Prof. Mr. Mohammad Nasroen (, 29 October 1907 – 28 September 1968) was a

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see bel ...

bureaucrat, Indonesian philosophy scholar, professor of philosophy at the

University of Indonesia The University of Indonesia (UI; ) is a public university in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is one of the oldest tertiary-level educational institutions in Indonesia (known as the Dutch East Indies when UI was established) ...

, and a politician. He served as the first governor of

Central Sumatra Central Sumatra () was a province in Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesia whose territories included present day West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, and the Riau Islands. Since 1957 this province has not been registered as an Indonesian province after it was ...

from 15 April 1948 to 1 August 1950, and he was the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the

Sukiman Cabinet The Soekiman Cabinet (), also known as the Sukiman-Suwirjo Cabinet (), was an Indonesian cabinet that served from 27 April 1951 until it fell on 23 February 1952 following revelations that it had signed a mutual security agreement with the United ...

from 20 November 1951 to 3 April 1952 replacing M. A. Pellaupessy.

Legacy

He is most famous for having identified and classified

Indonesian philosophy Indonesian philosophy is a generic designation for the tradition of abstract speculation held by the people who inhabit the region now known as Indonesia. Indonesian philosophy is expressed in the living languages found in Indonesia (approximately ...

as being separate and different from

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Eastern philosophy Eastern philosophy (also called Asian philosophy or Oriental philosophy) includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philoso ...

. Nasroen reached the peak of his philosophical career when he was chosen as an emeritus

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of philosophy at the

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

, one of Indonesia's largest and most respected universities. His 1967 book, ''Falsafah Indonesia'', laid the way for Indonesian scholars to start treating "Indonesian Philosophy" as a separate area of study. In it, Nasroen argues that the uniqueness of Indonesian philosophy is manifested in philosophical notions, such as ''mupakat'', ''pantun-pantun'', '' Pancasila'', '' hukum adat'', ''ketuhanan'', ''

gotong-royong Communal work is a gathering for mutually accomplishing a task or for communal fundraising. Communal work provided manual labour to others, especially for major projects such as barn raising, "bees" of various kinds (see below), log rolling, and ...

'' (

mutual aid Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This ...

), and ''kekeluargaan'' (''Falsafah Indonesia'' pp. 14, 24, 25, 33, and 38). Nasroen is also remembered for his work on the philosophy and the customs of the ''

'' people of Indonesia's

West Sumatra West Sumatra () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. West Sumatra borders the Indian Ocean to the west, as well as the provinces of ...

province, presented in his 1957 book ''Dasar Falsafah Adat Minangkabau''. This book is still commonly cited in the fields of

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

, such as in the writings of

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

Peggy Reeves Sanday Peggy may refer to: People * Peggy (given name), people with the given name or nickname Arts and entertainment * ''Peggy'' (musical), a 1911 musical comedy by Stuart and Bovill * ''Peggy'' (album), a 1977 Peggy Lee album * ''Peggy'' (1916 ...

, as Nasroen's book was one of the first to explain the concept of

matriarchy Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of Power (social and political), power and Social privilege, privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Whil ...

in the Minangkabau

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

system. Nasroen was also interested in the issue of the diversity of Minangkabau customs. Some of Muhammad Nasroen's famous writings are ''Autonomous Regions at the Lowest Level (Daerah Otonomi Tingkat Terbawah)'', ''State Joints and the Implementation of Autonomy (Sendi Negara dan Pelaksanaan Otonomi)'', ''Problems Around Autonomy (Masalah Sekitar Otonomi)'', ''Origins of a State (Asal Mula Negara)'', and the ''Basic Philosophy of Minangkabau Customs (Dasar Falsafah Adat Minangkabau)''.

Legacy

References

Further reading