No more `kebaya' on Kartini Day

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Monday was Kartini Day, named after the Indonesian heroine of emancipation, Raden Ajeng Kartini. Until a few years ago, schools busily organized activities to observe the day, usually involving contests such as cooking and flower arrangement. Female students were also told to wear the traditional kebaya, (Indonesian blouse) as Kartini did.

"Thank God it's over," said Hariati, the mother of an 8-year- old daughter.

She related how she had to cajole her daughter into wearing a kebaya at school, as requested by her teacher.

"I told her that it was my birthday and she had to wear the traditional clothes to make me happy," said Hariati, adding that her trick worked.

A teacher said that the school had not celebrated Kartini Day for two years, as there were no longer any instructions from the government on the matter. Besides, she said, many parents also complained about the obligation to wear kebaya.

Yanti, who sends her daughter to SD Trisula, Cikini, Central Jakarta, said she disagreed with the school's requirement for its students to wear traditional clothes on Kartini Day.

"Kartini's struggle is not all about the wearing of kebaya. Furthermore, the requirement created a lot of extra work for me, like taking my daughter to a hairdresser, borrowing the clothes, and putting makeup on her face," she said.

Kartini was born in Jepara, Central Java, on April 21, 1879. A brilliant young woman from a noble Jepara family, she was touched by the living conditions of other women at that time. They mostly had no access to education and had to stay at home, waiting until men proposed marriage to them.

Through her correspondence with a Dutchwoman, Kartini shared her thoughts, including that she was against polygamy and that a woman should have the choice to remain single, if she so desired.

She wrote in Dutch and her ideas were quite progressive and exceptional for the time.

Tragically, in the end, Kartini gave in and accepted her father's request to marry a 50-year-old man who already had three wives and six children. Later, Kartini died, aged 25, three days after giving birth to her first son.

The government declared Kartini a national heroine in 1964 and since then her birthday has been observed as Kartini Day.

Students were merely told that Kartini was a heroine in the cause of women's emancipation because she cared much about women's education.

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, 48, an activist for women's rights, told The Jakarta Post that it would be better for schools to encourage discussion on women's rights, instead of holding ceremonial, largely artificial celebrations.

"It would be better if people explored more Kartini's thoughts, so they could appreciate her basic philosophy," she said.

She cited herself as an example.

Despite the annual flag-raising ceremony at her school on Kartini Day, Nursyahbani said she had not understood what Kartini stood for until she finally read books on her later as an adult.

"In fact, somehow Kartini's death showed that a woman's natural fate is giving birth. Taking care of children can be done by men as well. That was exemplified by Kartini's son, who was not brought up by his mother," she said.