. They were imbued with all
the fatalism of the Mohammedan, the future belonged to "Tekdir" or Fate
and it was vain to rebel against its decrees. But Kartini rebelled
against "Tekdir." She refused to believe in the righteousness of the
ancient law that a girl must marry, or breaking that law, bring
everlasting disgrace upon her family.
She realized that the freedom of woman could only come through economic
independence. And personally she said that she had rather be a kitchen
maid, than be forced to marry a strange and unknown man. For in
well-bred Javanese circles girls were brought up according to the most
rigid Mohammedan canons and closely guarded from the eyes of men.
Dr. Abendanon, the compiler of Kartini's letters, says that although he
had lived for twenty-five years in Java, she and her sisters were the
first young girls of noble birth that he had ever seen.
Kartini wanted to go to Holland to study, to return home when she had
gained a broader knowledge and experience, equipped for teaching the
daughters of her own people. She wished to help them through education,
to break with the stultifying traditions of the past. Although always a
Mohammedan, marriage with more than one wife was abhorrent to her. True
progress seemed impossible in a polygamous society for men or for women.
Furthermore polygamy was not commanded or even approved of by Mohammed
himself; it had been merely permitted.
After years of conflict between her affection for her family and the
principles in which she believed, Kartini won the entire confidence both
of her father and of her mother. Her mother was an exponent of the best
ideals of Oriental womanhood, excelling in care of the home and filled
with love and sympathy for her husband and children.
Kartini was an innovator who sought to break new paths for her people,
but in reaching out for the new and untried she gained rather than lost
in respect for the old fashioned virtues of her kind. Her interests were
human, and not merely feministic--which cannot always be said of our own
feminism.
Kartini's biography is brief, and her life almost uneventful so far as
outward happenings go.
She was born on the 21st of April, 1879, the daughter of Raden Mas
Adipati Sosroningrat, Regent of Japara. His father, the Regent of Demak,
Pangèran Ario Tjondronegoro, was an enlightened man who had given
European educations to all of his sons and who is described by his
grand-daughter Kartini as--"the first regent of middle Java to unlatch
his door to that guest from over the sea--Western civilization."
The Regent of Japara went still further as became the next generation.
He sent his daughters to the free grammar school for Europeans at
Semarang so that they might learn Dutch.
Kartini's best friend at school was a little Hollander, Letsy, the
daughter of the head master. A question of Letsy's, "What are you going
to be when you grow up?" both puzzled and interested her. When she went
home after school was over, she repeated the question anxiously, "What
am I going to be when I grow up?" Her father, who loved her very dearly,
did not answer but smiled and pinched her cheek. An older brother
overheard her and said, "What should a girl become, why a Raden Ajoe of
course." Raden Ajoe is the title of a Javanese married woman of high
rank, while the unmarried daughter of a regent is Raden Adjeng.
In Kartini a spirit of rebellion was awakened which grew with the years.
Even as a child she vowed that she would not become merely a Raden Ajoe,
she would be strong, combat all prejudice and shape her own destiny. But
she was soon to feel the weight of convention pressing upon her with
inexorable force. When she reached the age of twelve and a half she was
considered by her parents old enough to leave school and remain at home
in seclusion according to the established usage. Some day there would
have to be a wedding and a Javanese bridegroom was chosen by the girl's
parents and often never seen by his bride until after the ceremony, as
her presence was not required at that solemnity.
Kartini implored her father, on her knees, to be allowed to go on with
her studies. But he felt bound by the hitherto unbroken conventions of
his race and she went into the "box" as it was called, passing four long
years without ever once going beyond the boundaries of the Kaboepaten.
During those years reading was her greatest pleasure, and her father was
proud of her intelligence and kept her supplied with Dutch books. She
did not always understand what she read, but would often be guided
through the difficult places by her father or by her favourite brother
Kartono, who felt a warm sympathy for his sister.
But the spirit of progress slowly awakened even in slumbering Java, and
when Kartini was sixteen, she was released from her imprisonment.
Her first journey into the outside world was to accompany her parents to
the festivities held in honour of the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina.
This caused a great scandal in conservative Javanese society. But
Kartini and her sisters did not have the freedom for which they longed,
they could not go out into the world and fight its battles. They could
only take well chaperoned little excursions and meet the guests, both
men and women, of their father's household. They were free very much as
a delicately nurtured Victorian young lady would have been free, half a
century ago.
In 1901 the Minister of Education and Industry for Netherland India was
Dr. J.H. Abendanon.[1] He took a deep interest in the well-being and
progress of the native Javanese, and realized the need of schools for
native girls. At that time there was none in Java.
He had heard of the enlightened Regent of Japara, and of the example
which he had set to his fellow countrymen in educating his own
daughters. Accompanied by his wife Dr. Abendanon went to Japara to
obtain the assistance of the Regent in interesting the native official
world in his project.
A school for native girls had been the dream of Kartini and her sisters.
With her, the idea had become almost an obsession. Her longing for
education had gathered force and widened in its significance. It no
longer meant the shaping of an independent career for herself, but a
means to an end of work among her people.
Dr. Abendanon, in describing the first meeting with Kartini, said that
when she and her sisters came forward in their picturesque native
costume they made a most charming impression, but the charm was
heightened when they spoke to him in fluent Dutch. Kartini said that a
girls' school was the subject nearest her heart but asked that it also
be a vocational school, fitting the girl for self-support should she
desire it.
The influence and friendship of the Abendanons became a great comfort
and support to Kartini. Mevrouw Abendanon was called Moedertje (little
mother) and many letters were written to her.
Kartini was never able to go to Holland and study. Although her
disappointment was intense, she became convinced that her influence
among her own people would be stronger if she remained at home, free in
their eyes from the possibility of contamination by foreign ideas.
Acting upon the advice of Mevrouw Abendanon, she opened a school at home
for little girls. With the help of her sisters she instructed them in
elementary branches, in sewing and in cooking.
At last she obtained the permission of her father to continue her own
studies at Batavia. But she did not go to Batavia. Nor did she leave the
house of her parents in the way that she had planned.
She fell in love like any Western girl, and was married in 1903 to Raden
Adipati Djojo Adiningrat, Regent of Rembang. He had been educated in
Holland, and had many enlightened ideas for the advancement of his
people.
The dreams of Kartini were as his own, she had his full sympathy and
their work in the future would be carried on together. Both of them were
interested in the ancient history of Java, the sagas and stories of the
past. They wished to make a collection of these, they also felt a warm
interest in the revival of Javanese art, in wood carving, textile
weaving, dyeing, work in gold and copper and tortoise shell.
After Kartini was married her little school was continued at Rembang,
and some of the wood carvers who had been working under her supervision
at Semarang were anxious to follow her to her new home.
"Although I am a modern woman what a strange bridal dower I shall have,"
she writes to Mevrouw Abendanon in discussing the plan for moving the
little children she was teaching and the wood carvers to Rembang.
A charming picture of the married life of Kartini is given in her own
letters. There was a year of hard work and increased responsibility, but
also of great happiness.
On the 17th of September 1904, four days after the birth of her son
Siengghi, she died.
In 1907, the first Raden Adjeng Kartini school was founded at Batavia.
Its inception was largely due to the efforts of Dr. Abendanon. The
Governor General of Netherland-India, the Queen Mother of Holland and
many other influential persons gave it their active support. A society
at the Hague known as the "Kartini-fonds" had been formed and under its
patronage there are now schools at Malang, Cheribon, Buitenzorg,
Soerabaja, Semarang and Soerakarta, as well as at Batavia. There is also
a large number of native Kartini schools under the direct management of
native Javanese.
The long slumber of Java has ended. The principles for which Kartini
suffered and struggled are now almost universally accepted by her fellow
countrymen. A Javanese girl, even though of noble birth, may now earn
her living without bringing disgrace upon her family. Women choose their
own husbands, and plural marriages are much less frequent among the
younger generation.
The time was ripe. It has been said that great men are the products of
great movements. There must always be some one to strike the note of
leadership, so firmly convinced of the righteousness of a given cause
that he (or she) goes blindly forward, forgetful of personal interest
and of all selfish considerations, combatting the world if need be,
holding its ridicule as of no account; and what is perhaps hardest of
all, bringing sorrow and disappointment to those that love them.
The prophet burned at the stake amid execrations and the conqueror who
receives the plaudits of the multitude, alike await the judgment of
posterity. Only in after years can we weigh the thing that they have
wrought and gauge its true value.
Kartini has stood the test of time. To the modern progressive Javanese
she is a national heroine, almost a patron saint. Her influence and her
work live, and are a vital factor in the prosperity and happiness of her
country.