Ki Hadjar Dewantara

The definition of a hero to me is a person who has bravery to make a change to be better while other people cannot. He is always brave and ready to take any risk to struggle for the respect of human rights and put public interest above his own. He is never afraid of an enemy who might judge him incorrectly. He is always ready to help people no matter what their religion or race.

A figure with all the criterias of a hero for me is Ki Hadjar Dewantara. He was born in Yogyakarta on May 2, 1899 as Soewardi Soeryaningrat. He was born into an aristocratic family but he put off his aristocracy to be close to the poor people. He got his first education at Europeesche Lagere School, a Dutch elementary school, and then he entered a teaching school. He was not able to finish his studies after he entered medical school, since he had to drop out due to financial misfortune.

I chose him as my hero because he was very brave in struggling for the people of Indonesia who had been treated unfairly and intimidated by The Dutch colonists. He thought that the key reason why his country was still colonized was because the people of Indonesia were uneducated at that time. He founded a party that ran against colonialism.

His contribution to my country was that he introduced education to the people by founding Taman Siswa, a school for native Indonesians to pull them out from ignorance. He thought that through education, the people of Indonesia would be more aware of their rights and would be able to establish a government of their own. He said that the final goal was to develop a nation, that was why the Indonesians had to fight for freedom. His concept implied thet everyone should get the same opportunity for a better education. His educational principle which has been adopted by the Department of education of Indonesia is “Ing ngarso sun tulodo, Ing Madya mangun karsa, tut wuri handayani” which means “the one who leads should give good example, the one in the middle should get motivation, the one at the back should get support,” and must be understood by every teacher.

I hope the young generation, especially sudents, not only commemorate him as a symbol of heroism, but also follow his ways to realize the dream of never being colonized again.