Raden Ajeng Kartini
Born	(1879-04-21)21 April 1879 Jepara, Central Java, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
Died	17 September 1904(1904-09-17) (aged 25) Rembang, Central Java, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
Other names	Raden Ajeng Kartini
Known for	National heroine
Religion	Islam
Spouse	Raden Adipati Joyodiningrat

Raden Ayu^[1] Kartini, (21 April 1879 – 17 September 1904), or sometimes known as Raden Ajeng Kartini, was a prominent Javanese and an Indonesian national heroine. Kartini was a pioneer in the area of women's rights for Indonesians.

Biography[link]

Kartini was born into an aristocratic Javanese family when Java was part of the Dutch colony of the Dutch East Indies. Kartini's father, Sosroningrat, became Regency Chief of Jepara. Kartini's father, was originally the district chief of Mayong. Her mother, Ngasirah was the daughter of Madirono and a teacher of religion in Teluwakur. She was his first wife but not the most important one. At this time, polygamy was a common practice among the nobility. She also wrote the Letters of a Javanese Princess. Colonial regulations required a Regency Chief to marry a member of the nobility. Since Ngasirah was not of sufficiently high nobility^[2], her father married a second time to Woerjan (Moerjam), a direct descendant of the Raja of Madura. After this second marriage, Kartini's father was elevated to Regency Chief of Jepara, replacing his second wife's own father, Tjitrowikromo.

Kartini was the fifth child and second eldest daughter in a family of eleven, including half siblings. She was born into a family with a strong intellectual tradition. Her grandfather, Pangeran Ario Tjondronegoro IV, became a Regency Chief at the age of 25 while Kartini's older brother Sosrokartono was an accomplished linguist. Kartini's family allowed her to attend school until she was 12 years old. Here, among other subjects, she learnt to speak Dutch, an unusual accomplishment for Javanese women at the time^[3]. After she turned 12 she was 'secluded' at home, a common practice among Javanese nobility, to prepare young girls for their marriage. During seclusion girls were not allowed to leave their parents' house until they were married, at which point authority over them was transferred to their husbands. Kartini's father was more lenient than some during his daughter's seclusion, giving her such privileges as embroidery lessons and occasional appearances in public for special events.

During her seclusion, Kartini continued to educate herself on her own. Because she could speak Dutch, she acquired several Dutch pen friends. One of them, a girl by the name of Rosa Abendanon, became a close friend. Books, newspapers and European magazines fed Kartini's interest in European feminist thinking, and fostered the desire to improve the conditions of indigenous Indonesian women, who at that time had a very low social status.

Kartini's reading included the Semarang newspaper De Locomotief, edited by Pieter Brooshooft, as well as leestrommel, a set of magazines circulated by bookshops to subscribers. She also read cultural and scientific magazines as well as the Dutch women's magazine De Hollandsche Lelie, to which she began to send contributions which were published. Before she was 20 she hard read Max Havelaar and Love Letters by Multatuli. She also read De Stille Kracht (The Hidden Force) by Louis Couperus, the works of Frederik van Eeden, Augusta de Witt, the Romantic-Feminist author Goekoop de-Jong Van Eek and an anti-war novel by Berta von Suttner, Die Waffen Nieder! (Lay Down Your Arms!). All were in Dutch.

Kartini's concerns were not only in the area of the emancipation of women, but also other problems of her society. Kartini saw that the struggle for women to obtain their freedom, autonomy and legal equality was just part of a wider movement.

Kartini with Joyodiningrat

Kartini's parents arranged her marriage to Joyodiningrat, the Regency Chief of Rembang, who already had three wives. She was married on the 12 November 1903. This was against Kartini's wishes, but she acquiesced to appease her ailing father. Her husband understood Kartini's aims and allowed her to establish a school for women in the east porch of the Rembang Regency Office complex. Kartini's only son was born on 13 September 1904. A few days later on 17 September 1904, Kartini died at the age of 25. She was buried in Bulu Village, Rembang.

Inspired by R.A. Kartini's example, the Van Deventer family established the R.A. Kartini Foundation which built schools for women, 'Kartini's Schools' in Semarang in 1912, followed by other women's schools in Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Malang, Madiun, Cirebon and other areas.

Commemoration of Kartini Day in 1953

In 1964, President Sukarno declared R.A. Kartini's birth date, 21 April, as 'Kartini Day' - an Indonesian national holiday. This decision has been criticised. It has been proposed that Kartini's Day should be celebrated in conjunction with Indonesian Mothers Day, on 22 December so that the choice of R.A. Kartini as a national heroine would not overshadow other women who, unlike R.A. Kartini, took up arms to oppose the colonisers.

In contrast, those who recognise the significance of R.A. Kartini argue that not only was she a feminist who elevated the status of women in Indonesia, she was also a nationalist figure, with new ideas who struggled on behalf of her people, including her in the national struggle for independence.

Letters[link]

After Raden Adjeng Kartini died, Mr J. H. Abendanon, the Minister for Culture, Religion and Industry in the East Indies, collected and published the letters that Kartini had sent to her friends in Europe. The book was titled Door Duisternis tot Licht (Out of Dark Comes Light) and was published in 1911. It went through five editions, with some additional letters included in the final edition, and was translated into English by Agnes L. Symmers and published under the title Letters of a Javanese Princess.

The publication of R.A. Kartini's letters, written by a native Javanese woman, attracted great interest in the Netherlands and Kartini's ideas began to change the way the Dutch viewed native women in Java. Her ideas also provided inspiration for prominent figures in the fight for Independence.

There are some grounds for doubting the veracity of R.A. Kartini's letters. There are allegations that Abendanon made up R.A. Kartini's letters. These suspicions arose because R.A. Kartini's book was published at a time when the Dutch Colonial Government were implementing 'Ethical Policies' in the Dutch East Indies, and Abendanon was one of the most prominent supporters of this policy. The current whereabouts of the vast majority of R.A. Kartini's letters is unknown. According to the late Sulastin Sutrisno, the Dutch Government has been unable to track down J. H. Abendanon's descendants.

Ideas[link]

Condition of Indonesian women[link]

In her letters, Raden Adjeng Kartini wrote about her views of the social conditions prevailing at that time, particularly the condition of native Indonesian women. The majority of her letters protest the tendency of Javanese Culture to impose obstacles for the development of women. She wanted women to have the freedom to learn and study. R.A. Kartini wrote of her ideas and ambitions, including Zelf-ontwikkeling, Zelf-onderricht, Zelf-vertrouwen, Zelf-werkzaamheid and Solidariteit. These ideas were all based on Religieusiteit, Wijsheid en Schoonheid, that is, belief in God, wisdom, and beauty, along with Humanitarianisme (humanitarianism) and Nationalisme (nationalism).

Kartini's letters also expressed her hopes for support from overseas. In her correspondence with Estell "Stella" Zeehandelaar, R.A. Kartini expressed her desire to be like a European youth. She depicted the sufferings of Javanese women fettered by tradition, unable to study, secluded, and who must be prepared to participate in polygamous marriages with men they don't know.

Religion[link]

Raden Adjeng Kartini also expressed criticisms about religion^{[citation needed]}. She questioned why the Quran must be memorised and recited without an obligation to actually understand it^{[citation needed]}. She also expressed the view that the world would be more peaceful if there was no religion to provide reasons for disagreements, discord and offence^{[citation needed]}. She wrote "Religion must guard us against committing sins, but more often, sins are committed in the name of religion"^{[citation needed]}

Kartini also raised questions with the way in which religion provided a justification for men to pursue polygamy^{[citation needed]}. For Kartini, the suffering of Javanese women reached a pinnacle when the world was reduced to the walls of their houses and they were prepared for a polygamous marriage.^{[citation needed]}

Vegetarian Lifestyle[link]

It is known from her letters dated October 1902 to Abendanon and her husband that at the age of 23, Raden Adjeng Kartini had a mind to live a vegetarian life. "It has been for sometime that we are thinking to do it (to be a vegetarian), I have even eaten only vegetables for years now, but I still don't have enough moral courage to carry on. I am still too young." R.A. Kartini once wrote.

She also emphasized the relationship between this kind of lifestyle with religious thoughts. She also quoted, "Living a life as vegetarian is a wordless prayer to the Almighty."^[4]

Further studies and teaching[link]

Raden Adjeng Kartini loved her father deeply although it is clear that her deep affection for him became yet another obstacle to the realisation of her ambitions. He was sufficiently progressive to allow his daughters schooling until the age of 12 but at that point the door to further schooling was firmly closed. In his letters, her father also expressed his affection for R.A. Kartini. Eventually, he gave permission for R.A. Kartini to study to become a teacher in Batavia (now Jakarta), although previously he had prevented her from continuing her studies in the Netherlands or entering medical school in Batavia.

R.A. Kartini's desire to continue her studies in Europe was also expressed in her letters. Several of her pen friends worked on her behalf to support Kartini in this endeavour. And when finally Kartini's ambition was thwarted, many of her friends expressed their disappointment. In the end her plans to study in the Netherlands were transmuted into plans to journey to Batavia on the advice of Mrs. Abendanon that this would be best for R.A. Kartini and her younger sister, R.Ayu Rukmini.

Nevertheless, in 1903 at the age of 24, her plans to study to become a teacher in Batavia came to nothing. In a letter to Mrs. Abendanon, R.A. Kartini wrote that the plan had been abandoned because she was going to be married... "In short, I no longer desire to take advantage of this opportunity, because I am to be married..". This was despite the fact that for its part, the Dutch Education Department had finally given permission for R.A. Kartini and R.Ay. Rukmini to study in Batavia.

As the wedding approached, R.A. Kartini's attitude towards Javanese traditional customs began to change. She became more tolerant. She began to feel that her marriage would bring good fortune for her ambition to develop a school for native women. In her letters, R.A. Kartini mentioned that not only did her esteemed husband support her desire to develop the woodcarving industry in Jepara and the school for native women, but she also mentioned that she was going to write a book. Sadly, this ambition was unrealised as a result of her premature death in 1904 at the age of 25.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• 1912, Raden Adj. Kartini, Door duisternis tot licht, with a foreword by J.H. Abendanon, The Hague
• 1920, Raden Adjeng Kartini, Letters of a Javanese princess, translated by Agnes Louise Symmers with a foreword by Louis Couperus, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0-8191-4758-3 (1986 edition), ISBN 1-4179-5105-2 (2005 edition)
• 1942, M.Vierhout, "Raden Adjeng Kartini", Oceanus, Den Haag (in Dutch)
• 2000, F.G.P. Jaquet (red.), Kartini; Surat-surat kepada Ny. R.M. Abendanon-Mandri dan suaminya. 3rd edition. Jakarta: Djambatan, xxii + 603 pp.
• 1999, Elisabeth Keesing, Betapa besar pun sebuah sangkar; Hidup, suratan dan karya Kartini. Jakarta: Djambatan, v + 241 pp.
• 2004, J. Anten, Honderd(vijfentwintig) jaar Raden Adjeng Kartini; Een Indonesische nationale heldin in beeld, Nieuwsbrief Nederlands Fotogenootschap 43: 6-9.

External links[link]

• Works by Kartini at Project Gutenberg
• http://www.kitlv.nl/pdf_documents/13_KARTINI.pdf. The Kartini-archive inventory at the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (KITLV) / Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands

Indonesia portal

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Maria Lourdes Grace Valdivia Basabas, who is better known as Lougee (pronounced "Lou-G") Basabas (born October 24, 1984 in Alabang, Muntinlupa, Philippines), is the current lead vocalist of the Filipino alternative rock band Delara (formerly Mojofly), a position she has held since the second quarter of 2003.

Lougee has been appearing in print ads and TV commercials since the age of 14. Some of her endorsements and appearances include Mitsubishi, Pepsi, Jollibee, Cream Silk, Penshoppe, Del Monte, SmartBro, Mobile Philippines Magazine (MPH), and Ayala Malls. Before becoming the new voice of Mojofly, Lougee was a member of Ryan Cayabyab's pop teen-group, Kaya, which released an album under BMG Records Pilipinas (now Sony-BMG Music Philippines and one of her ex-groupmates was Pinoy Pop Superstar season 1 contestant Brenan Espartinez. Her first foray in the alternative band scene began when she had her very own indie band named Superlooj (which came from "Super Lougee") formed by Parokya ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda.

Eventually, she was referred by Mojofly veteran and guitarist Ricci Gurango to become the next Mojofly lead vocalist after Kitchie Nadal left the band to venture on a solo career. She had also been writing songs during her early years; Tumatakbo — which won the Best Animated Video and Favorite Indie Video in the MTV Pilipinas Video Music Awards 2006 — along with Bato are some of the songs she wrote at the age of 14. Around 90% of the songwriting was done by her when she assumed the position of Mojofly's lead vocalist.

Lougee redefined the sound of Mojofly with her powerful voice and witty songwritting. The band's presence was known again after numerous gigs and the release of their self-titled album — eventually, earning them to become the MTV Lokal Artist of the Month (March 2005). Their album, which was only available in their gigs, was finally released nationwide by EMI Philippines under the guidance of their manager Karin Araneta of the independent label luKas Music Philippines. As evident from the successes and praises of the release of MOJOFLY NOW (June 2005) and its special edition 2-CD package (August 2006), Lougee is no doubt posed to lead the new Mojofly to become one of the Philippines' premier band and eventually become one of the country’s greatest female artists.

Lougee was nominated as Best Female Artist at the NU 107 Rock Awards 2005 and 2006. She appeared in the music video of Guji Lorenzana's I'll Be Yours Forever (Ivory Records) and in the music video of Future — a song performed by Urbandub and Dicta Licence for the MTV Staying Alive Music Summit 2006 — with other OPM bands and solo artists. She is currently majoring in Mass Communications at the Assumption College.

Discovery[link]

There are also stories regarding who really referred Lougee to become Mojofly's lead vocalist. Aside from Ricci Gurango, some say it was Japs Sergio of Rivermaya whom she met in one of their Alabang-based Chickie Bones gigs; while some also say that it was Chito Miranda — the founder of Superlooj — who referred her personally to Mojofly's guitarist Ricci Gurango.

Songs Written Since Mojofly[link]

MOJOFLY NOW:

• Bato
• Sa Uulitin^*
• Close to the End^*
• Mata^*
• Thank You
• Tumatakbo^*
• Minamalas^*
• Turn
• Choose^* (theme song of Creamsilk Pink Power)

^*music video available

Television[link]

Lougee became a part of the longest-running noon time show in the Philippines, Eat Bulaga!. She started as a featured performer at one of EB's segment question category, TwinkyOke. Later on, she became one of the noon-time hosts which boosted her popularity. She appeared in the TV game show K! The 1-Million Videoke Challenge twice (2006). She loses to TV/movie actress G Toengi in the final round during her first appearance, but became the champion in her second appearance months later, beating Stonefree's lead vocalist Miro Valera. She also appeared in GAME KNB? and made her way to the second round (atras-abante round) of the game show (2006). Lougee, and fellow Mojofly member Ali Alejandro (drums), co-hosted in the daily morning show Breakfast for one whole week (September 2006). In 2007 she was paired up with figure skater, Dikki John Martinez,on the show STARS ON ICE on QTV11 along with Bobby Andrews, who was paired to leslie pena ching, and sheree.

References[link]

All information written are taken from Mojofly's Official Websites and Mailing List (see external links).

Mojofly's Official Websites and Mailing List are moderated by Karin Araneta (Mojofly's manager).

External links[link]

The following are Mojofly's official websites:

• Mojofly Archives
• mojofly.com.ph
• MOJOFLYNOW.com

Eat Bulaga Website - featuring Lougee

• Eat Bulaga! - LOUGEE