National Awakening Day is always celebrated on May 20. The commemoration cannot be separated from the role of national figures and also the Boedi Oetomo organization in raising the spirit of the nation’s struggle for independence.
One of the Ethical Policies of the Netherlands in the field of education has indirectly created developments in the education of the natives, such as giving birth to intellectual figures who initiated the national movement.
STOVIA
The national movement began with the establishment of a Dutch medical school, STOVIA (School tot Opleiding van Inlandsche Artsen). At the end of the 19th century, various disease outbreaks spread on the island of Java. The Dutch colonial government had difficulty in overcoming this problem because it was very expensive to bring in doctors from Europe.
Therefore, the Dutch East Indies government established STOVIA to produce doctors from the indigenous community. STOVIA waived tuition fees for its students to attract the interest of the natives.
Not only did STOVIA produce skilled doctors in the health sector, STOVIA also gave birth to intellectual activist figures. These critical activists paved the way to Indonesian independence.
Call it dr. Sutomo, dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo, Gunawan, Suraji, and RT Ario Tirtokusumo. They are all intellectual activists and the founders of Boedi Oetomo, the first organization during the national movement.
STOVIA plays a role as a nursery for indigenous youths in fostering the spirit of nationalism. There they exchanged thoughts and ideas to advance this nation and rise from the downturn of colonialism by the Dutch East Indies government.
Boedi Oetomo
Boedi Oetomo is a student organization founded by dr. Sutomo and the STOVIA students as mentioned earlier. Boedi Oteomo was founded in Jakarta on May 20, 1908. This organization is social, economic, cultural, and not political.
The establishment of Boedi Oetomo cannot be separated from the role of dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo, STOVIA alumni. Wahidin previously met with dr. Sutomo and Suraji to express their ideas in the intellectual life of the nation.
After the meeting dr. Sutomo also held an informal meeting with STOVIA students to discuss the establishment of a national organization. The meeting also produced positive results, namely the birth of the ” Boedi Oetomo Association “.
Boedi Oetomo as this student organization has vaguely formulated its goals for the advancement of the country, where its range of movement was initially limited to Java and Madura, then expanded to the entire Indonesian community without paying attention to differences in descent, gender, and religion. . Boedi Oetomo does not involve himself in political activities. His chosen field of activity is education and culture.
Because it only operates in the field of education and culture, some of its members such as dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo and Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara) left Boedi Oetomo because they wanted a more militant movement and went straight to politics.
However, Boedi Oetomo still sticks to his principles to fight in the socio-cultural and educational fields. “Let it be slow as long as you are safe than live for a while and die without a trace”, that is the motto of Boedi Oetomo who uses the Banyan Tree philosophy. Although it grows slowly, it is getting bigger, stronger, and shady.
Rise of the national movement
Although Boedi Oetomo did not immediately enter the political field, the enthusiasm and thoughts of his members have fueled the fire of the struggle to free this nation from colonialism.
This is evidenced by the growth of organizations that are also struggling in the political field diplomatically, such as Sarekat Islam, the Indonesian Association, Indische Partij, Muhammadiyah, and many others.
Boedi Oetomo has changed the struggle of the Indonesian people which was initially carried out physically into a diplomatic struggle. Boedi Oetomo also changed the struggle from a regional nature to a national one.
Finally, Boedi Oetomo has initiated one of the most important things, namely to raise the national spirit to achieve an independent Indonesia.
National Awakening Day 2021: Rise! We are a Tough Nation!
In commemoration of the 113th National Awakening Day, the theme carried was “ Arise! We are a Strong Nation! “. This theme reminds us that the spirit of national awakening teaches us to always be optimistic about the future. Let’s face all challenges and problems together as heirs to the resilience of this nation.
Happy National Awakening Day P!
The History of the National Movement From Budi Utomo to the Confession of Sovereignty published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1997