Young people write up their own family histories
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
For Nona Yoani Sara, 12, history is no longer a boring subject full of irrelevant events taking place years even before her father was born, that have to be memorized in order to pass a test in school.
She and her brother Anang Saptoto, 22, have written their own history about family businesses, one of which is run by their grandmother who arduously (at least in their eyes) works for a food stall that makes their home hot and humid, yet at the same time feeds them and many other people.
"In the 22 years of my life, I still witness the fortitude of a 63-year-old woman running a business for the sake of providing for the family," Anang wrote in an essay about the family's business at Jl. Letjen S. Parman No. 91 in Yogyakarta.
"She is Ibu Hj. Moch. Ali, my grandmother," he continued.
Besides the food stall, the family has also run a rubber stamp business since 1946.
In a different family history, Yuli Andari, 25, a student at Gadjah Mada University, unraveled a family saga about the forbidden romance of her parents.
"My father was a Javanese schoolteacher on the island of Sumbawa in West Nusatenggara, where my mother was born as an eldest child of a noble family, a descendent of Sumbawa's princes and princesses," Andari said.
To write this bit of family history, Andari interviewed her father and mother.
Her father, Soekardjo, recalled the time when he first saw Siti Mutmaenah, Andari's mother.
"She looked beautiful when she was wearing the kebaya ...," Soekardjo told her daughter.
Like Hugh Grant and Andie McDowell in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, Siti and Soekardjo first met at a friend's wedding in 1972.
Soon, Siti's extended family found out about their relationship and interfered with the relationship, because as a blue-blooded woman, Siti should marry a man of noble birth.
But Siti was determined to marry Soekardjo. After an elder princess gave a green light to the lovebirds, Siti's family agreed to allow Soekardjo propose to Siti.
But with a price ...
"I can't believe it! The dowry is really expensive ...," said Andari's father, relating his reaction when he heard what Siti's family were demanding in exchange for her hand.
"The interesting thing I found out from the interview with my father was that the Javanese community in Sumbawa gave significant assistance to my father," Andari said.
When the community heard about the price of the dowry, they summoned Soekardjo. After assessing Soekardjo's seriousness about marrying Siti, the community agreed to pitch in the money to fulfill the dowry, Andari said.
"Those are some of the Javanese," Andari told the Post, pointing at a wedding photograph where some men sporting black Western suits were sitting.
Andari's parents' marriage was the first mixed ethnic marriage in this royal family.
"My parent's marriage thus paved the way for other family members to do the same because they saw that a mixed marriage could work just fine," she said.
When asked what was the use of knowing and writing her family history herself, Andari thought for a moment.
"I just think having this knowledge is important so you can know yourself better," she said.