Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat
Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat
Every one will be ask, who is Raden
Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat, ya that name not famous as his new name. Raden
Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat, also known as Ki Hajar Dewantara from
1922, which is also written as Ki Hajar Dewantoro to reflect
its javanese sounds. He was born on May 2nd, 1889, in Yogyakarta. His
father was called Pangeran Soerjaningrat, from Pakualam Palace, Yogyakarta. He was a
leading Indonesian independence movement activist, writer, columnist,
politician, and pioneer of education
for native Indonesians in Dutch colonial times. He founded
the Taman Siswa school, an institution that provided education for
indigenous commoners, which otherwise was limited to the
Javanese aristocracy and the Dutch colonials.
Soewardi was born in
the Javanese aristocracy, his family belonged to the royal house
of Pakualaman. He was one of Prince Paku Alam III's grandsons through
his father, GPH Soerjaningrat. Thanks to his
family's priyayi (Javanese nobility) background, he was able to
access the colonial public education, a luxury that was unattainable by most of
common population in the Indies. He graduated from basic education in
ELS (Dutch Primary School). Then he continued his study at STOVIA, a
medical school for native students. However, he failed to graduate because of
illness. His recognition in the world of education was extraordinary. He always
thought that education was one of the most important factors in freeing the
Indonesian people of their sufferings from colonization. He never considered
that his aristocracy was important; instead he took off his aristocracy and
changed his name to Ki Hajar Dewantara. He did that because he wanted to bring
himself closer to the people.
Later he worked as a journalist and
wrote for many newspapers, including Sediotomo, Midden Java, De
Expres, Oetoesan Indies, Kaoem Moeda, Tjahaja
Timoer and Poesara. He was also a contributor to Kebangoenan, a
nationalist newspaper owned by the Dutch-educated jurist and
politician Phoa Liong Gie. During Soewardi's career in printed media,
he was considered a talented and accomplished writer. His style of writing is
popular, communicative and yet imbued with idealism for freedom and
anti-colonialism sentiment.
During his days as journalist,
Dewantara started to become increasingly active in social and political
movements that aimed to undermine Dutch authority in the Archipelago. His
articles in printed media became imbued with anti-colonial sentiments.
Dewantara had close ties with the Boedi Oetomo (the first native political
institution in the Dutch Indies and which played a key role in the Indonesian
National Awakening).
On 13 July 1913
Dewantara published an article in the 'De Expres' newspaper, titled "If I
Were a Dutchman". This article included heavy criticism toward plans of
the Dutch colonizers to collect levies from the native population to finance
festivities related to the 100th celebration of Dutch independence from France.
Dutch authorities did not allow such criticism and captured Dewantara together
with his colleagues, Ernest Douwes Dekker and Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo and they
were exiled to the Netherlands (the exile was also the result of their
activities in the Indische Partij, one of the first political
organizations pioneering Indonesian nationalism in the colonial regime). These
three pro-independence activist figures, Soewardi, Douwes Dekker and Tjipto,
were later known as the Tiga Serangkai or the "triad".
Soewardi at that time was only 24 years old.
.
When he reached 40 years of
age, according to the Javanese beliefs based upon Javanese calendar,
he was required to change his name to ward of misfortunes that might befell
upon him. Thus he choose "Ki Hadjar Dewantara" as his new name. He
also scrapped the Javanese gentility title Raden Mas in front of his
name. It was a gesture to demonstrate his support for social equality and his
disregard for rigid social stature of Javanese society. Ki Hadjar intended to
freely interact with people of all social backgrounds, and to be close to them
in both body and soul.
Ki Hadjar Dewantara has coined a
famous proverb to describe his educational ideals. Rendered in Javanese,
the maxim reads: Ing ngarso sung tulodo, ing madyo mangun karso, tut
wuri handayani. Which translates: "(for those) in front should
set an example, (for those) in the middle should raise the spirit, and (for
those) behind should give encouragement". The proverb is used as the
principle of Taman Siswa. Today, part of this maxim, Tut Wuri
Handayani is used as the motto of Indonesian Ministry of Education. It was
meant to describe ideal teachers, who after transmitting knowledge to their
students, would stand behind their students and give them encouragements in their
quest for knowledge.
During the Japanese
occupation, Ki Hajar's activities in the field of politics and education still
continued. When the Japanese government established the People Power Center
(Pusat Tenaga Rakyat or Putera) in 1943, Ki Hajar was appointed as one of
its leaders, in addition to Sukarno, Muhammad Hatta and K.H. Mas
Mansur.
In the first cabinet of the
Republic of Indonesia in the 1950s, Ki Hajar Dewantara was appointed Indonesian
Minister of Education and Culture. In 1957 he received an honorary
doctorate honoris causa from Indonesia's oldest
university, Gadjah Mada University.
He died in Yogyakarta on April 26,
1959 and was buried in Taman Wijaya Brata cemetery.
In recognition for his dedication
and accomplishments in pioneering public education in Indonesia, he was
declared as the Father of Indonesian National Education, a national
hero, and his birthday is appointed as the National Education Day,
through Presidential Decree no. 305 of 1959, dated November 28, 1959, And he
also the first Minister of National Education of the Republic of
Indonesia.
Taman Siswa has established
Dewantara Kirti Griya Museum in Yogyakarta. The museum was built to
commemorate, preserve and promote the thought, values and ideals of Ki Hajar
Dewantara, the founder of Taman Siswa. In this museum, there are objects and
works of Ki Hajar Dewantara. Museum collections includes his works, papers,
concepts, important documents and correspondence of Ki Hajar during his
lifetime as a journalist, educator, humanist and as an artist. These documents
has been recorded on microfilms and some are laminated with the help the
National Archives of Indonesia.
Ki Hajar Dewantara not as famous as Bung Karno the proklamator or Bung Tomo in Battle Of Surabaya, But Ki Hadjar Dewantara has an important role in the education system in Indonesia that make me love him and Ki Hajar Dewantara shows that the struggle is not always in physical struggle or war, that actually education is the spearhead of a country, without adequate education everything will be in vain, that's why I like ki hajar dewantara because he thinks the logic that the natives of ancient times needed education in order to achieve the desired independence, and proven independence is very influenced by students, even achieved by students. So if Ki Hajar Dewantara is not there, maybe education will be adjusted to caste, and we Indonesians will be retarded.
Question :
1. When was Soewardi Soeryaningrat born and passed away?
2. What's in the article "if i were a dutchman"?
3. What happened when he published the article "if i were a dutchman" in the magazine "de express"?
4. Why did he change his name to "ki hajar dewantara"?
5. What is the meaning of the words Ing ngarso sung tulodo, ing madya mangun karso, tut wuri handayani that said by him?
PPT :
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