Proto-Feminism in Indonesia – Part Two

Village school. Javanese boys and teacher. Around 1930

We continue this excursion among the never-too-remembered or celebrated protagonists who have been fundamental in the progress of the condition of women in Indonesia. This time also places the accent on political as well as educational commitment.

 

Rasuna Said

The first woman is Hajjah Rangkayo Rasuna Said (14 September 1910 - 2 November 1965), celebrated not only as a supporter of Indonesian independence but also for women's rights to education and participation in politics.

Rasuna Said was born in Maninjau on 14 September 1910 into a family of strong Muslim faith, she grew up in her uncle's house because the father was often absent for work. Unlike her brothers, she attended a religious school. In 1923 she became her assistant teacher at the newly formed Diniyah Girls School, but she returned to her hometown three years later after the school was destroyed by an earthquake. She studied for two more years in a school linked to political and religious activism, witnessing the speeches of the director of the school on nationalism and independence of Indonesia.

In 1926, Rasuna Said began attending the Communist-affiliated organization Sarekat Rakyat (People's Union), which was disbanded following a failed Communist uprising in West Sumatra in 1927. The following year she became a member of the Islamic Union Party to then join in 1930 the Union of Indonesian Muslims (Persatuan Muslim Indonesia, Permi), an organization based on Islam and nationalism. In 1929, Rasuna married Duski Samad, a fellow teacher and political activist despite her parents not approving of the marriage, which ended in divorce in the early 1930s. She later had another secret marriage.

It was when Rasuna moved to Padang in 1931, where Permi had its nerve center, that Rasuna was able to found her first school for girls, driven by her strong Islamic faith and reformist beliefs that fed the conviction that women had every right to be educated. In fact, when she arrived in Padang she bitterly discovered that women were forbidden from education and active politics.

Not surprisingly, Permi, which was founded by younger activists who supported women's right to religious education, had thousands of women, who often held key roles within the party, unlike other Islamic organizations.

On 23 October 1932, at a public meeting of the Permi women's section in Padang Panjang, Rasuna delivered a public speech titled “Steps to the Independence of the People in a Greater Indonesia” in which she harshly condemned the decades of colonialism in Indonesia, stating that in the Quran itself there was written the condemnation of colonialism. A few weeks later, in another speech in Payakumbuh in front of a thousand people, she said that Permi politics saw imperialism as an enemy and, despite a warning from an official, continued to argue that the Quran defined imperialism as the enemy of Islam.

At every meeting she fueled the struggle for independence, therefore it was not long in her arrest, accused of “sowing hate”, and becoming the first Indonesian woman to be accused of a Speekdelict crime: speaking offense. Her sentencing to 15 months in prison became a megaphone for her popularity, as it was reported nationwide, and during her trial Rasuna continued to demand independence. She was imprisoned in Semarang in Central Java and a thousand people came to greet her as she left for the big island.

Rasuna was released from prison in 1934. She also worked as a journalist, writing articles criticizing Dutch colonialism in the college newspaper Raya. In 1948 she moved to Medan, then she returned to Padang after the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. She was again arrested by the Japanese due to her belonging to a pro-Indonesian independence organization, only to be released shortly after as the authorities feared causing public discontent. In 1943 she joined the heavily nationalist Giyu Gun military volunteer force that had been founded by the Japanese in Sumatra, helping to found the women's section, Hahanokai.

After the proclamation of Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945, Rasuna worked with pro-republican organizations and in 1947 as a senior member and head of the women's section of the National Defense Front (Fron Pertahanan Nasional). Rasuna was also a member of the Representative Council of Sumatra (Dewan Perwakilan Sumatra) and in July 1947 became a member of the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP), the provisional legislature. In 1950 she became a member of the Provisional People's Representative Council and in 1959 she was appointed a member of the Indonesian National Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Agung), a position she held until her death in Jakarta on 2 November 1965 from breast cancer.

On 13 November 1974 she was declared a National Hero of Indonesia for her services in the struggle for independence by President Suharto, only the ninth woman to be granted this honor.

Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said, one of the main arteries of Jakarta, is named after her.

 

She is buried in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in southern Jakarta.

Cut Nyak Dhien

Lastly, we come to Cut Nyak Dhien or Tjoet Nja 'Dhien (Lampang 1848 – Sumedang, 6 November 1908), one of the leaders of the Acehnese guerrilla forces during the Aceh war, one of the bloodiest battles that marked Indonesia: the conflict that took place between 1873 and 1904 in northern Sumatra between the Netherlands and the Sultanate of Aceh. The defeat of the sultanate allowed the Dutch to complete the conquest of the whole of Sumatra as well as the territories that make up today's Indonesia.

Cut Nyak Dhien was born into a Muslim aristocratic family in Aceh Besar in the VI mukim district in 1848. Her father, Teuku Nanta Setia, was a member of the ruling aristocratic class Ulèë Balang in VI mukim, and her mother also came from an aristocratic family. Noted for her beauty, she was courted by many men until her parents arranged her marriage to Teuku Cek Ibrahim Lamnga, son of an aristocratic family, when she was twelve.

On 26 March 1873, the Dutch declared war on Aceh. During the first Aceh expedition, Aceh was ruled by Panglima Polem and Sultan Alauddin Mahmud Syah II. The Dutch army sent 3,000 soldiers led by Johan Harmen Rudolf Köhler to take the Sultan's palace but, thanks to military aid from Italy and the United Kingdom which strengthened the Aceh army by increasing it from 10,000 to 100,000 soldiers, Dutch forces were successfully pushed back and Köhler died in action.

In November 1873, during the second expedition to Aceh, the Dutch successfully captured VI mukim in 1873, followed by the Sultan's Palace in 1874. In 1875, Cut Nyak Dhien and her baby, along with other mothers, were evacuated to a place safer while her husband Ibrahim Lamnga was in battle, where he died in action at Gle Tarum on 29 June 1878. This fueled Cut Nyak Dhien's hatred of the Dutch to whom she swore revenge.

Sometime after the death of her husband, an Acehnese hero Teuku Umar proposed that she marry him. Although she initially rejected him, she accepted his proposal when Umar allowed her to fight and they married in 1880. Teuku Umar and Cut Nyak Dhien had a daughter named Cut Gambang whom Dhien also took with her into battle so as not to interrupt. her revenge.

Teuku Umar and Dhien continued to resist the Dutch until the latter sent the Maréchaussée: the fearsome troop that killed many Acehnese.

Dutch general Johannes Benedictus van Heutsz took advantage of the condition by sending a spy to Aceh. Teuku Umar was killed during the battle when the Dutch launched a surprise attack against him in Meulaboh. It is said that when their daughter Cut Gambang wept over his death, Cut Nyak Dhien slapped her, and then she hugged her and said: “As Acehnese women, we may not shed tears for those who have been martyred.”

After her husband's death, Cut Nyak Dhien continued to resist the Dutch with her small army until its destruction in 1901. In addition, Cut Nyak Dhien suffered from myopia and arthritis. The number of her troops continued to decline and suffered from a lack of supplies.

One of her men, Pang Laot, spied on the Dutch by revealing the location of her headquarters in Beutong Le Sageu and there they attacked her, taking Dhien and her troops by surprise. Despite her fighting back desperately, Dhien was captured, but the daughter Cut Gambang managed to escape and continued the resistance.

Dhien was taken to Banda Aceh where her myopia and arthritis improved. She was sent into exile in Sumedang, West Java, because the Dutch feared that she would mobilize the resistance of the people of Aceh.

On 2 May 1964, she was posthumously proclaimed National Hero by President Sukarno.

 

Nagan Raya Regency's Cut Nyak Dhien Airport, Aceh, is named after her.

 

In memory of these great women and so that they are not forgotten.

Italian version