Austral-Indonesian Tujuhbelasan

Open Letter to Maribyrnong Mayor Martin Zakharov

gender bigotry declaration

In Maribyrnong, the “thoughts, ideas and opinions” of “mothers, daughters and sisters” are “heard and respected”. My thoughts, ideas and opinions got me arrested by the police. Is this misandry? Why wasn’t my goal of a better relationship with Indonesia which I have worked towards in unique ways for 3 decades “celebrated and supported” as opposed to what happened in 2016?

Dear Mayor,

Thank you for your honesty in acknowledging that the police actions initiated against me from within the ALP and Maribyrnong City Council in 2016 were unnecessary and unfair.

It has broken me to be arrested as a result of trying to talk about ways I wanted to help Australia have a better relationship with Indonesia.

The resulting PTSD leaves me unable to get income and I am resigned to death because fairness for me in modern Australia looks impossible.

While I am still alive, please attempt to publicly address all the following unanswered questions ASAP.

I direct them to you, an elected representative I know, not some bureaucrat incapable of caring about me.

I do this as early in your term as Mayor as I can. My PTSD stopped me writing this last week.

I ask these questions of you because of the human decency which I, as a midwife, believe you may have inherited from your mum, Senator Olive Zakharov.

I sought answers to the first three questions in an open letter published on November 8^th 2017. That’s how long it took me to recover enough from the trauma of July 2016 to be able to write publicly about it.

With respect to the 2016 action against me, what are the implications for democracy when an elected representative can be up for reelection and facing the possibility of a formal complaint from a citizen voting in that round of elections and then Personal Safety laws are used by the police to threaten that voter with jail if he mentions the candidate online or contacts her?
How did Personal Safety legislation and police intervention come to be a substitute for a complaints process at local government level?
Why is it that in discussions with police, I was never allowed to see the full argumentation for the charges against me and the evidence for the “personal safety” concerns which were allegedly justified by my conduct, the sending of electronic communications when I lobbied an ALP politician?

Unanswered questions to Daniel Andrews from the 8^th of February, 2018 redirected now to you:

Premier Andrews has boasted that Victoria is the most “progressive” state in Australia. Is pre-election police protection of an ALP candidate from showing respect for patriotic lobbying what is meant by “progress” here?
Will you, Martin, as the elected head of government in Maribyrnong, unequivocally support gender equality for men?

From an email of 5th March 2018, unanswered by the recipients, your predecessor as Mayor and the Maribyrnong CEO.

How many women in Maribyrnong have been murdered by their partners or been the victims of domestic violence in the past decade and in each of the past five years and what are the equivalent figures for men in Maribyrnong?
How many men have committed suicide in Maribyrnong in the past decade and in each of the past five years and what are the equivalent figures for women in Maribyrnong?
Who makes money from suicide in the City of Maribyrnong?
Does any of this money come to Council?

Democracy, civilised humanity and human rights are life or death for me now.

Your predecessor in 2015, Mayor Nam Quach, wrote that my art: “……. provided a unique expression of Indonesian humanity, history and culture, with the underlying theme of an appreciation for the Indo-Australian relationship. The Bahasa phrases used, referring to ‘kesatuan’ and ‘keragaman’, certainly reflect the strength and unity found within diversity, striking a chord to the spirit and values we share here in the City of Maribyrnong.”

As a fellow independent artist, Martin, you have made a good little contribution to 3 of my 5 art displays at places important to 4 heads of government in Indonesia, art displays where shared Austral-Indonesian history, democracy and human rights were and are vital themes.

Now, instead of us working together for Australia for those values through art, the above questions arising for me from undemocratic Maribyrnong human rights violations from within the ALP against me, must be addressed.

Written and authorized by Geoff Fox, Maribyrnong, if that’s what’s necessary this week.

Too Many Men Want To Die: #metoo4mentoo?

My fellow western men, we must tell our stories: when we are silent, we die.

We have as much right to #metoo as women do.

This poem is my story of unresolved PTSD induced by police state practices in Australia in 2016:

GEOFF FORKS DAY

(#metoo for men too)

Remember. Remember. The 5^th of November.

I remember childhood, when Stranger Danger hadn’t been invented: the streets were free.

I remember Repat: nursing with the diggers and then Brisbane midwifery: in being with women ….. for twenty eight years I had felt free.

I remember Morotai, Douglas MacArthur’s waterhole, where I am proud to see my dad look good, but Maribyrnong took me down: was that cos I was free?

I remember these 28 months of too much wanting to die …….

Can men like me be free

with women now?

Or has hatred

grown too strong?

@ us too?

Geoff Fox, 5^th of November, 2018, Australia.

Relevant link:

https://tujuhbelasan.net/2018/10/17/austral-indonesian-tujuhbelasan-1-my-dad-in-morotai/

Prosaic explanations:

I studied General Nursing at Heidelberg Repatriation hospital where there were many war veterans (diggers in Aussie parlance) and followed up with midwifery in Brisbane. The Old English word “wyf” meant “woman” and the “mid” syllable means “with”. Think of the modern German word “mit” meaning “with”. A midwife now is someone who is with women in pregnancy, birth and breast feeding.
I have created an art display at General Douglas MacArthur’s waterhole in Morotai in Indonesia. My Dad was in Morotai in WW2. His image is now part of the sacerd heart of this grassroots art display. It means a lot to me. I wanted to share and replicate my Morotai achievements in Maribyrnong. I was arrested by the police.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Out of 39 candidates in the 2016 East Gippsland local government election, 82 year old aviator, Ben Buckley, topped the poll with 8.91% of the vote and was the first elected to Council. Ben cares deeply about transparency and openness in government and about increasing freedom and reducing fear. I believe he is a national treasure. A profoundly Aussie epitomy of freedom, democracy and civilised humanity which I established this blog to champion.

As for the nation around him:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH ????? ………….. REST IN PEACE ?????

…….. can we scroll it back up ???????

Ben Buckley on Free Speech

Gender And Society: Calling Out Hysteria

This is what I believe and what I need to say and discuss to survive:

1. Men, women and children need to live with love.

This love is an indispensable foundation of human society.

2. Three fundamental mothering capacities differentiate women from men:

A The ability to carry and nurture life in the womb.

B The capacity to give birth to that life.

C The ability to give the best possible nutrition to new human beings by breast feeding.

3 These three qualitative differences give mothers and potential mothers some different human rights and responsibilities to the rights and responsibilities of other people.

4 The modern western demonisation of men and disempowerment of mothers are two sides of the same coin.

5 The cradle of human culture is maternal love.

6 True loving manliness empowers and protects mums.

7 When family life ceases to be a nation’s foundation, the nation’s death is inevitable.

Geoff Fox, Rembang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia, 31st August 2018

Open Letter to Indonesian Parents: Beware of Western “Education”

To The Parents Of Indonesia:

My country of birth, Australia, is a nation in decline. Australian traditions, democracy, freedoms and human rights are all under attack from within.

The lives of too many people in Australia are ruined by fear, stress and unrelenting callousness by some Australians towards their fellow citizens.

My second home, Indonesia, is a nation on the rise. This vibrant young democracy consistently produces leaders respected around the world. National self-confidence and solid sustainable values give decent people in Indonesia the chance of building decent lives.

In 2016, President Jokowi inspired me and other people with the glorious words in reponse to the Thamrin terrorist attack, “Kita tidak boleh takut dan kalah.” which I transcreate as, “It’s just not on for us to be frightened or defeatist.” This is easily the best response to modern terrorism I have heard from any world leader. President Yudhoyono was also very effective against terrorism.

It is a great tribute to the whole Indonesian education system that a man of humble origins like Joko Widodo could go on to inspire the world with his clear powerful thinking. The words quoted above rest on the foundations of Amar Ma’ruf Nahi Munkar, Pancasila, Gotong Royong and Kebersamaan.

At the age of 59, in 2016, in Australia, I was treated like a criminal when I tried to share my love of the Indonesian values which now give my life its meaning. My efforts to talk about how much Australia can learn from and share with Indonesia lead to me being arrested by the Victoria Police on July 5^th that year and put through psychological hell in Melbourne’s Family Violence Court until December. I am still struggling to recover from that trauma.

My father and over thirty thousand of his fellow Australians fought against tyranny at Balikpapan in July 1945. 229 of those Australians died. The freedoms they fought for are now thriving in Indonesia but are dying in Australia. If I could swap my Australian citizenship for Indonesian citizenship, I believe I would have a much better future.

To any Indonesian parents hoping to give their children a better life through education in Australia, I say this: think very, very carefully about that choice.

There are many wonderful teachers in this archipelago. Among the ones I have known personally are Gus Mus, AmienRais and Mbah Lim. Such teachers should be the envy of the world. I have learnt things about living and society from these and other Indonesian teachers which I could never have learnt in Australia. But what I have been able to learn and love here just does not get respect in Australia. The toxic forces now undermining human rights in Australia can also be very powerful on Australian university campuses and in Australian schools.

Please ask yourself this question if you are considering sending your child to Australia to study: do you want your child to learn in an environment of fear or in an environment of self-confident freedom?

Please choose carefully. Hati hati ya.

Selamat Tujuhbelasan. Merdeka!

Geoff Fox, Solo, Jateng, Indonesia, 17-08-2018

Open Letter to the Prime Minister: AN ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY FROM WITHIN THE ALP IN MARIBYRNONG

Prime Minister Turnbull,

In 1986 you said: “The public interest in free speech is not just in truthful speech, in correct speech, in fair speech …… The interest is in the debate.”

My rights to freedom of speech and participation in democratic debate have been denied to me in my home of Maribyrnong by misuse of police services from within the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

Seventy three years ago, in the first week of July, 1945, over thirty thousand Australians, including my father, landed at Balikpapan, Indonesia, in the final major battle of World War Two. 229 died.

In 2015, after a series of successful tree plantings in Indonesia, I lobbied all elected members of the Maribyrnong Council about memorial tree planting and reaching out in friendliness to Indonesia.

Subsequently, I was arrested for the alleged crime of sending two many electronic communications to Councillor (Cr) Sarah Carter of the ALP. Victoria Police treated me as a potential sex criminal till December that year. I now suffer PTSD as a result.

Two open letters about this, the first written to Cr Carter last November and the second to Victorian ALP Premier Daniel Andrews this February remain unanswered. So I now write to you.

As recently as February the 2nd this year, Maribyrnong City Cr Martin Zakharov of the ALP has written to me that the action against me was “unnecessary and unjust”.

I have created art displays in Indonesian places important to four heads of governments. I wanted to share this in Maribyrnong and I was arrested by the police.

In 2015, the mayor of Maribyrnong, Cr Nam Quach, viewed a selection of my art works and wrote, “Thank-you for the opportunity to view your exhibition.

Having spent some time working and living in Indonesia, I can say that I found it to be a deeply rich and fascinating culture which, has been often misrepresented in decades gonepast. My impressions of your artwork was that it provided a unique expression of Indonesian humanity, history and culture, with the underlying theme of an appreciation for the Indo-Australian relationship. The Bahasa phrases used, referring to ‘kesatuan’ and ‘keragaman’, certainly reflect the strength and unity found within diversity, striking a chord to the spirit and values we share here in the City of Maribyrnong.”

Cr Quach’s political career, based on providing an independent alternative to the Australian Labor Party, came to an end some time after he “was picked up and “body slammed” to the floor and kicked, leaving him dazed and nursing a cut lip.” (Herald Sun November 18, 2015) by an angry citizen at a council meeting. I believe this attack may be what another independent Councillor was referring to when warning me not to speak up about my loss of democratic rights. This other independent said; “I know what they can stir up.” I still wonder who “stirred up” the violence which this Indonesia-literate man, Nam Quach, suffered prior to his departure from local government.

Prime Minister, can you acknowledge my patriotism better than the ALP and Maribyrnong City Council have done?

I call on you, Prime Minister, based on the civic rights of our British heritage and on the human rights the world declared universal in response to World War Two, to make sure freedom of speech and open debate are protected at all levels of government in Australia.

Bill Shorten has ignored what happened to me in Maribyrnong. In his own backyard.

Do you care more about our democracy, Mr Turnbull?

sincerely,

Geoff Fox, Jakarta, Indonesia.

3rd of July, 2018

Open Letter to the Leader Of The Free World: OUR COMMON HERITAGE DEFENDING FREEDOM TODAY

Mr President,

As Fathers Day and July 4th approach, I congratulate you on being the first American president to meet with North Korea’s head of state: where others feared war, you have increased the chances of peace. Such communication is essential to make a reality of Douglas MacArthur’s prophecy: “A better world shall emerge based on faith and understanding.”

I am Australian and a fan of MacArthur and the American spirit of freedom. I write to you from a new home for freedom: the Republic Of Indonesia. In this nation, leaders like Presidents Yudhoyono and Jokowi and Mike Pence’s recent White House guest Yahya Staquf Cholil strengthen democracy, fight terrorism and present a gentle face to the world.

The Indonesian nation was born in the wake of the American lead victory over Imperial Japan in 1945. During World War Two, when the attack on Pearl Harbour and subsequent Japanese imperial conquests shook up our world, Australia’s great wartime Prime Minister, Jack Curtin, said, “Australia looks to America.” We still do. Under the postwar leadership of Douglas MacArthur, Japan became a democratic ally of the West.

America inspires the world by the depth of her commitment to freedom. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” Likewise Thomas Jefferson said “Our liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people themselves.”

In words that presage the sufferings of many men in the twenty first century at the hands of misandry disguised as political correctness, George Washington declared, “If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

During World War One, when free nations faced an existential threat, Nobel Peace Prize winner Teddy Roosevelt reasserted the profoundly American vision of the centrality of honest freedom: “I am an American and a free man. ……. Free speech, exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where the people are themselves free …… Nothing but the truth should be spoken …….”

In his 1941 state of the Union address, Teddy’s 5^th cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, spoke of the need for continual national endeavour: “……. today’s best is not good enough for tomorrow.”

This last quote points to a strength that defines American greatness: the ability to correct mistakes and to take new paths: as Ronald Reagan said: “Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.” That’s the spirit behind your pioneering meeting in Singapore, Mr President.

In 1961, The Gipper warned: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Protecting freedom for those who follow speaks to us now when equality and freedom are denied to far too many sons in the western world.

The election of Barak Obama and yourself were both examples of America’s capacity to redirect herself. The following wise words from Obama show great insight to social problems which became worse during his presidency: “For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighbourhoods or on college campuses, or places of worship or especially our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions …….. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accepting only information, whether it’s true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there.”

The problem of sexist injustices towards men is getting worse across the western world. The appointment by you, Mr President, of Betsy DeVos to the crucial post of Secretary of Education may be a turning point.

In addressing injustices created by previous Title IX directions she has shown that America’s freedom-based capacity to correct problems is still alive and well. For me as a poet, her words about this are profoundly moving: they demonstrate your administration’s defence of the very best American traditions. For instance:

“There is no way to avoid the devastating reality of campus sexual misconduct: lives have been lost. Lives of victims. And lives of the accused.”

“Survivors aren’t well-served when they are re-traumatized with appeal after appeal because the failed system failed the accused.”

“And the rights of one person can never be paramount to the rights of another.”

“Schools have been compelled by Washington to enforce ambiguous and incredibly broad definitions of assault and harassment. …. But if everything is harassment, then nothing is.”

“The notion that a school must diminish due process rights to better serve the ‘victim’ only creates more victims.”

Mr President, I know of no government figure in the world to have recently made a better stand for the rights of men than your Secretary of Education. As a victim of socialist left police state tactics in in Victoria in southeast Australia, I salute your appointment of Secretary DeVos.

Current challenges to freedom are real. As the Secretary’s comments imply, people stripped of freedom will sometimes choose suicide.

American founding father Patrick Henry said “…… give me liberty or give me death!” A slogan of the Indonesian republican revolution gets this in three words: “Merdeka atau mati!” (Liberty or death!)

Where is the answer to modern injustices against men? Perhaps Douglas MacArthur’s wise words: “It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.” show the way.

Much work must be done for the spirit of freedom to survive and save us.

As Thomas Jefferson put it: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

God Bless You and God Bless Betsy DeVos, Mr President.

And God Bless the spirit of freedom with which America leads the world.

Geoff Fox, Java, Indonesia, 15-06-2018

SOME QUESTIONS FOR MOTHERS DAY FROM A VICTORIAN MIDWIFE.

I have been a midwife in Australia for 30 years.

I believe that human babies have a right to human milk.

Who agrees with me?

6 months exclusive breast feeding is the recommended minimum. According to the latest publicly available comprehensive figures, 96% of Australian mothers initiate breast feeding for their newborns. At 5 months only 15% have been exclusively breast fed for that time. To achieve better breast feeding rates, mothers need more support.

The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities states: “Every child has the right, without discrimination, to such protection as is in his or her best interests and is needed by him or her by reason of being a child.”

The first few days are crucial to establishing breast feeding.

Since breast feeding is unarguably the best foundation for a baby’s life long physical, psychological and social health, why have successive Victorian governments whittled away at the publicly funded lying in period spent among midwives for new mothers?

When I became a midwife in the late 1980’s, we were very reluctant to send a breast feeding woman home if the milk supply was not established. Sometimes that could mean midwifery care in hospital for a week. Most mothers stayed for three to five days.

Since then the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative made Victorian hospitals much better places to establish breast feeding than they were. But the question, “Is the milk in yet?” has been replaced in public hospitals by the question “How soon do you want to go home?” The common length of stay is one to three days or earlier if the mother wants. For some women going home quickly is highly desirable and not a problem at all. But for others, undisturbed bonding with the baby under the care of experts in breast feeding is a need that it is impossible to meet at home.

Why have women and their newborn babies been denied the right to a publicly funded lying-in period to establish breast feeding?

I believe this has happened because it is cheaper for new mothers to be sent home quickly than it is to care for them.

Earlier this decade, I told Labor Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, that I believed new mothers were being sent home too quickly. Her immediate response was to ask what impact would that have on breast feeding rates. She promised to discuss my concerns with me, but did not deliver on the promise till she became Attorney General: she knew there was a problem but she didn’t make the time to listen to me when it counted.

At that time if you googled “Liberal Party breast feeding” Tony Abbot’s generous paid parental scheme was what you found: this policy would have helped breast feeding rates; he clearly did care. Who cares now?

If you googled ”Labor Party breast feeding” the result was policies about cattle feedlots.

Australia’s latest national comprehensive breast feeding figures are from 2010.

Share market prices can be dealt with in seconds or even milli-seconds.

Who wants a better balance between our attention to our breast feeding rates and our attention to stock prices? I know I do.

Why don’t we have regular updates on breast feeding rates?

Is there a single candidate running in this year’s Victorian state election who cares about breast feeding and who will push for better midwifery postnatal services and the return of a publicly funded lying-in period available to all mothers?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/breastfeedingsupportinvictoria/?ref=group_browse_new was my attempt to raise awareness prior to the previous election. Who wants to revive this effort?

Mothers want to give their babies the best.

But they need more support.

Who else cares about this?

Societies which neglect the needs of mothers and their babies cannot survive.

Geoff Fox, Midwife. 08-05-2018.

Postscript. ……….. I. Geoff Fox, am no longer a midwife, but I still care deeply about mums. (11/1o/2020)

KARTINI: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW

“There is no word for selfishness in the Javanese language. Happy language where that word has never penetrated.” Raden Ajeng Kartini, August 15, 1902.

Javanese Princess Raden Ajeng Kartini loved and respected her mother, father and husband and was proud of her culture and heritage and of the female role of mother.

Professor of English Janice Fiamengo of Canada writes:

“Kartini’s eloquent tribute to women and her acknowledgement of the importance of the family as the basis of a healthy society are an inspiration.”

The professor contrasts this with the contemporary situation in Western countries:

“If our feminist leaders today celebrated family, acknowledged fathers, and stressed women’s special capacities to mother their children, we would be much better off than we are.

Kartini’s vision is an attractive one and certainly a safer basis for social reform than anything offered by modern feminism.

Feminists in the West, except for a few, are not much interested in motherhood or infant care.

Most are interested in weakening the family (which they see as oppressive) and in excluding men from the family and from society generally. Their issues are not really womens’ issues; their issues are anti-male propaganda and activism.

Programs and practices that help mothers are purely positive and few men object to them, so there is nothing to be gained by feminists.”

I agree with the Professor.

Modern feminism, twisted by dark hatred of men, terrifies me.

But Kartini was a product of the enlightenment. She was not like modern feminists. She was better.

Her own words in her letters to European friends prove how different she was to so many contemporary feminists.

A. KARTINI DID NOT SEE HERSELF OR OTHER WOMEN AS VICTIMS.

“The modern girl is proud and independent: happy and self-reliant, she lightly and alertly steps on her way through life, full of enthusiasm and warm feeling; working not only for her own well-being and happiness, but for the greater good of humanity as a whole.” 25 May, 1899.

“My father has been so affectionate to me; he takes my hand between his two hands tenderly, and puts his arm around me so lovingly, as though he would protect me from some impending danger. Through everything I feel his immeasurable love, and it makes me very happy …….” August, 1900.

“The education of woman has always been an important factor in civilization.” October 11, 1901.

“……. the highest and most sacred glory of woman is motherhood.” September 2nd, 1902.

“If the child that I carry under my heart is a girl, what shall I wish for her? I shall wish that she may live a rich full life, and that she may complete the work that her mother has begun. She shall never be compelled to do anything abhorrent to her deepest feelings. What she does must be of her own free will. She shall have a mother who will watch over the welfare of her inmost being, and a father who will never force her in anything. It will make no difference to him if his daughter remains unmarried her whole life long; what will count with him will be that she shall always keep her esteem and affection for us. He has shown that he respects women, and that we are one in thought, by his desire to trust his daughter wholly to me.” June 28th, 1904.

B. KARTINI DID NOT DEMONISE OR ATTACK MEN

“We are not giving battle to men, but to old moss-grown edicts and conventions that are not worthy of the Javanese of the future.” 1900

C. SHE WAS COMMITTED TO GENDER EQUALITY

“To love, there must first be respect ……….” November 6, 1899.

“I should teach my children, boys and girls, to regard one another as equal human beings and give them always the same education; of course following the natural disposition of each.” 23 August, 1900

“I shall not go on with our great work as a woman alone! A noble man will be at my side to help me.” August, 1903.

D. DESPITE HER NOBLE BIRTH, SHE WAS HUMBLE

“I and my people are one.” February 1st, 1903.

“I have said all along that I would not allow my foot to be kissed. I could never allow anyone to do that. I want a place in their hearts, not outward forms.” August 25th, 1903.

E. KARTINI WAS A WOMAN’S RIGHTS PIONEER WHO RESPECTED FAMILY AND TRADITION.

“I long to be free, to be able to stand alone, to study, not to be subject to any one, and, above all, never never to be obliged to marry.” 25 May, 1899.

“…….the calling of woman is marriage …….. the highest happiness for a woman is, and shall be centuries after us, a harmonious union with the man of her choice.” 23 August, 1900

“Our grandfather in the past brought up the sons of other nobles. …….. So you see there is nothing new under the sun; our idea which is called startlingly new, is old, inherited from our grandfather. Our plan of education — our spirit, has descended from him. Grandfather was a pioneer; we are only carrying on his work — they were good people, both grandfather and grandmother.” January 27th, 1903.

“The freedom of women is inevitable; it is coming, but we cannot hasten it.” August Ist 1903.

F. SHE RESPECTED HER PARENTS

“I cannot thank my parents enough for the free upbringing they have given me.” November 6, 1899

“I wish that I could tell you what Mamma has been to us all these long years, what she still is. ……. We owe her a world full of love and gratitude; we are so thankful that we are going away from Mamma in peace, in the service of that Good that she herself knows and understands.” July 12, 1902.

G. SHE RESPECTED THE FEMALE ROLE OF MOTHER AND THAT RESPECT DEFINED HER PIONEERING EFFORTS

“……. who can do most for the elevation of the moral standard of mankind? The woman, the mother ……. it is at the breast of woman, that man receives his earliest nourishment. The child learns there first, to feel, to think, and to speak. And the earliest education of all foreshadows the whole after life.” 1900

H. SHE RESPECTED BOTH HERITAGE AND PROGRESS

“The evening song a Javanese sings to his family and to his neighbours tells of love, heroic deeds and glittering pageantry; of beauty and of wisdom; of mighty men and women, princes and princesses of the long ago. It is that loveliest hour when the Javanese, tired from the hard day’s work, seeks rest in song, dreaming all his cares away, wholly lost in the shining far-away past, whither his song leads him. “The Javanese are a people who live in the past,” a young friend of ours says rightly. “They are lost in the blissful dreams of their eternal sleep.” That is true, but we are alive, we must live; and life always goes forward.” August 20th, 1902.

I. SHE UNDERSTOOD THAT MEN AND WOMEN NEED EACH OTHER

“…… we are meant to live with and for humanity.” August, 1901.

“……. my new home ……. A home where, praise God, there is peace and love everywhere, and we are all happy with and through one another.” December 11th, 1903 (after her marriage)

“I have planned to be a pioneer in the struggle for the rights and freedom of the Javanese woman. I am now the wife of a man whose support gives me strength in my efforts to reach the ideal which is always before my eyes. I have now both personal happiness and also my work for my ideal.” April l0th, 1904.

To restore our own badly damaged culture, westerners could learn from Indonesia, just as Kartini learnt from the west.

This enlightened woman’s vision of equality and freedom could help the world now.

Professor Fiamengo writes that Kartini should inspire us all to remember “that love and cooperation between men and women, and love for children, is the true basis of all social progress.”

Or, as the Princess herself wrote on the 23rd of August, 1900:

“Love begets love.”

Geoff Fox, March 21, 2018, Australia.

Kartini quotes are from the 1920 translation by Agnes Louise Symmers