Special alumni gift to Indonesia at 75
The Republic of Indonesia celebrated its 75th Independence Day on 17 August 2020. As a gift to celebrate this, on the initiative of a group of Leiden alumni*), a biography will be written of Leiden and Indonesian scholar Hoesein Djajadiningrat.
Support of 100+ of the alumni’s fellow students
This initiative has since received the support of over 100 of the alumni’s fellow students. Two members of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) will write the biography, and KITLV will be making a considerable financial contribution.
The alumni have raised funds to translate the biography into Indonesian.
This gift was presented at the Indonesian embassy on Friday 14 August.
First Indonesian to receive a PhD in Leiden
Djajadiningrat (1886-1960) was the first Indonesian to receive a PhD – cum laude – in Leiden, under famous linguist Snouck Hurgronje. He then became the first Indonesian professor at Rechtshoogeschool, which was established in Batavia in 1924, and went on to teach at Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta. Djajadiningrat, a linguist and legal scholar, thus illustrates the longstanding and close ties between Leiden University and Indonesia as well as between our two countries.
Contribution KITLV
KITLV is making a considerable contribution to the project: two of its academic members of staff, Professor Marieke Bloembergen and Dr Tom van den Berge, will write the biography. The € 11,500 raised by the alumni will fund an Indonesian translation of the biography, which will thus make knowledge about the life of this legal scholar and linguist who was educated in Leiden available to a wide group in Indonesia.
We hope that the biography and translation will be ready in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Universitas Indonesia, the successor to Rechtshoogeschool.
The Leiden Alumni for Indonesia Committee
*) The Leiden Alumni for Indonesia Committee was established at the beginning of this year by alumni of Leiden University who joined the former Leidsch Studenten Corps (L.S.C.) and Vereeniging van Vrouwelijke Studenten te Leiden (V.V.S.L) student associations in the years 1955-1965. The Committee comprises Marjolein Leopold-de Vos tot Nederveen Cappel (arrival year 1955), Hans Rasker (1957), Hans Schneider (1958), Martijn van Empel (1959), Jacqueline Tjaden-van Rappard (1959), Guus Maas Geesteranus (1960), Rogier Chorus (1961) and Jan van Deth (1962).