BIOGRAPHY OF R.A KARTINI Raden Adjeng Kartini , in full Lady Raden Adjeng Kartini , (born April 21, 1879, Majong, Java [Indonesia]—died September 17, 1904, Rembang Regency, Java), Javanese noblewoman whose letters made her an important symbol for the Indonesian independence movement and for Indonesian feminists . Her father being a Javanese aristocrat working for the Dutch colonial administration as governor of the Japara Regency (an administrative district), Kartini had the unusual opportunity to attend a Dutch school, which exposed her to Western ideas and made her fluent in Dutch. During adolescence, when she was forced to withdraw to the cloistered existence prescribed by tradition for a Javanese girl of noble birth, she began to correspond with several Dutch friends from her school days. She also knew and was influenced by Mevrouw Ovink-Soer, wife of a Dutch official and a dedicated socialist and feminist. In her letters Kartini ...