Sarino Partindo

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1/5

IN

M E M O R I A M :

K I SARINO

M A N G U N P R A N O T O

A n t o n Lucas

W h i l e preparing these notes, I have been listening, for the first

t im e

since 1971,

to the tape I m a d e

( a l m o s t

accidentally) o f m yfirst encounter

wi th

P a k Sarino. W e

m et

i n S e m a r a n g o n

August

30,

1971,

at the h o m e o f

Soeyono,

w h o h a d

been gov

e r n m e n t veterinary

of f icer in

Pekalongan residency during

the

Japanese

Occupat ion

and the

early Revolution. Soeyono

suggested

I

m e e t

a

guest

of his who was c o m i n g

t o S e m a r a n g

in a few

days,

who

k n e w

a lot

about

the

Pekalongan

area.

In the

course of myresearch on the revolutionary period in the Tiga Daerah region of

Pekalongan, I h a d collected quite a few

stories

from local off ic ials of the t i m e ,

and Iassumed that this guest w o u l d be another

f o r m e r

ambtenaar(Dutchtrained

off ic ia l

from

the

prewar colonial

bureaucracy).

Thus,

I was

c o m p l e t e l yunprepared

fo r the

visitor.

It was Sarino M a n g u n p r a n o t o .

Listening

again to our discussion, I realize that Pak Sarino was the first Indo

nesian I met who

started

his

account

of

f a c t u a l events

(of the

Japanese Occupat ion

and early Revolution) wi t h

an

analysis

of the

social relationships

of the

society

in

w h i c h he

livedthe

kabupaten to w n of P e m a l a n g in

Pekalongan residency.

It was

no use

trying

to

explain

the

political disruption

of

1945

by w h a t

happened during

the Japanese period, he said; one had to return to the social situation at the end of

colonial

rule.

For him any

understanding

of the

social

and

political upheaval

in

1945

c a m e

back to the basic

economic

reality of village society in 1940. "Villages werein

a

miserable condition [keadaan

d

desa

keadaan

melarat]

," he

said,

at the

beginning

o f the interview,

"there

was an

e n o r m o u s social

confl ict

between

the

haves

and the

have nots,

an

English phrase

Pak

Sarino liked

to

use.

The

local

eco no m y

was in

the hands of rich h / i in the rural

areas

and the Chineseand Arab moneylendersin

the

towns. Thus,

the

fury

of the

antiChineseriots

in

P e m a l a n g

at the end of

Dutch rule

in M a rch

1942,w h i c h

he

experienced firsthand,

did not

surprisehim.

H e

k n e w

that "the people were angry about the exploitation by the Chinese." Pak

Sarino was not

primarily interested

in the

leadership

of

this

and

other revolts that

broke

out in

Java during

the

twentieth century (the 1926

C o m m u n i st

rebellion,

the

antiChinese

riots of

1942,

or the

social revolution

of 1945). He had no

con

spiracy

theory.

Social unrest was the

result

of the growing gap between "the

haves and the have

nots,"

and he saw the upheavals basically as m o v e m e n t s w h i c h

tried tobring i m p r o v e m e n t for thepeople [gerakan yang ingn membawa kemajuan

rakyat]

."

Sarino Mangunpranoto was born in Bagelen,

P u r w o r e j o

regency (in the

resi

dency

o f

K e d u )

on

January

15,

1910.

A f t e r

H IS

( Dutch

language primary school)

in P u r w o r e j o

a n d

K e b u m e n ,

h e

finished

h i s

teacher training

in

T a m a n Siswa

i n

Yogyakarta in 1929. The next thirteen years of his l i f e were

g p e n t

on the north

coast

of

Java, m o s t l y

as the

head teacher

of the

T a m a n S i s w a school

in

P e m a l a n g .

Before

b e c o m i n g head teacher Sarino j o i n e d Partindoand ranpolitical courses for

the

m o v e m e n t

in S lawi

where T a m a n

Siswa

s

regional headquarters were located.

Sarino

s nationalist sympathies m a d e the

T a m a n

Siswa school in

P e m a l a n g

a safe

133


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K i arino

Mangunpranoto

1910-1983)


3/5

135

m e e t i n g place

for

variousnationalist groups.

M an y of his

f o r m e r students b e c a m e

p r o m i n e n t

during the Revolution.

T h e

Japanese administration closed th e

T a m a n

Siswa school system in March

1943,

and Pak

Sarino then

m o v e d

to

Pati,

east

of

Semarang, where

he

spent

the

rest of the Occupation and where he founded a

seafisheries

cooperative. In the

early

Revolution he b e c a m e deputy Resident of Pati, and

later

(in 1947) Resident,

playing an importantrole in the establishmentof aRepublican government in the

region.

1

After the First Clash (in July 1947) he joined the evacuation of Republi

can

administrations from Java's north coast and, w h e n he arrived at W o n o s o b o ,

helped set up aresidency government

"in exile"

there.

D u r i n g the Revolution, he was active in the P N I , foundinga branch in Pati,

and at the party

s third national congress in Yogyakarta in June 1948 he was elect

ed

to its central leadership. By 1956 he was chairman of the influential Central

Java branch.

2

Reflecting a habit

from

his PNIdays, Sarino continued throughout

his

life

to

address ministers, ambassadors,

governors,

military c o m m a n d e r s , uni

versity presidents, and his own

students,

in

public (and probably

in

private) s i mp

ly as

s u d r .

The

term

B p f c

he

used

only

for the

President

of

Indonesia.

In 1956h e w a s appointed Minister of Education in A l i Sas troami d j o j o

s second cabi

net ( 1 956 57), a post he was to hold again ten years later in President Suharto

s

A m p e r a

cabinet.

A l t h o u g h politics and foreign affairs occupied much of

Sarino

s

formal career,

he considered his foremost work to be in education. Indeed,as someon e whoknew

h im

said,

"he

was a

natural educator [ j i w n y penddk]."

He

talked

and

wrote

a b o u t education all his life. His first articles on the subject were published in

Pandji

Pustaka and

Bintang Timoer

in

193233.

He

wrote

on the

educative value

of

children

s

games

for t h e

T a m a n Siswa journal Madjalah Pusara.

H e

considered

Sosio

Nasional

Demokrasi (Yogyakarta:

T a m a n

Siswa,

1946),

Pokok Pikiran

Polftik Pendidi

kan

Indonesia

(Jakarta:

Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1975), and Seta

hun Cabinet Ampera (Jakarta: D e p a r t e m e n Pendidikan dan K e b u d a j a a n , 1967) a m o n g

his

m o re

important writings. But

there

were

m a n y

other

articles, speeches,

and

s e m i n a r papers

on

such subjects

as the

ideas

of Ki

H a d ja r Dewantara (founder

of

th e

T a m a n

Siswa educational

m o v e m e n t ) ,

th e developmentof a national education

system,

th e philosophy o f

education,

a n d o n ideas of no nf o rm a l

education.

3

Sarino not only wrote

about,

but also applied, his philosophy of education

over

a

broad field

of

endeavor throughout

his life. In the

early

1950s

4

he

reestablished

1. Pak

Sarino

s career from

the

early Revolution

has

been recorded

in a seriesof

taped interviews

by m e m b e r s of the

history department

of the

University

of

G ad jah

M a d a , for t h e

Indonesian

N a t i o na l

Archives Oral History Project.

S e e

also K e m e n

terian Penerangan Indonesia,

Republik

Indonesia

Propinsi Djawa

Tengah (Jakarta:

n.p.,

n.d.) , p. 24.

2.

Pak

Sarino

s

involvement with

the PNI is

documented

in J.

Eliseo

R o c a m o r a ,

Nationalism in Search of Ideology: T h e Indonesian Nationalist Party 79467965(Que

zo n City:

University

of the

Philippines, Center

for

Advanced Studies,

1975).

3. See his Menuju

ke DemokrasiPendidikan di Indonesia (Diucapkan pada peneri

m a a n

gelar

Doktor

K e h o r m a t a n dalam

I lmu Pendidikan pada Institut Keguruan d a n

I lmu Pendidikan M a l a n g pada tanggal 17April 1976) (Malang: Badan Penerbit I K I P ,

1976), p. 26, andPidato Promotor Prof. Dr. D.

Dwidjoseputro

pada

pemberian gelar

Doctor

Honoris Causa Pendidikan kepada Bapak Sarino Mangunpranoto pada 17

April

1976

( M a l a n g : I K I P ,

1976), pp. 2325 fo r m o re of Pak Sarino

s

writings.

4. In

this

period he was also active in journalism, and helped to edit the newspaper

TanahAir.


4/5

136

a

T a m a n Siswa secondary school

i n S e m a r a n g , a t

w h i c h

h e

taught.

H e

helped f o u n d

th e T a m a n W i y a t a , T a m a n S i s w a

s tertiary (teacher training) college i n 1958a n d b e

c am e

i ts

rector

in

1970, succeeding

K i H a d ja r D e w a n t a r a

s w i f e . A m o n g h i s

educa

tional experiments

w h i c h

produced lasting

results

were the

F a r m i n g

H i g h

Schoolor

SFMA

Sekolah Farming Mengenah Atas)

at

U n g a r a n

started in 1961; the

F a r m i n g

A c a d e m y

in

Semarang

(1960) th e

Institute

fo r

Studies

on Rur a l Educat ion Lembaga

Stud

Penddikan Kedesaan)

(1975) and the Institute for Cultural Studies

Lembaga

Pengkajian

Kebudayaan) (1980).

The

F a r m i n g H i g h

School

at

U n g a r a n , w h i c h

he

n a m e d Suwakul,

5

was

inspired

partly by the ideas of Tagore and G a n d h i , partly by Sarino

s visits

overseas

to

vocational schools in the 1950s (particularly f a r m i n g schools in D e n m a r k ), and part

ly by his realization that for m al schooling in state schools was not geared to m o re

than educating people

for

jobs

in the

cities.

"People

are

developed,

not

educated,

by the government," he

once told

a visitor to

Ungaran.

At

Ungaran, Sarino

and

his

staff experimented

wi th

integrating

formal and no nf o rm a l

training, teaching use

fu l

skills

but also

trying

to provide a broader education to encourage students at

S u w a k u l

to lead a satisfying cultural life

hidup

bersen).

6

Students

at

Ungaran originally built their

own

living quarters

in a

kind

of

adapted ashram

style, s imp le

huts similar in construction and materials to

village

dwellings. There is

still

no

electricity.

M e m b e r s of the school support themselves

from w h a t they grow, and are considerably involved w i t h local village projects.

"The SFMA curriculum," I once heard Sarino tell a

visitor

at Suwakul, "is like a

series of sloping rice terraces. Each

year

of study is a selfcontained unit likeone

of

these

smal l

terraces.

A f t e r oneyear one smal l

terrace

can be looked after by a

student. This is to guard against

d r o p o u t i s m .

If a student is prevented

from

finishing the

threeyear course

he wi l l

still have

some

applicable knowledge

and ex

perience."

T h e

Institute for Studies onRural

Educat ion

was

f o u n d e d

in response to the

need for further

d e v e l o p m e n t

of the ideas of no nf o rm a l f a r m i n g

education.

There

are now seven SFMA in Central Java, run by the government as

w e l l

as by

C a t h o l i c

and Protestant

f o u n d a t i o n s ,

and there is one in L a m p u n g , South Sumatra.

7

Pak

Sarino believed that education had toassist in the attack on rural

povertyboth

m a t e r i a l and intellectual poverty, as he t e r m e d

it .

But the

SFMA

m o v e m e n t did not

try to idealize

rural

life. He admitted that in the context of the Suharto govern

ments

foreign investmentpropelled, urbanbased economic

growth,

m o s tIndone

sian young people preferred the attractions of the cities to the dreary b o r e d o mof

the villages. In the twentyyears of existence of his SFMA

S u w a k u l

at U n g a r a n

(where

the

Semarang

kabupaten

administration

is now

located)

he

lived

to see it

threatened

by

Central

Java

s

rapid

urbanization.

Sarino accepted challenges as they c a m e . A f t e r his w i f e died in 1947 leaving

h im w i t h four children

to

raise,

he

never remarried

but

lived, s i m p l y ,

on his

o w n .

A recent tragedy

w a s t h e

death

of h i s

second

so n U n g g u l from l e u k e m i a in

January

5.

S u w a k u l

is the

n a m e

of the hill around the base of w h i c h SFMA students live in

s i mple huts . The hill looks like an upturned rice container or w k u . S u w a k u l be

c a m e

an acr onym for t h e

philosophy

of the S F M A :

Swnbering

W e Z s s i h

Kanggo

Ujamanng

Lion sumber cnta kasih untuk

kebahagiaan bersama)

, a

source

of

love

fo r

m u t u a l happiness.

6. These ideas about rural education were discussed in a paper

"Risalah

Latarbela

kang S e m i n a rPendidikan Kedesaan Tingkat N a s i o n a l tanggal

2530

Juli 1976d i

Bogor."

7. SFMA

Sesudah

Sarino,"

Tempo, February 5, 1983.


5/5

137

1982. Exactly ayear later onJanuary 17,

1983,

Sarino died w h i l e delivering a

speech to the Nat i on a l

Consultation

on Cooperativesin Jakarta.

In

conversations Pak Sarino liked to talk about thephilosophical ideas of the

T a m a n

Siswa

m o v e m e n t

and i t s

founder

(and

Sarino's

m e n t o r ) ,

K i

H a d j a r

D e w a n t a r a .

O ne of those he

of t en

quotedwas t u t wuri handayan [to lead from behind]."

Some who

knew

him

felt

he ep i t omized the

high Javanese ideal

of

"sepi

ing

p m r i h ,

rame ing

grwe [working industriously w i t h o u t personal

ambition]."

"Life," he said,

"is a

search

for

continuing growth

[hdup

adalah mencari kelestarian

tumbuh] .

8

Perhaps there is nobetter tribute to the kind of person Pak Sarino was than that

given in the speech of support for his honorary doctorate in1976:

T h e personificationof the desire to fight for justice, protect the

weak,

and

search for selfperfection and truth

finds

its highest expression in the per

sonality of a sry

p n d i .

This is the personality of Pak Sarino.

9

8.

A b d u r r a c h m a n Sur jomih ar d jo,

"In

Memoriam

Ki

Sarino

M a n g u n p r a n o t o ,

15.1.1910

17.1.1983," Kompas,

January 30, 1983.

9. Pidoto Promotor Prof Dr. Dwidjoseputro,

pp.

1112.

Two

qualities

of a

sry

are courage and a sense of responsibility. In Javanese w y n g r m y t h o l o g y a p n d i

distances h i m s e l f from worldly things, such

as

a m b i t i o n , riches, power,

and

posses

sions.

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