Part I: From Cradle to 9 Year-old School Girl
1925–1934
My brothers and sister (Mustafa, Ratwiyati, and Ratwito) with me, baby Ratmini.
My father R. Sudirman was born on June 27, 1891. My mother R.A. Satinah was born on January 10, 1891. Both are from Banyumas and they were still cousins. My parents married on March 30, 1917. Both were tall for Javanese at that time. We, the children, called them Pappie and Mammie (Dutch) or sometimes shortened to Pap and Mam.
When they married, Pappie had completed his studies at the Rechts School (School of Law) in Batavia, then worked as a member of the District Court (Land Raad). At that time University of Indonesia was not yet established. Ratwiyati (Yu Wiwi) was born on January 30, 1918 in Semarang. Pap served as a member of two Land Raads. The syllable Rat is taken from Raad, the dwi is two. On October 26, 1919 Ratwito (Mas To) was born in Magelang, his name still uses two raad, Ratwito.
Mustafa was born on February 3, 1922 in Banyumas; I don’t know why in Banyumas, my guess is because Pap was getting ready to go to the Netherlands to study law at Leiden University, so Mam was escorted to Banyumas to give birth there. In that era the Dutch colonial government began to send “natives” to the Netherlands on scholarships to various universities. Pappie lived in Leiden for two years. After graduating from law school, he may hold the title of Meester in de Rechten, abbreviated as Mr.
After returning to his homeland, Pappie was placed in Batavia (now Jakarta), and lived in the Weltevreden area, Jalan Alaydrus. Jalan Alaydrus is still there, located on the side of Jl. Gajah Mada. And I was born on Wednesday, Rebo Wage, November 18, 1925.
My parents gave the name Ratmini; the two grandparents also gave names: Subranti (branta = longing) Sri Oneng (oneng = missed). These two names describe the longing of a husband for his wife after being separated for two years. In the end, only Ratmini Subranti was chosen; and Sri Oneng is not used. And I’m called Mini, a very common name, why not be called Branti or Oneng instead of plain Mini?
I did not have a birth certificate, because there was no civil registry for “natives” at that time. When I enrolled in school, I had to have: 1) Surat Asal Oesoel (Letter of Origin) in 1941; 2) Akte van Bekendheid (Letter of Recognition) in 1949.
After I was born, our family moved frequently, we lived in Indramayu and Sumenep. I don’t remember the two cities because I was too small. What is still fresh in my mind is moving to Magelang. In Magelang, my younger brother, Gunawan Wiradi, was born on October 21, 1931.
Parents
Pappie and Mammie were typical Javanese priyayi figures in the early 20th century. They were proficient in Javanese, could write both Javanese and Latin script, understand Javanese manners and love Javanese culture. Around 1930 Pap bought a complete set of gamelan and shadow puppets (so far I have kept them well.) But both of them were also fluent in Dutch too.
Pappie did not really take part in the nationalist movement in the Dutch East Indies at all. When he was in the Netherlands the “Indonesian Association/ Perhimpunan Indonesia” had not yet been established (PI was founded in 1925). Students in the Netherlands around 1920 founded an association called “Indische Vereeniging” — I am not sure whether Pappie became a member.
Pappie loved to tinker, fixing this and that at home. In his spare time he played cards; with his peers he played a game called Ceki or Pei with small Chinese cards. With bridge cards he played Patience. Office hours were usually only until about 1.00 in the afternoon. He always ate lunch at home, then sleeps in the afternoon until 4 o’clock. Then he drank tea with a light snack.
Mammie as a teenager, as was customary among priyayi, had to become skilled in the art of batik-making. She always wore a kebaya with a long, sogan batik cloth. She sewed all her kebayas herself, and made a quilt patchwork of fabric is joined together (a kind of patchwork) to be used as a blanket. He called “antakusuma;” she made each one of my children an antakusuma.
Mammie also learned how to paint with watercolors, but then she didn’t do it anymore because she was too busy taking care of the household with five children. Sometimes she read macapat and sang Javenese songs, nembang.
The children were educated so that they could be bilingual: in Dutch so that we could be accepted in the best schools during the Dutch East Indies era.
But Javanese was also a must, to greet grandparents we have to use “kromo inggil,” to greet friends and domestic staff “ngoko.” Only Mas Moes could read Javanese script, the result of his schooling at MOSVIA (school civil service).
Magelang
The city of Magelang during the Dutch East Indies was the capital of the Kedu Residency with the head of government a Dutch Resident. It was located in the highlands, surrounded by Mount Sumbing, Sindoro, Merbabu, not far from Merapi and the Dieng mountains. The air was cool. The road was full of ups and downs. Magelang was always been a military city, there was a KNIL unit (Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger, Royal Netherlands Indies Army) and a large military housing complex.
We have lived in Magelang for a long time; the first house in Juron, there is a big longan tree in the front yard. Our neighbors were the Goedharts and the Lucas. Nannie Lucas became my playmate. One day Nannie played at our house, she went to the restroom (WC); She asked me for a tissue to clean himself. At the time, I don’t know the habits of these westerners, besides we never use tissue, I gave her a kitchen towel. What a surprise Mammie found a dirty kitchen rag in the toilet!
When I was 5 years old, I was admitted to Frobel School. The teacher is called Juffrouw Fea, with white hair. Every day must bring a sandwich to eat at school. My sandwich is filled with chocolade muisjes or Mammie’s pineapple jam. We moved house again, to a bigger house, I forget the name of the street. It was now time to enter a major school, I was approaching the age of 6, 1931. To be admitted to an ELS school, the native Europeesche Lagere School (European Primary school) I had to get permission from the colonial authorities. The prospective students’ fathers and mothers were interviewed, their origins were researched, and their Dutch language proficiency checked. I was accepted.
Europeesche Lagere School (ELS)
ELS was considered an elite school, because those who can be accepted as students were Dutch children with a number of “native” and Chinese children. All Dutch teaching staff. For the “natives” there was HIS (Hollands Inlandse School), the teacher was a native person, teaching in Dutch. There was also HCS (Hollands Chinese School). The length of study in elementary school is 7 years.
Our school bench seated two people, connected with a slightly sloping table board. Under the table board there is space to put things, and on the table board there is a hole where the ink tank is filled every day by the school maid. We learned to write beautifully with “kroontjespen” which was inserted into the hilt of the pen. The line up is thin, down is thick. Subjects in the form of Dutch, reading, composing, counting and so on.
There is also a singing lesson from the songbook “Kun je nog zingen zing and mee” (Can you still sing, sing along.) Until now, whenever there is an event filled with music, those in their seventies or eighties like to sing songs from the book. There are several extra-curricular subjects in the highest grades, such as French; for girls there is knitting, for boys there is plywood work.
Every December 5 there is a Sinterklaas event, and we practice singing Sinterklaas songs because he and Zwarte Piet (Black Piet) will come
to school to distribute gifts to well-behaved children. Zwarte Piet brought a sack filled with gifts and a broomstick to beat up the bad guys. Of course, the gifts were first collected by the parents. At home the children fill shoes with grass for Sinterklaas’s horse. In the morning the grass was gone and replaced with chocolate.
My classmates include: Hermien Van Benthem, Leentje Vos, Saidah (daughter of the Regent of Magelang.) I sometimes played at their house. There was another one: Tineke Siek (Mrs. Tan Liep Tjiauw a.k. Prianti), who was the champion of women’s tennis in Indonesia in the 1950s. After I got married and lived on Jalan Tanjung we met again because we lived on the same street. After ELS finished, Saidah married and we didn’t see each other again after our family moved, but when we were in Washington, D.C., her daughter Hesti was the wife of one of the embassy staff.
At school there was a library; I first read children’s stories such as Pietje Bel, Dik Trom and fairy tales, (fairy tales). When I got older, I also read Joop ter Heul and books by Karl May; Winnetou and Old Shatterhand’s were names still fresh in my mind.
On Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday, August 31, school children flocked to the Resident’s residence, to “aubade,” sing the Dutch national anthem and many others. All dressed in white with orange ribbons.
My parents subscribed to “Leestrommel,” a tin can containing various Dutch magazines. Once a week the trommel is exchanged for new reading material. Mas Moes and I scrambled for Panorama magazine to read the adventures of Flash Gordon, an American comic strip.
At home I played with Mas Moes, I was a bit of a tomboy. We liked to climb on flat roofs, play kites or play cards.
I also often walked on the walls around the house. But I also played with dolls. I only had one doll, but with Mammie I made a doll out of rags. There was also a picture on paper of a female figure that I would cut out and make clothes to change them into. I started to like fashion since I was very young.
Because Magelang is not far from Borobudur Temple, our family and I sometimes traveled there. Or we climbed Mount Tidar, to its peak. The people of Kedu believed that Mount Tidar, which is actually not too tall, considered it as the nail of the island of Java. Once in a while we went to the edge of Kali Progo, I liked to jump from rock to rock; sometimes we traveled to feel the cool air in Kopeng.
One thing I never learned as a young child was swimming. In Magelang there was a swimming pool which is prohibited for dogs and “inlander” (natives); we occasionally went to Blabag’s pool, but only to play with inner tubes. Pappie and Mammie did not see the need for their child to learn to swim.
