Martodharsono had worked in the court of the rulers of
Surakarta
Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...
(
Susuhunan) in the 1890s, but was arrested and jailed in
Lombok in 1894 on charges of counterfeiting or forgery.
He managed to escape to
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
where he was arrested once again and forced to serve his sentence there.
After being released, he returned to
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, and ended up in
Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
.
There, he ended up working as an editor for
Tirto Adhi Soerjo
Tirto Adhi Soerjo (EYD: Tirto Adhi Suryo, born Djokomono; – 7 December 1918) was an Indonesian journalist known for his sharp criticism of the Dutch colonial government. Born to a noble Javanese family in Blora, Central Java, Tirto first stu ...
at
Medan Prijaji
''Medan Prijaji'' (Malay language, Malay: ''Aristocrat's Forum'', in modern Indonesian language, Indonesian spelling ''Medan Priyayi'') was a Malay language, Malay-language newspaper in the Dutch East Indies founded and operated in Bandung by Tir ...
, a pioneering newspaper in the
Indonesian National Awakening
The Indonesian National Awakening ( id, Kebangkitan Nasional Indonesia) is a term for the period in the first half of the 20th century, during which people from many parts of the archipelago of Indonesia first began to develop a national conscio ...
.
He then returned to his home city of
Surakarta
Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...
and set about to found his own newspaper. The year it was founded is unclear; Ahmat Adam lists it tentatively as 1906, whereas Agung Dwi Hartanto
and Takashi Shiraishi
list it as 1909. Martodharsono edited it alongside another newspaper,
Djawi Kanda; according to Shiraishi, ''Djawi-Hisworo'' "was the outgrowth of the Malay section" of that paper.
It was printed with the first two pages in
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
and the second two pages in
Javanese (in
Hanacaraka
Hanacaraka is the native name for the following indigenous scripts used in Indonesia:
*The Balinese script
*The Javanese script
*The Sundanese script
Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the ...
script).
Conflict with Tjokroaminoto and the Sarekat Islam
Today ''Djawi-Hisworo'' is mainly remembered for the time in 1918 that it came into conflict with the
Sarekat Islam. In January 1918, the newspaper published a satirical article which portrayed the
Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
as a drunk and an opium smoker.
Tjokroaminoto
Raden Mas Hadji Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto (16 August 1882 – 17 December 1934), better known in Indonesia as H.O.S. Tjokroaminoto, was an Indonesian nationalist. He became one of the leaders of the Islamic Trade Union ( id, Syarekat Dagang Islam) ...
, a
Sarekat Islam leader, launched a campaign against the newspaper, called the TKNM committee (short for ''Tentara Kandjeng Nabi Mohammad'',
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
: Lord Prophet Muhammad's Army).
In the pages of
Oetoesan Hindia in February 1918, Tjokroaminoto called for a boycott of the ''Djawi-Hisworo'', and called upon the
Susuhunan, ostensibly protectors of Muslims in their realm, to not allow this type of material to be published in their city. According to Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, the objective may have been partly to try and stop the exodus of
Arab Indonesians
Arab Indonesians ( ar, عربٌ إندونيسيون) or ''Hadharem'' (; sing., ''Hadhrami'', ), informally known as Jama'ah, and until the 20th century known as Codjas or Kodjas, note the work was also published in the Hague and Utrecht simulta ...
from the
Sarekat Islam, who had been turned off by its hard turn to the left in recent years. European newspaper in the Indies played up the supposed fanaticism of Muslims who were holding rallies around this matter, but Tjokoroaminoto, addressing an audience of TKNM supporters in
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
, said that blame for riots and violence is often put upon Islam whenever they occur, and not unjust taxation, prejudiced treatment, and so on.
He denied that the TKNM had been formed to punish ''Djawi-Hisworo''; he said that there were many underlying issues and that just happened to be an event that convinced them to act.
He also denied that their goal was to have the government punish or prosecute the editors of ''Djawi-Hisworo'' over this matter, but that he would like the government to explain what its position was on matters such as this.
End of Djawi-Hisworo
At some point during the controversy, Martodharsono stepped down as editor of the paper. However, in April 1919 he announced he was returning from his period of rest and was head editor once again. However, ''Djawi-Hisworo'' did not last much longer. The newspaper ceased publication in late 1919.
It is difficult to say whether the boycott campaign was to blame, or other reasons, because the newspaper industry in the Indies was not often a profitable business to begin with.
References
{{Reflist
Malay-language newspapers published in the Dutch East Indies
Javanese-language newspapers published in the Dutch East Indies
Defunct newspapers published in Indonesia
Malay-language newspapers
1909 establishments in the Dutch East Indies
1919 disestablishments in the Dutch East Indies