Beni RAHARJO

I was born in small village of Randegan Kulon, Jatitujuh District, Majalengka Regency, West Java. I am Sundanese, Neither my Mother nor my Father has close genealogy from other tribe such as Java. But, there is a question always addressed to my last name “Raharjo”. That’s the name of Javanese.

My Dad was very creative. His name was Simak, only Simak. But when he grew up, he put another name as his last name “Sastrowardoyo”. He told me he admired a local figure who had that last name. Then, he just add the name to his name. Changing name in the past was very easy I think. So, his name is Simak Sastrowardoyo.

I wanted to change my last name with something reflecting my tribe, such as “Raharja” instead of “Raharjo”. It is only one character different, but it is big change. Sundanese often use “a” instead of “o” which is usually used by Javanese. But I changed my mind. My Dad gave me. It must be good, at least he tried to gave me a good name. Raharjo means plentiful, having a lof of resources. It is pretty good isn’t it?

So, when I need to tell my last name to people, I promptly clarify that I was Sundanese, not Javanese. Why? Because some of them usually tried to communicate with me using “Bahasa Jawa”.

So, “My name is Beni Raharjo of Majalengka, West Java… I am Sundanese”