The two faces of Kartini

The two faces of Kartini

The name Kartini has almost always been associated with the
women's emancipation movement in Indonesia. Each year on April
21, the nation commemorates Kartini Day, so named after the late
19th century Javanese aristocrat whose letters to friends
exhibited her inner struggle against unjust gender
discrimination, especially in the field of education, during her
time. Raden Ajeng Kartini, the daughter of the Jepara Regent, may
have endorsed polygamy through her own marriage -- a fact that
fueled controversy over her claim as the first Indonesian woman
to fight for emancipation -- but her legend lives on to this day
nevertheless.

The Kartini who has been in the news these past few days,
however, is a far cry from what Indonesian women should be as
envisioned by the legendary Kartini some 100 years ago. This one
is a commoner and only known by her name and her father's. There
are no aristocratic titles attached to her name. But those who
claim that women's emancipation has come a long way in the past
century should look at Kartini bin Karim. She is in fact
archetypical of millions of Indonesian women: Poor, uneducated
and as she is also ignorant of her rights as an Indonesian
citizen, she is almost totally unprotected by the law.

Today, Kartini bin Karim, 35, is lingering on death row in the
United Arab Emirates. Working there as a housemaid, she was
recently sentenced to death by stoning by a local court for
committing adultery. She apparently gave birth to a son from her
relationship with an Indian cook who worked for the same Arab
employer. No other details are available about the circumstances
surrounding this affair, but the Indian cook is at large, while
Kartini bin Karim is now awaiting execution.

The government's response to this affair is classic: almost
too little and too late. This is not the first time that our
citizens have been tried and sentenced to death in foreign courts
without the benefit of the Indonesian government's assistance,
which is the job of Indonesian embassies and consulates. There
have been other instances when help came only after the due
process of law had been completed. Just as in Kartini's case.

As such, Kartini bin Karim did not receive assistance from the
Indonesian government when she was being investigated, tried and
later sentenced to death. She was all alone. Unable to speak the
language, Indonesian officials believed she might have
inadvertently confessed to incriminating statements and testimony
during the trial.

How could we have let this happen?

The Indonesian embassy or consulate in the United Arab
Emirates must assume some responsibility for acting too late in
this case. It is its duty to monitor the presence of all
Indonesians working in the country it serves, not simply by means
of registration but also by means of ensuring that their welfare,
and particularly their rights as aliens in the host country, are
well protected.

The Ministry of Manpower should also shoulder some
responsibility, for it has been its obsession all along to
generate as much foreign exchange as possible for the country by
arbitrarily sending Indonesians to work abroad. The government
has repeatedly assured us it would only send skilled and educated
workers, and that all would be given basic training in language
and their civic rights. But the case of Kartini bin Karim shows
that hundreds of thousands of uneducated and naive Indonesians
are still being shipped abroad each year.

Ultimately, the nation must take the lion's share of the blame
for Kartini bin Karim's tragic fate. Although an independent
nation for 55 years, we have continued to keep the poor,
particularly the women, in perpetual poverty and ignorance by
depriving them of their right to a decent living and their right
to basic education. We as a nation have essentially betrayed
Raden Ajeng Kartini's wishes for emancipation, not just of women,
but also of the poor. Since many of our people are not even aware
of their rights in their own country, what chance do they have of
knowing their rights when they are in foreign lands.

The government and the various non-governmental organizations
still have a last legal chance to save Kartini bin Karim from
execution by appealing for clemency. Let's hope they do it right
this time and save her life. Anything less and Raden Ajeng
Kartini will surely turn in her grave, and we may as well forget
about commemorating Kartini Day this year, or forever.