Reigniting the Trisakti Flame Amid a Crisis: Reflections on National Awakening

Never abandon history. History is the lifeblood of the nation. Only a nation that captures the lightning of its own history can stand tall on its own feet. — Ir Soekarno.

More than a century ago, in a small classroom and the corridors of the dormitory of the School tot Opleiding van Indische Artsen (STOVIA) in Batavia, a radical and visionary thinking was being worked out.

The founding of Boedi Oetomo on 20 May 1908 was not merely the moment of the establishment of a modern organisation; it was a spiritual and intellectual explosion propelled by the hands of the youth.

National Awakening Day is a clear demarcation line that separates the era of the fragmenting primordial regionalism from the bright dawn of a unified national consciousness.

The movement did not arise from void. It was sparked by the deep unease of a wandering elderly doctor, dr Wahidin Soedirohoesodo, who lamented the lag and poverty of his people as a result of the lack of access to education.

Wahidin’s idea of Studiefonds (education fund) lit a fire in the hearts of STOVIA’s youths.

The youths Soetomo, Goenawan Mangoenkoesoemo, Soeradji, and their colleagues realised that the remedy for the disease of the “colonialism” afflicting their homeland was not a medical potion, but a modern, well-structured organisation.