SAMBUTAN ACARA KUNJUNGAN KEDUTAAN BESAR BELANDA

FEBRUARI 2015

17

RUMAH KARTINI
KH. MOLIKI 02, PENGKOL, JEPARA
Good morning Mrs. Ineke de Hoog, Mrs. Widjajanti Dharmowijono, Mr.
Krisprantono and Mr. Satrio Seno Prakoso
My name is Afif Isyarobbi, the chairman of Rumah Kartini. Id like to say that
we are delighted to host a special event and a special moment, and want to
extend a special welcome our honored guest Mrs. Ineke de Hoog Deputy Head
& First Secretary of Public diplomacy and Cultural Affairs of the Embassy of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We also want to specially welcome Mrs.
Widjajanti Dharmowijono, the chairperson of Yayasan Budaya Widya Mitra
Semarang. Let me also express my warm thanks to all of Rumah Kartini
members, who join us today.
Thank you all for coming. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to visit
Rumah Kartini, one of Japaras most respected community for rescuing
Japaras history and culture. It is my pleasure to host today.
Ladies and gentlemen, Japara faces for a long time a series of challenges,
posed by the spreading of apathy to its history and ancestors. Many of you
know that the lack of a sense of history is the damnation of the modern
world.
Rumah Kartini believes deeply that the history of Japara is leading us to find
facts which cement the importance of it in human lives. People like Raden
Ajeng Kartini, Raden Mas Aryo Adipati Kusumo Utoyo and Kyai Tunggul
Wulung have contributed important thoughts and teachings in their respective
fields. All their great works will be wasted if the people of Japara do not
understand their ideals and appreciate the work done by them. Rumah Kartini
believes that though we may not be able to completely imbibe their ideas in
our lives, when we try to study them, we prevent these ideas from being lost.
Learning our past helps us understand who we are and that knowledge we
can pass to the next generation.
It is pleasure for us to be here as witnesses of a trilateral cooperation
between Rumah Kartini, Widya Mitra and the Embassy of The Kingdom of The
Netherlands. This strategic partnership of trilateral cooperation is leading
the way to achieve Rumah Kartinis goal in preserving history and educating
people and we hope that it also benefits Widya Mitra and the Embassy in so
many ways.
Rumah Kartini would like to thank the Netherlands Embassy for trusting us
with the Shared Heritage Fund. The very first part in the project of the
Reproduction of Kartinis and Japaras Legacies is the reproduction of Macan
Kurung or Confined Tiger, a famous woodcarving from Japara and its
legendary design has been made by successive generations in
Belakanggunung, Mulyoharjo, Japara, which has a close historical connection
with Raden Ajeng Kartini. Macan Kurung symbolizes Kartini, a tigress in
confinement. Thanks to the Shared Heritage Fund programme, Rumah Kartini
has been given the opportunity and means to reproduce this and other unique
and worthy carving art of Japara.