Kartini, Raden Adjeng

▪ Javanese noble

born April 21, 1879, Majong, Java [Indonesia]

died Sept. 17, 1904, Rembang Regency, Java

      Javanese noblewoman whose letters made her an important symbol for the Indonesian independence movement and for Indonesian feminists.

      The daughter of a Javanese aristocrat working for the Dutch colonial administration as governor of the Japara Regency (an administrative district), Kartini had the unusual opportunity to attend a Dutch school, which exposed her to Western ideas and made her fluent in Dutch. During adolescence, when she was forced to withdraw to the cloistered existence prescribed by tradition for a Javanese girl of noble birth, she began to correspond with several Dutch friends from her school days. She also knew and was influenced by Mevrouw Ovink-Soer, wife of a Dutch official and a dedicated socialist and feminist. In her letters Kartini expressed concern for the plight of Indonesians under conditions of colonial rule and for the restricted roles open to Indonesian women. She resolved to make her own life a model for emancipation and, after her marriage in 1903 to a progressive Javanese official, the Regent of Rembang, she proceeded with plans to open a school for Javanese girls.

      Kartini died at the age of 25 of complications after the birth of her first child, but J.H. Abendanon—former director of the Department of Education, Religion, and Industry—arranged for publication of her letters in 1911, under the title Door duisternis tot licht (“Through Darkness into Light”). The book enjoyed great popularity and generated support in The Netherlands for the Kartini Foundation, which in 1916 opened the first girls' schools in Java, thus fulfilling Kartini's ambition. Her ideas were also taken up by Indonesian students attending Dutch universities, and in 1922 an Indonesian translation of the letters was published. Although Indonesian nationalist aims went far beyond her ideas, she became a popular symbol, and her birthday was made a national holiday.

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