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Archives December 14, 2005

News & Views

National Aceh's early heroines ignored by history books
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
City
Opinion
World
By Danny L. Yatim
Business
Features JAKARTA (JP): On April 21, Indonesians celebrate Kartini Day in
Supplement memory ofRaden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1904), the pioneer of education
Sports for Javanese women. Javanese women in Kartini's time, especially those
Gallery of nobility, weresecluded in their homes after puberty until the day they
Weekly Roundup married. But Kartini had different ideas.
Past Editions
Resources Through letters to her European friends, she eloquently expressed her
Acronyms thoughts and views on women's role in society, saying women should be
Addresses given an equal opportunity in education and play an equal role to men in
Indonesian Cabinet the public sphere.
Indonesian History
RI-GAM MOU Although Kartini did mention in one of her letters her amicable
State of the Nation encounterwith a noblewoman from Priangan who shared her struggles
Address
for equal rights (presumably Dewi Sartika) and her knowledge of a
Indonesia Outlook
Indonesia Review
Minahasan woman who sharedher views and thoughts on the issue
President's (presumably Maria Walanda-Maramis), little did Kartini know that her
Inauguration peers in neighboring Aceh already enjoyedthe freedom for which she
Speech yearned.
Tsunami
Declaration Almost three hundred years before Kartini's birth on April 21, 1879,
IMF Reforms Sultan Alaidin Ri'ayat Syah IV of Aceh Darussalam (1589-1604)
Anniversary Edition
formed the Armada Inong Bale (Widows Armada) under the leadership
2004 Elections
of the legendary Admiral Malahayati. Malahayati and her armada
Links
Where to go courageously sailed the eastern shores of Sumatra, the Malacca Straits
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and the western shores of Malaya to guard their kingdom and nation. It
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was also Malahayati who causedthe Dutch naval captain Cornelis de
Logout Hautman to fail in his mission to attack Aceh. De Hautman later died in

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Archives prison in Aceh. Malahayati's legendary heroics were retold by Dutch

Who's Who author Marie van Zuchtelen in her Vrouwelijke Admiral Malahajati,
About Us where she admirably portrayed the chivalrous heroine leading
Company Info battleships crewed by her 2,000 brave women warriors.
Online Media Kit
Print Media Kit Admiral Malahayati also received the Queen of England's envoy, Sir
James Lancaster, who arrived in Banda Aceh on June 6, 1602. The naval
base of theArmada Inong Bale in the Bay of the Great River was
renamed Admiral Malahayati Seaport and her name is also honored on
Associates one of the battleships of the Republic of Indonesia.

Another way Acehnese women played a role in the public arena was the
all-women palace guard regiment, known in the local language as Suke
Kaway Istana, under the leadership of Admiral Meurah Ganti and Vice
Admiral Cut Meurah Inseuen between 1604 and 1607. It was these
women who saved the future Sultan Iskandar Muda from imprisonment
by his rival, Sultan Muda Alaidin Ritayat Syah V.

Acehnese women were not, however, only known as warriors. They

were also capable of being political leaders. Aceh was probably the only
sultanate isthe world which recognized sultanas (women sultans) as
Search heads of state. The first queen of Aceh was Ratu Nibrasiyah Rawa
Khadiyu, who ruled the 15th century kingdom of Samudra Pasai. In the
17th century, four sultanas consecutively ruled the kingdom of Aceh
Darussalam, namely Seri Ratu Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah
(1641-1675), Seri Ratu Nurul Alam Nagiatuddin Syah (1675-1677), Seri
Ratu Inayat Syah Zakiatuddin Syah (1677-1688) and Seri Ratu Karnalat
Syah (1688-1699). Aceh also had several women uleebalang (rulers of
autonomous regions, equivalent to a European duke), and in the days of
Queen Safiatuddin, 18 of the 73 members of parliament were women.

These are the historically important women Indonesian children never

learn about in school. Schoolchildren only know Acehnese heroines
from modern Indonesian history, such as Cut Nyak Meutia (1870-1910)
and the legendary Cut Nyak Dien (1850-1906), whose names are
mentioned in history textbooks and who have had roads in major cities
named after them. While Cut Nyak Dien's face is also portrayed on the
Indonesian Rp 10,000 banknote, we usually know no more than that
about her. (Some, however, may recall that her story was made into the

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film Tjoet Nja' Dhien in 1988, withChristine Hakim as the leading

actress).

Even in modern history there are other Acehnese women whose names
probably remain unknown to the majority of Indonesians, including
Teungku Fakinah, Pocut Baren Biheue, Cutpo Fatimah and Pocut
Meuligo. In their struggle against the Dutch, Acehnese women often
played a major role in theconflict. Pocut Meuligo, the uleebalang of
Samalanga, for example, convinced her brother Teuku Chik Bugis not to
negotiate with the Dutch and to continue struggling against the
colonialists. The same is true of Cut Nyak Dien. Not many know that
her husband, Teuku Umar, was at one time pro-Dutch, until he joined
his wife's struggle against the colonialists. And Cut Nyak Meutia died
on the battlefield with her husband Pang Nanggroe.

The 80 Year War -- as it was known by the Dutch -- was indeed a great
loss for the colonialists, but many remember the tough grand dames of
Aceh who were heavily involved in politics and war at a time when their
Europeanpeers were still playing domestic roles, waiting for husbands
or brothers to return home from the battlefield.

Pocut Menligo was another example of a brave woman who took over
for her brother, Teuku Chik Bugis, in leading a battle in 1857. Riding
her horse, she courageously ordered the people of Samalanga to leave
their ricefields and join the fight against the Dutch. The one-eyed
general, Van der Heijden, lost his eye in this battle against Pocut
Menligo. And this took place two decades before Kartini was born

With all due respect to Kartini, whose genius was so remarkable for a
young woman at that time, can we still say that she was the pioneer of
Indonesian women's emancipation? For Javanese noblewomen, perhaps
yes, but certainly not for the whole nation. Maybe even Kartini would
not like to claim the title because she was well-informed about her peers
in West Java,Minahasa and even China. Writers such as Marianne
Katoppo and historians like Harsja Bachtiar already have raised this
issue. Indonesian history textbook writers have a lot of homework to do
in this age of reformasi.
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