Jepara Resident Succeeds in Study and Work in Europe, Returns Home to Tragic Life
The return of someone who has long studied and worked abroad is usually synonymous with success and a stable life. However, a resident of Jepara named Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono experienced something different.
After years of pursuing education and building a brilliant career in Europe, his fate turned bitter upon returning to his homeland. He was shunned by the colonial government, struggled to find work, and lived in hardship until the end of his life.
Sosrokartono himself is known as the biological brother of Raden Ajeng Kartini. However, his contributions were no less significant. He is even remembered as the first Indonesian to successfully obtain a bachelor’s degree in Europe, specifically in the Netherlands.
Born on 10 April 1877 into a priyayi family, Sosrokartono had the opportunity to pursue higher education all the way to the Netherlands. In the book Sosrokartono: A Biography (1987), he is recorded as having studied at the Polytechnische School te Delft and Leiden University.
The pinnacle came in 1908 when he graduated from Leiden with a degree in Eastern Languages and Literature. His intelligence was extraordinary. He mastered dozens of languages from all corners of the world.
That ability made Sosrokartono actively write for various newspapers. His name even appears in the editorial board of Bintang Timoer, a newspaper published in the Netherlands in 1903 under the leadership of Abdul Rivai.
His career in Europe continued to rise. Sosrokartono then worked as a war correspondent and covered various international events for media in the Netherlands and the United States.
When World War I broke out in 1914-1918, he was even trusted to serve as a spokesperson for the Allied countries. Thanks to his ability to master many languages such as English, Dutch, French, German, and Russian, he was nicknamed the “Genius from the East”.
However, that brilliance did not run smoothly when he returned to Indonesia. Quoted from Tanah Air Bahasa: A Hundred Traces of the Indonesian Press (2007), Sosrokartono was instead shunned by the Dutch East Indies government because he was considered uncooperative. He refused to work with the colonial government and preferred to support the Indonesian independence struggle.
As a result, his room to manoeuvre was restricted. Sosrokartono struggled to find employment and was often the target of slander. The relentless pressures gradually eroded his physical condition.
Since 1942, his health continued to decline until he suffered paralysis. His condition never fully recovered.
On 8 February 1952, after years of living in hardship, Raden Mas Panji Sosrokartono passed away at the age of 74. The figure who had once achieved great success and was respected in Europe was gradually forgotten in his own country.