21 April, dan saya teringat satu buku lama yang pernah saya baca beberapa tahun lalu.
Buku yang saya maksud adalah Letters of A Javanese Princess, yang terbitkan
pada tahun 1921 oleh Duchworth & Co.-London. Buku ini merupakan hasil
terjemahan oleh Agnes Louise Symmers dari buku aslinya yang berjudul “Door Duisternis tot Licht” atau “From Darkness into Light” dalam bahasa
Inggris, yang diterbitkan pada tahun 1911. Isinya adalah surat-surat dari Raden
Adjeng Kartini kepada beberapa orang kawannya di negeri Belanda, yang kemudian
dikumpulkan dan diedit oleh Dr. J.H. Abendanon (mantan Menteri Pendidikan dan
Industri untuk Hindia Belanda).
Dalam buku ini hanya memuat surat
sepihak yaitu yang dikirimkan oleh Kartini saja dan tidak menampilkan
surat-surat balasannya. Namun saya lebih tertarik melihat bagaimana persepsi “orang
Barat” yang terlibat dalam penerbitan buku ini mengenai sosok Kartini. Dua nama
yang ada di buku ini adalah Louis Marie-Anne Couperus --seorang novelis dan
penulis puisi dari Belanda--, dan Agnes Louise Symmers sang penerjemah buku ini
dari versi bahasa Belanda ke Inggris.
-----
Louis Coperus dalam kata pengantarnya
di buku ini (hal. vii-x) -–yang menurut saya isinya lebih mirip ode atau
pujian-- menulis, bahwa diterbitkannya buku tentang surat-surat Kartini pertama kali diterbitkan
di Belanda, telah menimbulkan perhatian simpati yang luas di kalangan
masyarakat Belanda dan Eropa pada
umumnya.
When the letters of Raden Adjeng Kartini
were published in Holland, they aroused much interest and awakened a warm
sympathy for the writer. She was the young daughter of a Javanese Regent, one of
the "princesses" who grow up and blossom in sombre obscurity and
seclusion, leading their monotonous and often melancholy lives within the
confines of the Kaboepatin, as the high walled Regent's palaces are called.
…
The Javanese woman of noble birth is even
more impenetrable. The life of a Raden Adjeng or a Raden Adjoe, is a thing
apart. Even the Dutch officials and rulers of the country know nothing of the
lives of these secluded "princesses," as we like to call the wives
and daughters of the Regents, though they themselves lay no claim to a title
which in Europe ranks so high.
Suddenly a voice was heard from the depths
of this unknown land. It rose from behind the high protecting wall that had
done its work of subjection and concealment through the ages. It was gentle,
like the melodious song of a little bird in a cage—in a costly cage it is true,
and surrounded by the tenderest care, but still in a cage that was also a
prison. It ivas the voice of Raden Adjeng Kartini, ivhich sounded above the
walls of the close-barred Kaboepatin. It was like the cry of a little bird that
wanted to spread its wings free in the air, and fly towards life. And the sound
grew fuller and clearer, till it became the rich voice of a woman.
She was shut in by aristocratic traditions
and living virtually imprisoned as became a young "princess" of Java;
but she sang of her longing for life and work and her voice rose clearer and
stronger. It penetrated to the distant Netherlands, and was heard there with
wonder and with delight. She was singing a new song, the first complaint that
had ever gone forth from the mysterious hidden life of the Javanese woman. With
all the energy of her body and soul she wanted to be free, to work and to live
and to love.
Then the complaint became a song of
rejoicing. For she not only longed to lead the new life of the modern woman,
but she had the strength to accomplish it, and more than that, to win the
sympathy of her family and of her friends for her ideals. This little
"princess” lifted the concealing veil from her daily life and not only her
life, her thoughts were revealed. An Oriental woman had dared to fight for
feminism, even against her tenderly loved parents. For although her father and
mother were enlightened for noble Javanese, they had at first strongly opposed
her ideas as unheard of innovations.
She wanted to study and later to become a
teacher—to open a school for the daughters of Regents, and to bring the new
spirit into their lives. She battled bravely, she would not give up; in the
end, she won.
Raden Adjeng Kartini freed herself from
the narrow oppression of tradition, and the simple language of these letters
chants a paean "From Darkness into Light." The mist of obscurity is cleared away from
her land and her people. The Javanese soul is shown as simple, gentle, and less
hostile than we Westerners had ever dared to hope. For the soul of this girl
was one with the soul of her people, and it is through her that a new
confidence has grown up between the West and the East, between the Netherlands
and Java. The mysterious "Quiet Strength” is brought into the light, it is
tender, humwi and full of love, and Holland may well be grateful to the hand
that revealed it.
This noble and pure soul was not destined
to remain long upon earth. Had she lived, who knows what Raden Adjeng Kartini
might not have accomplished for the well being of her country and her people;
above all, for the Javanese woman and the Javanese child. She was the first Regent's
daughter to break the fixed tradition in regard to marriage; it was customary
to give the bride to a strange bridegroom, whom she had never seen, perhaps
never even heard of, until her wedding day. Kartini chose her own husband, a
man whom she loved, but her happy life with him was cut short by her early
death.
Jt is sometimes granted to those whom the
gods love to bring their work to fruition in all the splendour of youth, in the
springtime or the summer of their lives. To have worked and to have completed a
great task, when one is young, so that the world is left richer for all time— is
not that the most beautiful of all the gifts of the gods?
-----
Sementara Agnes Louise Symmers memberi kata pengantar cukup
panjang yang lebih kaya tentang latar belakang keluarga, budaya, mimpi,
perjalanan pemikiran, hambatan, dukungan dan pengaruh Kartini kala itu (hal.
xii-xviii)
These letters which breathe the modem
spirit, in all of its restless intensity, were written by a girl of the Orient,
reared in an ancient and outworn civilization. They unfold the story of the
writer with unconscious simplicity and present a vivid picture of Javanese life
and manners.
But perhaps their chief interest lies in
their value as a human document.
In them the old truth of the oneness of
humanity is once more made manifest and we see that the magnificent altruism,
the spirit of inquiry, and the almost morbid desire for self-searching and
analysis that characterize the opening years of the Twentieth Century were not
peculiar to Europe or to America, but were universal and belonged to the world,
to the East as well as to the West.
Kartini, that was her only name—Raden
Adjeng is a title—wrote to her Dutch friends in the language of the
Netherlands. In her home circle she spoke always Javanese, aiid she was
Javanese in her intense love for her land and people, as well as in dress and
manners.
She did not live to see the work that has
been accomplished in her name during the last ten years. Today there are
"Kartini Schools" in all parts of Java. The influence of her life and
teachings is perhaps greater than that of any other woman of modem times because
it reaches all of the thirty-eight millions of Javanese and extends to some
extent throughout the entire East.
She did not desire to make of her people
pseudo-Europeans but better Javanese. Not the material freedom for which during
the three hundred years of Dutch rule the Javanese of the past had sometimes waged
a bloody warfare, but the greater freedom of the mind and of the spirit. The
Dutch rule had become enlightened. In local affairs the Javanese had
self-government under their own officials. But they were bowed down by
superstition and under the sway of tradition. The "adat," or law
which cannot be changed, was fostered by religion. They were imbued with all
the fatalism of the Mohammedan, the future belonged to "Tekdir" or
Fate and it was vain to rebel against its decrees. But Kartini rebelled against
"Tekdir." She refused to believe in the righteousness of the ancient
law that a girl must marry, or breaking that law, bring everlasting disgrace
upon her family.
She realized that the freedom of woman
could only come through economic independence. And personally she said that she
had rather be a kitchen maid, than be forced to marry a strange and unknown
man. For in well-bred Javanese circles girls were brought up according to the
most rigid Mohammedan canons and closely guarded from the eyes of men.
Dr. Abendanon, the compiler of Kartini's
letters, says that although he had lived for twenty-five years in Java, she and
her sisters were the first young girls of noble birth that he had ever seen.
Kartini wanted to go to Holland to study,
to return home when she had gained a broader knowledge and experience, equipped
for teaching the daughters of her own people. She wished to help them through
education, to break with the stultifying traditions of the past. Although always
a Mohammedan, marriage with more than one wife was abhorrent to her. True
progress seemed impossible in a polygamous society for men or for women.
Furthermore polygamy was not commanded or even approved of by Mohammed himself;
it had been merely permitted.
After years of conflict between her
affection for her family and the principles in which she believed, Kartini won
the entire confidence both of her father and of her mother. Her mother was an
exponent of the best ideals of Oriental womanhood, excelling in care of the
home and filled with love and sympathy for her husband and children.
Kartini was an innovator who sought to
break new paths for her people, but in reaching out for the new and untried she
gained rather than lost in respect for the old fashioned virtues of her kind.
Her interests were human, and not merely feministic—which cannot always be said
of our own feminism.
Kartini's biography is brief, and her life
almost uneventful so far as outward happenings go.
She was bom on the 21st of April, 1879,
the daughter of Raden Mas Adipati Sosroningrat, Regent of Japara. His father,
the Regent of Demak, Pangeran Ario Tjondronegoro, was an enlightened man who
had given European educations to all of his sons and who is described by his
grand-daughter Kartini as—"the first regent of middle Java to unlatch his
door to that guest from over the sea—^Western civilization."
The Regent of Japara went still further as
became the next generation. He sent his daughters to the free grammar school
for Europeans at Semarang so that they might learn Dutch.
Kartini's best friend at school was a
little Hollander, Letsy, the daughter of the head master. A question of
Letsy's, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" both puzzled
and interested her. When she went home after school was over, she repeated the
question anxiously, "What am I going to be when I grow up?" Her
father, who loved her very dearly, did not answer but smiled and pinched her
cheek. An older brother overheard her and said, "What should a girl
become, why a Raden Ajoe of course." Raden Ajoe is the title of a Javanese
married woman of high rank, while the unmarried daughter of a regent is Raden
Adjeng.
In Kartini a spirit of rebellion was
awakened which grew with the years. Even as a child she vowed that she would
not become merely a Raden Ajoe, she would be strong, combat all prejudice and
shape her own destiny. But she was soon to feel the weight of convention
pressing upon her with inexorable force. When she reached the age of twelve and
a half she was considered by her parents old enough to leave school and remain
at home in seclusion according to the established usage. Some day there would
have to be a wedding and a Javanese bridegroom was chosen by the girl's parents
and often never seen by his bride until after the ceremony, as her presence was
not required at that solemnity.
Kartini implored her father, on her knees,
to be allowed to go on with her studies. But he felt bound by the hitherto
unbroken conventions of his race and she went into the "box" as it
was called, passing four long years without ever once going beyond the
boundaries of the Kaboepatin.
During those years reading was her
greatest pleasure, and her father was proud of her intelligence and kept her
supplied with Dutch books. She did not always understand what she read, but
would often be guided through the difficult places by her father or by her
favourite brother Kartono, who felt a warm sympathy for his sister.
But the spirit of progress slowly awakened
even in slumbering Java, and when Kartini was sixteen, she was released from
her imprisonment. Her first journey into the outside world was to accompany her
parents to the festivities held in honour of the coronation of Queen
Wilhelmina.
This caused a great scandal in
conservative Javanese society. But Kartini and her sisters did not have the
freedom for which they longed, they could not go out into the world and fight
its battles. They could only take well chaperoned little excursions and meet
the guests, both men and women, of their father's household. They were free
very much as a delicately nurtured Victorian young lady would Have been free,
half a century ago.
In 1901 the Minister of Education and
Industry for Netherland India was Dr. J. H. Abendanon. He took a deep interest
in the well-being and progress of the native Javanese, and realized the need of
schools for native girls. At that time there was none in Java.
He had heard of the enlightened Regent of
Japara, and of the example which he had set to his fellow countrymen in
educating his own daughters. Accompanied by his wife Dr. Abendanon went to
Japara to obtain the assistance of the Regent in interesting the native
official world in his project.
A school for native girls had been the
dream of Kartini and her sisters. With her, the idea had become almost an
obsession. Her longing for education had gathered force and widened in its
significance. It no longer meant the shaping of an independent career for herself,
but a means to an end of work among her people.
Dr. Abendanon, in describing the first
meeting with Kartini, said that when she and her sisters came forward in their
picturesque native costume they made a most charming impression, but the charm
was heightened when they spoke to him in fluent Dutch. Kartini said that a
girls' school was the subject nearest her heart but asked that it also be a
vocational school, fitting the girl for self-support should she desire it.
The influence and friendship of the
Abendanons became a great comfort and support to Kartini. Mevrouw Abendanon was
called Moedertje (little mother) and many letters were written to her.
Kartini was never able to go to Holland
and study. Although her disappointment was intense, she became convinced that
her influence among her own people would be stronger if she remained at home,
free in their eyes from the possibility of contamination by foreign ideas.
Acting upon the advice of Mevrouw
Abendanon, she opened a school at home for little girls. With the help of her
sisters she instructed them in elementary branches, in sewing and in cooking.
At last she obtained the permission of her
father to continue her own studies at Batavia. But she did not go to Batavia.
Nor did she leave the house of her parents in the way that she had planned.
She fell in love like any Western girl,
and was married in 1903 to Raden Adipati Djojo Adiningrat, Regent of Rembang.
He had been educated in Holland, and had many enlightened ideas for the
advancement of his people.
The dreams of Kartini were as his own, she
had his full sympathy and their work in the future would be carried on
together. Both of them were interested in the ancient history of Java, the
sagas and stories of the past. They wished to make a collection of these, they
also felt a warm interest in the revival of Javanese art, in wood carving,
textile weaving, dyeing, work in gold and copper and tortoise shell.
After Kartini was married her little
school was continued at Rembang, and some of the wood carvers who had been
working under her supervision at Semarang were anxious to follow her to her new
home.
"Although I am a modem woman what a
strange bridal dower I shall have," she writes to Mevrouw Abendanon in
discussing the plan for moving the little children she was teaching and the wood
carvers to Rembang.
A charming picture of the married life of
Kartini is given in her own letters. There was a year of hard work and
increased responsibility, but also of great happiness.
On the 17th of September 1904, four days
after the hirth of her son Siengghi, she died.
In 1907, the first Raden Adjeng Kartini
school was founded at Batavia. Its inception was largely due to the efforts of
Dr. Abendanon. The Governor General of Netherland-India, the Queen Mother of
Holland and many other influential persons gave it their active support. A
society at the Hague known as the "Kartini—fonds" had been formed and
under its patronage there are now schools at Malang, Cheribon, Buitenzorg, Soerabaja,
Semarang and Soerakarta, as well as at Batavia. There is also a large number of
native Kartini schools under the direct management of native Javanese.
The long slumber of Java has ended. The
principles for which Kartini suffered and struggled are now almost universally
accepted by her fellow countrymen. A Javanese girl, even though of noble birth,
may now earn her living without bringing disgrace upon her family. Women choose
their own husbands, and plural marriages are much less frequent among the
younger generation.
The time was ripe. It has been said that
great men are the products of great movements. There must always be someone to
strike the note of leadership, so firmly convinced of the righteousness of a
given cause that he (or she) goes blindly forward, forgetful of personal
interest and of all selfish considerations, combatting the world if need be,
holding its ridicule as of no account; and what is perhaps hardest of all,
bringing sorrow and disappointment to those that love them.
The prophet burned at the stake amid
execrations and the conqueror who receives the plaudits of the multitude, alike
await the judgment of posterity. Only in after years can we weigh the thing
that they have wrought and gauge its true value.
Kartini has stood the test of time. To the
modem progressive Javanese she is a national heroine, almost a patron saint.
Her influence and her work live, and are a vital factor in the prosperity and
happiness of her country.
-----
Buku ini memuat
sebagian surat-surat Kartini yang yang pernah dikirimkan kepada kawan-kawannya
di negeri Belanda, yaitu Mejuffrouw
Zeehandelaar, Mevrouw M.C.E.
Ovink-Soer, Mevrouw Abendanon-Mandri,
Dr. Adriani, Professor dan Mrs. G K. Anton of Jena, Mevrouwde Booij-Boissevain, Mevrouw
H.G. de Booij-Boissevain, dan Mevrouw
Van Kol. Surat-surat yang dimuat dalam buku ini adalah antara kurun waktu 25
Mei 1899 sampai 7 September 1904. Kartini sendiri meninggal dunia pada tahun
1907, tak lama setelah melahirkan anaknya.
Banyak hal
menarik dari membaca kegelisahan dan “curhat” putri bangsawan ini. Setidaknya
sangat jelas tergambarkan bahwa Kartini adalah perempuan muda pada zamannya yang
cukup banyak membaca dan terbiasa menyampaikan pikiran dan perasaannya. Meskipun
memang apa yang dibahasnya cenderung terbatas pada masyarakat Jawa saja. Dalam
salah satu suratnya kepada Mejuffrouw Zeehandelaar pada tanggal 6 November 1899
contohnya, Kartini menceritakan bahwa dia juga sudah membaca “Max Havelaar”
karya Multatuli, dan banyak memikirkan kisah tersebut. Karakter dan kutipan
dari Max Havelaar ini juga tersebar di surat-suratnya yang lain.
