April 21, It’s a Kartini Day!

Commemorating the birth of R.A Kartini in 1879, every 21st of April, Indonesia celebrating Kartini Day – to respect one of the national heroes, which also a pioneer in the emancipation of Indonesian women.

To symbolize their unity, all Indonesia women wear their national dresses, and celebrate it with joy of parades – mostly in various school activities.

Lady Kartini, the daughter of a Javanese nobleman who worked for the Dutch colonial administration, was exposed to Western ideas when she attended a Dutch school. In 1903, she began a fight for the right of women to be educated and against the unwritten but all-pervading Javanese law, now called Adat.

She died in 1904 at the age of 25, after the birth of her first child. Her letters were published in 1911 under the title, Door duisternis tot licht (“Through Darkness into Light”) or in Bahasa, well-known as ‘Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang’, and created to support for the Kartini Foundation, which opened the first girls’ school in Java in 1916.

Wow! Imagine, what we will be without her courage.. we love you so much Ibu Kartini.