Aminuddin Kasdi, Learning to be Wise from History

Adi Sucipto dan Dahlia Irawati

· 6 minutes read

History is not a collection of facts and theories. History contains life lessons from the past, present and even the future. For Aminuddin Kasdi, 71, studying history is actually the same as learning to become wise in facing life.

That afternoon Aminuddin had just returned home from undergoing bone treatment therapy at Dr Soetomo General Hospital. Walking slowly, the bespectacled and white-haired man invited us to wait for him in the living room.

From the living room, it appeared the room next to it was being renovated. There was a large shelf containing various books, including history books. Aminuddin’s book collection was also seen in his work room. “Studying history is learning about life,” said the professor of history with the Surabaya State University, East Java, on Tuesday (Jan. 28, 2019), at his home on Jl Tenggilis Utara, Surabaya City.

People who study history, according to Aminuddin, should be able to become a wise person. Using a term from the book Sunan Bonang, Aminuddin said a wise man is one who negates himself in the ocean of nothingness.

For him, learning history does not mean having to sit in a college lecture hall, but that you can also learn history by looking at fragments of life around us. The observations must be made with the awareness nothing just happened with no reason. There is a law of causality.

“History cannot be created by one person. It must be within a social

setting so that it creates controversy. People can have different perspectives,” he said.

Wisdom to understand things is what makes people wise. Unfortunately, not all people understand the condition so that it tends to be unwise to respond to events, including in the life of the nation and state today.

“The problem is our nation has always been inconsistent. People do not want to admit wrongdoing if they are wrong and people do not want to admit defeat if they lose. What happened is, people tend to cover up weaknesses by provoking others and ask for help from others,” he said.

Our nation, said Aminuddin, must be wise. Different opinions are accepted, but do not involve third parties who will later take benefit from the disintegration of this nation. From the situation of the nation lately, we can see that the community is increasingly anti pluralism, does not want to recognize the superiority of others, and tends to involve outsiders to win “competition”.

Educator

Aminuddin has been working in education for a long time. He began his career as an elementary teacher in Nganjuk for five years beginning in 1966, then was a teacher at SMP Muhammadiyah junior high school Nganjuk for five years, and then was a teacher at Religious Teacher Education (PGA) for five years.

“When I became a teacher at PGA, there were no teachers who wanted to teach history [in general] because, they said, it was not related to the afterlife [question in the grave]. So I was asked to be a teacher there,” recalled Aminuddin. The grave question refers to Muslim beliefs that when in the grave they will be asked about their God, religion and so on.

He said people used to dislike the subject about history. However, by connecting history to proximity with people, people begin to like and learn history. He imitates the way his teacher draws his interest in history.

“For example, my teacher taught about the story of King Jayabaya related to the story of Panji Asmorobangun and Dewi Sekartaji. It was said that their journey passed an area south of my village. These stories, given the context of closeness made me interested in learning history,” he said.

Such a model was also adhered to by Aminuddin while teaching. In studying the life of the nation, he invited the entire community to return to look at the series of events that have taken place. Just like the nature of science, there are always axioms with similarities between one event and another.

The historian that focuses on Indonesian history calls on people to tirelessly observing and learning from historical experiences. Don’t let this country be torn apart because of certain groups want to be declared as a winner. He continues to share his views through discussions, seminars and books. There are at least 30 books that he wrote, outside of papers and research.

At his age, which is no longer young, the lecturer who originally aspired to become a physician was still writing. For him, writing is one of the traces of history that can serve as a lesson for the next generation. In addition, he also actively shares his knowledge in various forums. He became a reference for research, college assignments or historical studies in East Java. As an advisor to the Indonesian Historian Society in East Java, he is very fluent in the history of Surabaya, as well as other cities in East Java.

He also understands foreign history, such as West Asia. With the ability of domestic and foreign history, Aminuddin was invited to be part of the Surabaya cultural heritage consultative team. Together with historical experts and other cultural practitioners, he is part of supporting the revitalization and preservation of historic buildings in Surabaya.

As an academic, he provides historical studies and helps determine cultural preservation schemes that are right for a city. He helped

determine which buildings were worth preserving or better restored. He may be proud of being part of a team that has made Surabaya City a city that values history. Just look, in the “City of Heroes” there are traces of the nation’s history in the form of ancient buildings.

With a study from the cultural preservation team, in 1996, the Mayor of Surabaya through a decree, stipulated that there were 61 buildings and cultural heritage sites. In 1998, the Surabaya City Administration reestablished 101 buildings and cultural heritage sites. As a result, several houses of national figures and other ancient buildings have been maintained until now.

In the preservation of cultural heritage buildings, Aminuddin has several criteria, namely considering the age of the building, historical value, aesthetic values, plurality, scarcity strengthening the region and authenticity.

“Revitalization and preservation of cultural heritage objects is one of the ways for us to learn history. At least, by preserving these buildings, we don’t forget the history that has been traversed by this nation,” he said. (IQBAL BASYARI)

Aminuddin Kasdi

Born: Nganjuk, Jan. 9, 1948

Education:

- S-1, Bachelor degree in history from IKIP Malang 1976

- S-2, Master in history from UGM 1990

- S-3, Doctor in history from UGM 2000

Job/activities:

- Professor of history at State University of Surabaya

- Member of Surabaya City Heritage Conservation consultative team (1998-present)

– National Cultural Heritage expert team (2011-2014)

- A member for the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Ministry team for drafting a recommendation on human rights issue related to 1965 event (2016)

Books:

- Surabaya and Traces of Heroism (2008)

- 18th-19th Centuries: Era of Feudalism or Modernization of Indonesia History? (2011)

Editor:

kompascetak