Kami, Perempuan

Written during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), while Pane was an employee of the Cultural Centre in Jakarta, Kami, Perempuan is similar to contemporary plays owing to its openly pro-Japanese message and emphasis on everyday issues experienced by average people.

Before the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies had begun in 1942, Pane had made a name for himself in helping to establish the magazine Poedjangga Baroe in 1933 and with his novel Belenggu (Shackles; 1940).

[2] As with Kami, Perempuan, these works were oriented around everyday events and featured average people, as opposed to the earlier stories based in mythology and telling of gods and goddesses.

[3] After the Cultural Centre (in Indonesian, Poesat Keboedajaan; in Japanese, Keimin Bunka Shidōsho (啓民文化指導所)) opened in Jakarta on 1 April 1943, Pane served as the head of its literature desk.

Numerous stage plays were written which promoted these ideals of the Empire of Japan, including Rd Ariffien's Ratoe Asia and various works by Hinatsu Eitaro and D. Suradji.

[5] In 1950 Pane included Kami, Perempuan in his book Djinak-Djinak Merpati dengan Tjerita2 Sandiwara Lain, a collection of his stage plays.

She concludes, however, that it is a work of propaganda, summarising its message as "Women with the spirit of Srikandi want their husbands to be as strong and virile as their own hearts",[b] and to do so they must join PETA.

[8] M. Yoesoef of the University of Indonesia likewise categorises the play as propaganda vehicle, emphasising the theme of women willing to surrender their lovers to PETA, for the good of the nation.

[10] Woodrich points to Aminah's father, a former employee of the Dutch colonial government, and suggests that the character's protests about joining PETA, seemingly in order to promote the safety and comfort of home, are actually based on an understanding of the colonial mindset and the accompanying manipulation; in-text, these protests can only be conveyed in implicit terms owing to the father's fear of the Japanese government.