He founded the Taman Siswa school, an institution that provided education for indigenous commoners, which otherwise was limited to the Javanese aristocracy and the Dutch colonials.

Thanks to his family's priyayi (Javanese nobility) background, he was able to access colonial public education, a luxury that was unattainable by most of the common population in the Indies.

Later he worked as a journalist and wrote for many newspapers, including Sediotomo, Midden Java, De Expres, Oetoesan Indies, Kaoem Moeda, Tjahaja Timoer, and Poesara.

He was also a contributor to Kebangoenan, a nationalist newspaper owned by the Dutch-educated jurist and politician Phoa Liong Gie.

Since the establishment of Boedi Oetomo in 1908, he has been active in their propaganda service to socialize and promote public awareness of Indonesia as a national unity (especially in Java).

However, the most famous piece of Ki Hadjar Dewantara's column is "If I were a Dutchman" ("Als ik eens Nederlander was"), printed in De Expres newspaper on 13 July 1913.

Had I been a Dutchman, a particular case that offends our friends and countrymen, is the fact that the inlanders required to participate and bankrolled an activity that do not have the slightest importance for them.

[citation needed]Some Dutch officials doubted that this piece was written by Soewardi because compared to his earlier writings, there are some differences in style and vocabulary.

As a consequence, Soewardi was arrested under the order of Governor General Alexander Idenburg, and sentenced to exile in Bangka Island.

[clarification needed] However, both his colleagues, Douwes Dekker and Tjipto Mangoenkoesoemo, protested on his behalf, and eventually in 1913, the three of them were exiled to the Netherlands instead.

Today, part of this maxim, Tut Wuri Handayani is used as the motto of the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.

When the Japanese government established the People Power Center (Pusat Tenaga Rakyat or Putera) in 1943, Ki Hajar was appointed as one of its leaders, in addition to Sukarno, Muhammad Hatta, and K.H.

[3] In the first cabinet of the Republic of Indonesia in the 1950s, Ki Hajar Dewantara was appointed Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture.

The museum was built to commemorate, preserve, and promote the thoughts, values, and ideals of Ki Hajar Dewantara, the founder of Taman Siswa.

Museum collections include his works, papers, concepts, important documents, and correspondence of Ki Hajar during his lifetime as a journalist, educator, humanist, and artist.

Ki Hajar Dewantara advocates that education should be made possible and available for all people, regardless of their sex, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, economic and social status, etc.