5 Indonesian Female Heroes Who Should Be Emulated – Sinaumed’s friends, do you know the meaning of heroes? According to the definition of the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), a hero is someone who stands out because of his courage and sacrifice in defending the truth. They are brave warriors.
In addition, a hero is also a nickname for someone who provides services for his nation. Through these figures, the symbol of struggle and sacrifice continues to be passed on to future generations.
Indonesian independence, on the other hand, cannot be separated from the struggle of the female heroes in expelling the invaders. For their services, the state appointed these heroes to be recognized as national heroes.
So, to commemorate their services, we will review several female heroes who were pioneers of independence who have provided great services to the Indonesian nation.
Let’s see the list below!
5 Indonesian Female Heroes
1. Dewi Sartika
Portrait of Dewi Sartika.
Dewi Sartika lived during the Dutch East Indies era. He was born into a well-known Sundanese family, namely R. Rangga Somanegara and RA Rajapermas in Cicalengka on December 4, 1884. After his father died, he lived with his uncle and received an education according to Sundanese culture.
She is considered a figure in modern education for girls in West Java and so far has often been compared to RA Kartini. Both of them were pioneers in the emancipation of girls through modern education, which were both supported by the regent and the Dutch East Indies government, which carried out ethical politics.
Even though RA Kartini and Dewi Sartika had the support of the Dutch East Indies government, they moved on impulse to solve real problems faced by women.
Kartini looked at the problems of feudalism and colonialism which were seen and felt in the sphere of residence with the lens of solutions through feminism and nationalism. Meanwhile, Dewi Sartika saw how women were treated as if they were easily disposed of at her uncle’s house.
Dewi Sartika’s views on the idea of feminism are not as clear as Kartini’s, even though she broke with tradition by opening a modern school. However, this was done within the framework of giving bargaining power to women so they could become wives and mothers.
Her struggle can be seen from the name of the school that was founded, namely Sakola Istri, which later changed its name to Sakola Kautamaan Istri. Dewi Sartika believes that mastering women’s skills will set them free. Skills that will protect women when their partners throw away or leave them.
Dewi Sartika went to school at Eerste Klasse School only until she was nine years old, so she did not finish elementary school. However, he managed to become a competent educator and school manager. Dewi Sartika’s students are numerous and the majority of them are from families with low incomes.
Dewi Sartika sees the strategic role of educators to elevate their degree. Despite being the son of a noble, he carries the stigma of an outcast and a rebel. This is what made him wasted by being placed in the backyard of his uncle’s house with the courtiers .
However, it was from there that Dewi Sartika started her career as an educator. He considered this profession to be of high standing apart from being a parent and working with the government.
After independence, Dewi Sartika’s health began to decline. When the Dutch Military Aggression occurred during the War of Independence, he was forced to flee to Tasikmalaya. He died on September 11, 1947 in Cineam and is buried there. After the situation was safe, his grave was then moved to Jalan Karang Anyar, Bandung.
Dewi Sartika succeeded in becoming a female educator figure, so that the Dutch East Indies government awarded her a silver award in 1922 and a gold award in 1939. In addition, she was also awarded the Order van Oranje-Nassau title on the 35th anniversary of the Kaoetamaan Isteri School, as a reward for her services in fighting for education.
The Indonesian government also awarded him the title of hero on December 1, 1966. Now, his name is used as a street name in various Indonesian cities, including the location of the school he founded.
2. RA Kartini
Negative reproduction of RA Kartini’s portrait (1890s photo).
RA Kartini is a woman who comes from the priyayi or Javanese aristocratic class. She is the daughter of Raden Mas Adipati Ario Sosroningrat, a governor who was appointed regent of Jepara. His mother was named MA Ngasirah, daughter of Nyai Haji Siti Aminah and KH Madirono, a religion teacher in Telukawur, Jepara.
Kartini was a new Indonesian pioneer in a democratic system of government, who lived only 25 years during the Dutch colonial era. He was there wholeheartedly when the early ideas of ethical politics began to open up to the natives through modern education and books.
His free, critical young soul is perhaps what makes it easy for him to capture a revolutionary spirit.
Apart from Prince Diponegoro, Kartini has been the inspiration for Budi Utomo to create study clubs and movement organizations against colonialism and imperialism. She has inspired many women’s movements such as Sujatin Kartowijono, who was the initiator of the First Indonesian Women’s Congress.
Kartini’s ideas came as a response to women entering the modern world through anti-imperialism and colonialism, which became the soul of the national movement. His courage and words have been a source of inspiration since ancient times until now.
However, on the other hand he is not shown as a battering ram of feudalism who is an enemy of democracy. The perspective of men may not be able to see their superiority.
Unfair view. If not discouraging, the possibility is negating reality or comparing things that are not comparable.
Fortunately, Kartini left so many papers. Today’s intellectuals can refer to their work to study and become the basis for placing themselves proportionally in the independent Indonesian movement.
In his opinion, for the nobility to realize its obligations, education and knowledge had to expand. In Kartini’s note to the Ministry of Dutch Colonies in 1903, he emphasized the problem.
Furthermore, if it is not possible to simultaneously educate a nation of 27 million people, for the time being only the top class will be given education and knowledge. This was considered useful because the people were loyal to the nobility.
The importance of education is what Kartini emphasizes to promote women. With education, a woman does not need to be secluded. Education will complement skills that can sustain life and determine the way of life in matters of marriage.
Rebelling against feudalism, strongly opposing polygamy, and fighting for access to education for women were the main points of his struggle. He knows this effort is not easy and takes a long time.
However, he believes his struggle will pay off. “ Change is coming in Bumiputera ”, he wrote to Stella on January 9, 1901. “ If not for us, it must be from someone else. Emancipation has flown in the air – it is destined ”.
3. Rasuna Said
Portrait of Hajjah Rangkayo Rasuna Said .
HR Rasuna Said was born on September 14, 1910, in Panyinggahan Village, Maninjau, Agam Regency, West Sumatra. He is a descendant of Minang royalty. His father’s name was Muhamad Said, a Minangkabau merchant and former movement activist.
Rasuna Said’s family is a devout Muslim family. He grew up in his uncle’s house because his father’s job made his father often not at home. Unlike his siblings, he attended a religious, not secular, school. He then moved to Padang Panjang and attended the Diniyah School, which combined religious and special subjects.
In 1923, she became an assistant teacher at the newly founded Sekolah Diniyah Putri, but returned to her hometown three years later after it was destroyed by an earthquake. He then studied for two years at a school associated with political and religious activism, and attended a speech given by the school’s director on Indonesian nationalism and independence.
After completing elementary school (SD), Rasuna Said was sent by his father to continue his education at the Ar-Rasyidiyah Islamic boarding school. At that time, she was the only female student. He is known as someone who is smart, smart, and brave. Rasuna Said then continued his education at Diniyah Putri Padang Panjang, and met Rahmah El Yunusiyyah, a figure from the Thawalib movement. The Thawalib movement is a movement built by Islamic reformists in West Sumatra. Many of the movement’s leaders were influenced by the Turkish-Islamic nationalist thought, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Rasuna Said is very concerned about the progress and education of women, he has taught at Diniyah Putri as a teacher. But in 1930, she stopped teaching because she had the view that progress for women could not only be obtained by establishing schools, but must be accompanied by political struggle. She wanted to include political education in the Diniyah School Putri curriculum, but was refused.
He then studied religion at Haji Rasul or Dr H Abdul Karim Amrullah who taught the importance of renewing Islamic thought and freedom of thought which later greatly influenced Rasuna Said’s views.
The polygamy controversy was once lively and became a polemic in the Minang realm in the 1930s. This results in an increase in the number of divorcees. Rasuna Said considers this behavior part of harassment against women.
The beginning of Rasuna Said’s political struggle began with his activities in the People’s Union (SR) as a branch secretary. He later also joined Soematra Thawalib and founded the Indonesian Muslim Association (PERMI) in Bukittinggi in 1930. He also taught at schools founded by PERMI and later founded the Thawalib School in Padang, and led the Women’s Course and the Normal Course in Bukittinggi.
Rasuna Said was very proficient in making speeches criticizing the Dutch government. She was also recorded as the first woman to be exposed to the Speek Delict law , namely the Dutch colonial law which stated that anyone could be punished for speaking against the Dutch.
In 1926, Rasuna Said was active in the communist-affiliated Sarekat Rakyat organization, which was disbanded after the failed communist uprising in West Sumatra in 1927. The following year, he became a member of the Islamic Sarekat Party, rising to the leadership position of the Maninjau branch.
After its establishment in 1930, he joined the Indonesian Muslim Association (Permi), an organization based on Islam and nationalism. The following year, he returned to teaching at Padang Panjang, leaving his job after falling out with his leader over teaching his students the need for political action to bring about Indonesian independence.
After Indonesian independence, Rasuna Said was active in the Indonesian Youth Information Agency and the Indonesian National Committee. He sat in the Sumatra Representative Council representing the West Sumatra region after the Proclamation of Independence. He was appointed as a member of the People’s Representative Council of the United States of Indonesia (DPR RIS), then became a member of the Supreme Advisory Council following the Presidential Decree of 5 July 1959 until the end of his life.
After Indonesia’s proclamation of independence on 17 August 1945, she worked with pro-republican organizations, and in 1947 became a senior member and chair of the women’s section of the National Defense Front. He later joined the Volksfront, which was part of the Union of Struggle founded by the nationalist-communist Tan Malaka.
As a result of friction between this organization and the local government, he was placed under house arrest for a week. He had also been a member of the Sumatran Representative Council, and in July 1947 became a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), the provisional legislative body. On the eve of the sixth meeting of the KNIP in 1949, he was appointed to the KNIP Working Committee representing Sumatra.
Subsequently, he became a member of the Provisional People’s Representative Council in 1950. In 1959, he was then appointed a member of the Supreme Advisory Council, a position he held until his death in Jakarta in 1965.
4. Holy Spirit
Portrait of the Holy Spirit.
Rohana Kudus is Indonesia’s first journalist. She was born as Siti Ruhana on December 20, 1884 in the village (nagari) of Koto Gadang, Agam Regency, in the interior of West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. His father Mohammad Rasjad Maharadja Soetan was the chief prosecutor of the Jambi and then Medan Residency. Rohana is the half sister of Sutan Sjahrir and cousin of Agus Salim.
In 1911, Rohana founded the Amai Setia Craft School (KAS) in Koto Gadang. While active in the field of education that she loves, she writes for the women’s newspaper, Poetri Indies . When the Dutch East Indies government banned her, she took the initiative to establish a newspaper called Edit Melayu , which was listed as one of the first women’s newspapers in Indonesia.
She lived at the same time as Kartini, when women’s access to a good education was very limited. He died in Jakarta on 17 August 1972 and was buried at the Karet Bivoak Public Cemetery.
In 1974, the regional government of West Sumatra awarded her as the First Wartawati. He also received an award as Pioneer of the Indonesian Press in 1987 and Bintang Jasa Utama in 2007. Since 7 November 2019, the Indonesian government has declared Roehana Koeddoes a National Hero of Indonesia through Presidential Decree No. 120/TK/2019 and given to his grandson as heir the next day.
5. Cut Nyak Dien
Portrait of Cut Nyak Dhien.
Cut Nyak Dhien is an Indonesian national hero from Aceh who fought against the Dutch during the Aceh War. He was born into a religious aristocratic family in Aceh Besar, VI Mukim area in 1848. His father was Teuku Nanta Seutia, an uleebalang VI Mukim, who was also a descendant of Datuk Makhudum Sati, immigrants from Minangkabau. Datuk Makhudum Sati is a descendant of Rear Admiral Nanta who was a representative of the Sultanate of Aceh during the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda in Pariaman.
In 1880, Cut Nyak Dhien married Teuku Umar, having previously been promised that he could join the battlefield if he accepted the proposal. From this marriage he had a son named Cut Gambang.
After her marriage to Teuku Umar, she and her husband fought together against the Dutch. However, on February 11, 1899 Teuku Umar died. This made Cut Nyak Dhien struggle alone in the interior of Meulaboh with his small army.
Cut Nyak Dien’s age, which at that time was relatively old and his body condition which was ravaged by various diseases such as gout and nearsightedness, made one of his troops named Pang Laot report his whereabouts out of compassion. He was finally caught and taken to Banda Aceh. He was there treated and his illness began to heal.
The existence of Cut Nyak Dhien, who was considered to still have a strong influence on the resistance of the Acehnese people and his relationship with the Acehnese warriors who had not been caught, made him exiled to Sumedang. He died on November 6, 1908 and was buried in Mount Quail, Sumedang. His name is now immortalized as Cut Nyak Dhien Nagan Raya Airport in Meulaboh.
So, that’s a brief explanation of the struggles and services of 5 Heroines who are worthy of emulation . Appreciating the services of the heroes is not only by remembering and thanking them in their hearts, but also by emulating their attitudes and actions.
sinaumedia can visit sinaumedia’s book collection at www.sinaumedia.com to obtain references about these heroes, starting from their life background, education, and struggle history.
The following is a recommendation for sinaumedia books that Sinaumed’s can read to learn about Indonesian history so they can fully interpret it. Happy reading.