Indonesia: Exhibition ‘Letters of the Founders of the Nation’

A collaborative exhibition

From 10 to 22 November 2018, the National Museum in Jakarta displayed 25 letters written by national heroes of Indonesia. The exhibition entitled ‘Surat Pendiri Bangsa’ (Letters of the Founders of the Nation) was organised by the Director-General of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture in collaboration with Historia Magazine. Prof. Dr. Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono, daughter of one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Hatta, opened the exhibition.

Private correspondence made accessible

The documents displayed at this exhibition were not official letters but private correspondence from Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir, Tan Malaka, Raden Adjeng Kartini, Agus Salim, John Lie and Ki Hajar Dewantara addressed to relatives and friends. The special curator of the Exhibition and editor in chief of Historia, Bonnie Triyana, hopes the exhibition will stimulate young people to learn about history and obtain information also through primary sources. The letters were obtained from collections of various agencies and private collections, including the National Archives of Indonesia, the National Archives of the Netherlands and the International Institute for Social History.

The National Archives of the Netherlands provided scans of private letters written by Raden Adjeng Kartini to her friend Ms. Mien Bosch. Kartini (1879-1904) was a pioneer in the area of education for girls and women's rights for native Indonesians. In her correspondence with Dutch friends, Kartini spoke out against inhibiting social conventions that denied women’s personal autonomy.