Today is a special day commemorated exclusively to a very special person: a person that inspires Indonesian women to rise up and stand tall as proud equals; a person that many refer to as the one that gave birth to the notion that Indonesian women can and able to rise through any challenges and prove that they can meet and even surpass all expectations.

Today is Kartini Day, and that special person is Raden Adjeng Kartini (or Raden Ayu Kartini)

Kartini was born at Jepara, Central Java on April 21^st, 1879, with Raden Mas Adipati Ario Sosroningrat as her father and M.A. Ngasirah as her biological mother. She was an aristocrat, and as such enjoyed greater privileges unavailable to many of her Indonesian peers, such as the ability to communicate fluently in foreign language (in this case, Netherlands.) It was this ability that pushed her to establish constant correspondence with many European people—European women, in particular. From them she gained access to all sorts of European-based publications such as books, magazines, and newspapers.

It was due to constant contact with her European friends that spurned her to take issues towards the difference between women in Europe and women in Indonesia. She noticed how European women can enjoy much greater freedom in how to live their life compared to their Indonesian contemporaries—how Indonesian women are shackled to the binds of traditional cultures, how Indonesian women are culturally forbidden to spread their wings beyond the confines of pre-determined tasks and obligations. She dreamed of a world where such things can no longer be part of a reality that Indonesian women must endure.

She wrote all her thoughts on the matter on her letters to her foreign friends. After her death, the letters were compiled into a book by Mr. J.H. Abendanon called Door Duisternis tot Licht—‘from darkness towards the light.’ Such was the sincerity behind her written words that even after her death her thoughts could reach the heart of many, and became the inspirations for Indonesian women in understanding that the only life worth living is life where personal freedom can reign beyond the cage of confining rules and traditions.