Kartini

RADEN AJENG KARTINI
If you're reading this and you're not Indonesian, you'd probably wonder who Kartini is --or just continue scrolling down. Well, Kartini was (one of the) most famous figure to promote feminism in Indonesia. In the old days, the gender inequality in Indonesia was so high, to the point where only men were allowed to have education while the women had to stay home and do the houseworks. Today, April the 21st --which is also K's birthday-- is celebrated to remember all the effort she had done to make us women finally as well educated as men.

“Dan biarpun saya tiada beruntung sampai ke ujung jalan itu, meskipun patah di tengah jalan, saya akan mati dengan rasa berbahagia, karena jalannya sudah terbuka dan saya ada turut membantu mengadakan jalan yang menuju ke tempat perempuan Bumiputra merdeka dan berdiri sendiri.”

So without her --what I'm going to say after this is going to sound like a cliche-- I wouldn't be who I am right now; finished highschool and studying in college, sitting on my desk writing a blog post. She was brave enough to get off her chair and make a change --that apparently does not only affect hers, but also women in Indonesia. I wish I could do that too. That is what most people --even me-- these days can't see. A will. Are we satisfied? Never. Do we complain? Yes. Do we start fixing? No... not all of us. We keep asking questions when we already know the answers, just so others can tell us what to do. I think what K meant was for us to be independent, to stand on our own shoes and take actions based on what we believe in. Without hesitations.
It's not what you should do, but will you do it?

Thankyou, Kartini!