Nama : Kamilah Irma Sari

Kelas : XI AKL 3

Biography of Ki Hajar Dewantara

His Thoughts and Struggle by Suhartono and friends, Ki Hajar Dewantara was born on May
2, 1889 in Yogyakarta. As a figure from an aristocratic family, he has a simple personality
and is very close to the people.

Ki Hajar Dewantara studied at Europeesche Lagere School (ELS) or Dutch Elementary

School for 7 years in Yogyakarta. The school is a special primary school for children from
Europe.
After graduating, Ki Hajar Dewantara then continued his education in medicine and received
a scholarship at STOVIA, a special medical school. However, he did not complete his
education due to poor health.

Ki Hajar Dewantara then started his career as a journalist and writer for several newspapers,
such as Sedyotomo, Midden Java and De Express newspapers. One of Ki Hajar
Dewantara's famous writings is entitled "Als ik een Nederlander was" or in Indonesian
means "If I were a Dutchman."
The article was published in Douwes Dekker's newspaper called De Express in 1913. The
article was written as a form of protest against the plans of the Dutch government to collect
donations from Indonesia, or at that time called the Dutch East Indies, to celebrate Dutch
independence from France.

Ki Hajar Dewantara with Cipto Mangunkusumo and Douwes Dekker then founded the
Indische Partij, the first party in Indonesia which aimed to unite the Dutch East Indies and
fight for Indonesian independence.
This party actively moved throughout the Dutch East Indies to gain people's support and
spread the idea of nationalism to end colonialism in Indonesia.
The form of protest carried out by Ki Hajar Dewantara finally caused anger from the
Netherlands. Until he was later exiled to the Netherlands.e