Common people forgotten heroes<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): As Indonesians mark their 50th independence
\nanniversary this year, two historians ask that they give some
\nthought to two groups of people whose contribution to the
\nrevolution were equally important yet often forgotten: women and
\nrural people.<\/p>\n
Sartono Kartodirdjo of Indonesia and Anton Lucas of Australia
\nraised this issue at a seminar which looked back at the
\nrevolution years. The seminar, which ended yesterday, was held at
\nthe Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).<\/p>\n
\"One should not forget the valuable contribution of peasants
\nto the struggle for independence,\" Sartono, a history professor
\nat the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Lucas, from Flinders University and a former pupil of Sartono,
\nnoted that the word \"people\" in the study of the Indonesian
\nindependence struggle refers very often to the male gender.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian revolution does not only belong to the men,
\nbut the women as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sartono, who heads Gadjah Mada's Center for Research on
\nVillage Studies, said villagers helped feed and accommodate the
\nmassive exodus of people from Yogyakarta after the first clash
\nwith the Dutch colonial army in 1947.<\/p>\n
\"The refugees in Bosnia suffer more now than evacuees of the
\nYogyakarta exodus did. At those times you could get free lunch
\nand even free breakfast from the from any village you passed,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Rural people were also targets of human rights abuses by the
\nDutch army, he said. \"In the still of the night you could hear
\ngunshots breaking the silence and in the next morning there were
\nbloody corpses lying in the middle of the streets and railroads.\"<\/p>\n
Lucas said historians and even artists have not properly
\nportrayed the role women played in those crucial years.<\/p>\n
\"Painter Sudjojono's painting of the exodus, with women
\nhanging onto their spouses, is an incorrect portrayal of events,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Instead, a more accurate portrayal might be women in tight
\nkebayas struggling to carry their belongings and children in the
\nabsence of their husbands.<\/p>\n
He admitted, though, that there are many older women today who
\ndo not see themselves as once being an integral part of the
\nrevolutionary struggle. \"They place themselves in a traditional
\nfamily household role and do not feel they have freedom to think
\nthey were important to the revolution,\" he said. (06)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/common-people-forgotten-heroes-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}