Sartono: History provides a sense of collective identity

Sartono: History provides a sense of collective identity

By Tjahjono Ep.

YOGYAKARTA (JP): As the threat of national disintegration
looms, this nation must reinforce its national identity. This
identity must be spelled out in the context of the nation's
collective life through the different stages of its history.

Inherent in this collective life is a common destiny:
superiority and decline, triumph and defeat, all cumulatively
create a sense of belonging on the part of the community members.
So writes Sartono in his book entitled Indonesian Historiography,
published by Kanisius Yogyakarta, during the book discussion
marking his 80th birthday.

His birthday celebration was organized on Thursday by the
Department of History, School of Letters, Gadjah Mada University
and was attended by some of his former students.

Sartono Kartodirdjo is a man of small stature with works of
great significance. Born in Wonogiri, Central Java, on Feb. 15,
1921, the third child of the Tjitro Sarojos, Sartono is an
important figure trying to change the method of historical
writing from a descriptive narration to descriptive analysis. It
is an attempt to describe facts in a multi-dimensional and multi-
disciplinary manner with other approaches which are generally
adopted in social sciences serving as the auxiliary instruments
for history as a science. "History writing must no longer be
palace-centered," he said.

Sartono said that every historical story revealed how
something happened and its root cause. When a new phenomenon
occurs in society, human beings try to identify this change by
tracing its background. This understanding will project an image
of an identity.

In terms of structure and characteristics, Indonesian
Historiography is arranged as a framework for a critical
historical study divorced from mythology and legends. Historical
reconstruction is established on the basis of critical selection
and analysis and logical and empirical reasoning and is expressed
in a discursive language.

Known to his students as a firm and strict person, Sartono
completed his study of history in 1956 from the University of
Indonesia, Jakarta. He continued his studies at Yale University
and earned his doctorate degree in 1966 from the University of
Amsterdam with Professor WF Wertheim as his thesis advisor. He
defended his dissertation, entitled The Peasant's Revolt of
Bantam in 1888 with distinction.

Sartono studied at Hollands Inlandsche School (HIS) between
1927 and 1934 in his hometown of Wonogiri. He then continued his
studies at Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs (MULO) in Solo. He
completed teachers' training college in 1941 in the Central
Java's town of Muntilan. "I've been true to my calling as a
teacher since 1941," he said, his face beaming with pride.

He first became a teacher at Schakel school in Muntilan. When
the revolution broke out, he had to lead the life of a wanderer
and stayed in Yogyakarta from July 1947 to 1959. It was during
this period that he married Sri Kadaryati on May 6, 1948. While
in Yogyakarta, he went on teaching while involving himself in a
political party led by Kasimo, a noted political leader among the
Catholics.

In 1950, Sartono began to study history at the University of
Indonesia. He said that he was nearly the sole student in the
history department as some of his peers moved to other
departments. Sartono said that, considering the future, it was
strange that out of 80 million to 90 million Indonesians, there
were few who would like to devote themselves to the study of
history.

Sartono's steadfastness as an intellectual and historian has
been tested several times. In 1992 he refused the request made by
the State Secretariat to edit the white book on the controversial
Sept. 30, 1965 (Communist) movement. From the very start, this
book contained political subjectivity to justify the regime that
was in power at the time. For the same reason, he also withdrew
from the team of editors for the project of the writing of a
multi-volume national history book.

One of his former students, Djoko Suryo, dean of the School of
Letters of Gadjah Mada University, said that Sartono was really a
man of principle. Many of the students under his guidance have
complained about this.

"Once there was a student under his guidance who got annoyed
because Sartono rejected the 500-page dissertation he had written
and manually typed," Djoko Suryo said.

Although he was strict as an advisor, Sartono will never
forget what happened on Nov. 1, 1966 at Lutherse Kerk, Spui,
Amsterdam, when he was going to defend his doctorate
dissertation. "I was 3 minutes to 5 minutes late because of
traffic congestion in Amsterdam," he recalled.

Sartono, nicknamed by some of the students under his guidance
as the "butcher", has a long list of books to his credit. Some
which have been published are "Protest Movement in Rural Java"
(1973), "Pemikiran dan Perkembangan Historiography Indonesia:
Suatu Alternatif (Thoughts about and Development of Indonesian
Historiography: An Alternative, 1984), "Perkembangan Peradaban
Priyayi (Development of Civilization of Javanese Aristocratic
Class, 1987), "Pengantar Sejarah Indonesia Baru (An Introduction
to New Indonesian History, 1987 and 1992), Ungkapan-Ungkapan
Filsafat Sejarah Barat dan Timur (Philosophical Expressions in
Occidental and Oriental History, 1990), Pendekatan Ilmu Sosial
dalam Metodologi Sejarah (Social Science Approach in Methodology
of History, 1992), Pembangunan Bangsa: Tentang Nasionalisme,
Kesadaran dan Kebudayaan Nasional(Nation Building: On
Nationalism, Awareness and National Culture, 1993), Multidimensi
Pembangunan Bangsa dan Etos Nasionalism Negara Kesatuan (Multi-
dimensional Nation Building and the Ethos of Nationalism of a
Unitary State, 1999), and Ideologi dan Teknologi dalam
Pembangunan Bangsa (Ideology and Technology in Nation Building,
1999).

Amid his great enthusiasm to write the history of this nation,
Sartono once expressed his disappointment and concern because
none of his three children were interested in history. Pointing
to the books stacked in all corners of the house, he, with
resignation said, "I don't know who will ever read these books
again."