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iteracy enables the imagination to cross boundaries. However, social boundaries have trapped people regardless of social status and educational background.

The anniversary of the date of birth of heroine Raden Ajeng Kartini, observed on April 21, has shown us that literacy and openness to new ideas are key to building social relationships with others.

Born in 1879 in Jepara, Central Java, Kartini did not have advanced degrees in formal education. Yet intense reading helped her cross boundaries through imagination and the ability to welcome ideas from across the globe, although she was physically in Java under the rule of the Dutch.

With the help of her brother and Dutch friends, Kartini accessed some of the best reading material available at the time. From reading the novel Max Havelaar by Multatuli, the pen name of Eduard Dowes Dekker, among others, the daughter of the local regent sought to grasp the discrepancy among the
Javanese: the people of nobility and those of ordinary families, and between colonizers and the colonized.

Through her writings, the young woman, who under Javanese customs had to stay home in her teenage years as a daughter of a noble, criticized patriarchy, colonialism and Christianization as tools of authoritarian violence in the Dutch Indies.

In her letters to many friends, Kartini unpacked women’s suffering under patriarchy that perceived and legalized women as men’s belongings. She also criticized colonialism that trapped the Javanese in poverty.

Although Kartini appreciated the work of Christian missionaries in Java and Celebes, she asked Nicolaus Adriani who worked in Central Sulawesi, whether missionaries could conduct good deeds among people without converting them to Christianity.

Literature helped to open up avenues for Kartini toward the realm of religious others. Her reading of We Two by Edna Lyall gave her some understanding of Christianity in relation with other religions as well as atheism; and she sought to comprehend Buddhism from reading, among others, Soul of a People by Harold Fielding.

Kartini also read about Judaism from Dreams of the Ghetto by Israel Zangwill. In her time where religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue did not yet enter the academia, Kartini already practiced inter-textual reading and comparative theology.

Kartini also celebrated the richness of similarities and differences among religions.

In a few letters she described her first visit to the shrines of religious others during the dedication of a new church in Kedung Penjalin in Jepara. Respect towards other religious teaching and social solidarity led Kartini to celebrate differences in religious practices without losing her religious identity.

The theologist Kwok Pui-Lan in Globalization, Gender and Peacebuilding claims religious tolerance opens the gate for interaction, but not equality. Unlike tolerance, religious pluralism is an energetic endeavor to engage with diversity and mutual understanding.

It forms the ability to learn from others as respectfully and sympathetically as possible, as apparent in Kartini’s writings.

Her thinking still speaks for Indonesia’s context today. First, the plethora of religious practices in Indonesia requires not only tolerance, but also equality: all religions should be equal legally and socially.

Religious pluralism does not focus only on resemblances, but celebrates both differences and similarities.

Kartini celebrated similarities and differences by recognizing her identity as a Javanese Muslim, but was also open to learn from other traditions.

Second, religious communities need to build energetic engagement with others. In her letter to Estell “Stella” Zeehandelaar of Nov. 6, 1899, she perceived religious communities as a big family that centered on the love of God. Thus there should be no religious conflict and bloodshed because of different belief systems.

Third, her writings reflect aspirations that regulation should ensure social recognition of diverse groups. In another letter to Stella she argued that government should protect people from being persecuted by any dominant groups.

Similarly in her letter to Marie Ovink-Soer, Kartini criticized rigidity of religious communities that exclude people of other faiths.

Fourth, her short life before she died after giving birth at the age of 25 provided an example of interfaith engagement. Kartini’s interaction with people of different beliefs highlighted the eagerness to develop mutual relationships with others.

Her imagination of a common humanity strengthened her understanding of others regardless of diverse backgrounds and status.
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The writer, who took part in the Fulbright presidential program, teaches interreligious dialogue at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java, and at the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta.