No more `kebaya' on Kartini Day

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.