Kartini Without Honours, "Just Call Me Dewi Kartika"

So I want to continue teaching children, leaving behind good memories. I don’t want to wallow at home just sleeping and doing nothing. So I’ll keep teaching.

Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA) - “Just call me Dewi Kartika.” That phrase came to mind upon meeting Dewi Kartikaningrat, a teacher at the Indonesian School in Kuala Lumpur (SIKL) who devotes herself to educating Indonesian diaspora children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, amid her struggle to come to terms with breast cancer.

Dewi Kartika’s steadfastness and perseverance in teaching diaspora children evoke the figure of national heroine Raden Ajeng Kartini, as depicted in the biographical analysis book by renowned author Pramoedya Ananta Toer titled “Just Call Me Kartini” – a title quoted by Pram from an excerpt of Kartini’s correspondence to her pen friend Estelle “Stella” Zeehandelaar in 1899.

In his book, Pramoedya Ananta Toer portrays Kartini not merely as a symbol of emancipation, but also as a fighter for the right to education. In Pram’s reading, Kartini was not a figure with massive public support or abundant material resources; what she possessed was sensitivity and concern.

It is this sensitivity and concern that feel alive in Dewi Kartikaningrat – in her dedication as a “Kartini without honours.” She teaches Indonesian children in a foreign land, facing various risks and limitations, from administrative issues to potential threats that are not always visible.

Dewi Kartikaningrat was born in Yogyakarta on 25 September 1971. The blood of an educator runs strong in her. She is the eldest of four siblings, born to parents who were both teachers.

That environment shaped her from an early age. The atmosphere of the world of education was so ingrained in her daily life that when pursuing higher education, she chose to study English education at the Yogyakarta Institute of Teacher Training and Education (IKIP) – which in 1996 transformed into Yogyakarta State University (UNY).

During her university years, Dewi was already actively teaching. From her third semester, she opened an English language course for children in her neighbourhood – from neighbours’ children to those of rickshaw drivers.

She recalls that some of her students at the time could not afford the course fees. In exchange, they gave her three pieces of fried banana. A simple reward that touched her heart.

Entering her seventh semester, Dewi also underwent teaching practice at SMP Negeri 2 and SMA Berbudi in Yogyakarta. With meagre pay, she carried it out with full gratitude, until she finally completed her education in 1996.