Ki Hajar Dewantara

Ki Hajar Dewantara was born in Yogyakarta, May 2nd, 1889; with his previous name was Raden Mas Soewardi Soeryaningrat. He came from Yogyakarta palace family. When he was 40, he changed his real name to Ki Hajar Dewantara. He did not use his nobility anymore because he wanted to be close to the people.

In his life, he continued studying and doing something for the people. He finished his elementary school in ELS (Netherlands’ elementary school). Then, he studied in STOVIA (Netherlands’ medical school), but he did not finish it because he was sick. He worked as a journalist in some newspapers, such as Sedyotomo, Midden Java, De Express, Oetoesan Hindia, Kaoem Muda, Tjahaja Timoer, and Poesaka. His writing was communicative and patriotic so it could motivate the readers’ spirit. With Douwes Dekker (Dr. Danudirdja Setyabudhi) and Dr. Cipto Mangoenkoesoemo, Ki Hajar Dewantara established Indische Partij, December 25th, 1912, which aimed for the independence of Indonesia.

The existence of this organization was not admitted by the government of Netherlands. After that, Indische Partij formed Bumipoetra Committee (November 1913). The committee criticized the Netherlands which intended to celebrate 100 years freedom from French colonization by forcing the people to pay for the celebration. Ki Hajar Dewantara criticized this by writing an article titled, If I am A Netherlander (Als Ik Eens Nederlander Was) and One For All but All For One (Een Voor Allen maar Ook Allen Voor Een). Because of that, he got exiled punishment to Bangka Island. Douwes Dekker and Cipto Mangoenkoesoemo published their writing to defend Ki Hajar Dewantara. But, the Netherlands government judged their writing as supportive of the people attacking the government. They also got exile punishment.

Three of them requested to be placed in Netherlands. Finally, they got permission to go to the Netherlands in August 1913. They used this opportunity to improve their education and teaching so that Ki Hajar Dewantara succeeded in getting Europeesche certificate. He returned to Indonesia in 1918. With his friends, he set up national institution, Tamansiswa Institution (July 3rd, 1922). This institution focused on education and nationalism in order to educate the people to love their country and to get independence. Even though he was busy educating, he still wrote on the theme of change in politics to futher education and nationalism.

In the independence era, Ki Hajar Dewantara became a minister of education and culture. Besides being a national education founder, he was also declared a Hero of the National Movement. The other appreciation was as Doctor Honoris Causa from Gajah Mada University in 1957.