R.A. Kartini is an Indonesian national hero for pioneering choice in marriage for women and and education for girls.
She acheived what she acheived in part because of the support of two similar aged sisters and in part because of a deep respect for the culture she was changing:
Shee wrote this on March 29, 1902 about herself and those two sisters:
“we three had grown to be one in thought and in feeling.
We have broken with many traditions, and can do what others cannot, on account of the unusual freedom of our bringing up; and now we are working to break tradition still further.
No Javanese girl must be seen before her marriage; she must remain in the background, usually in her own chamber; and in December we were at Semarang with sister, and she went openly into the shops to buy some things which she wanted.
A Javanese girl receives no good wishes upon her engagement; the subject is not mentioned before her; still less does she mention it herself. She acts just as though she knew nothing of it. I should like to have read the hearts of our fellow countrywomen when they heard sister speak openly and freely of her coming marriage.
A day or two before the wedding, we commemorated our dead. That is our custom: in the midst of joy we always invoke the memory of our dead.
Sister sat with crossed legs before the gold shining kwade, motionless as an image of Buddha, between the gravely dressed, solemn-looking wives of the native dignitaries, equal in rank to her husband.
Young girls ought not to have dressed her alone, but we did it just the same. We thought that it was entirely too stupid for us not to be allowed to touch sister in her bridal toilet.
….. when superstition is cast off, we do not want the poetry to be trampled under foot.
There is so much that is lovable in my people, such charm in their simple naive beliefs. It may sound strange, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, that you Europeans have taught me to love my own land and people. Instead of estranging us from our native land, our European education has brought us nearer to it; has opened our hearts to its beauties, and also to the needs of our people and to their weaknesses.”
Geoff Fox, March 29, 2026, West Footscray,
KARTINIISME 