Abstract
This chapter explores the interplay of kebudayaan and agama in Yogyakarta at the end of the New Order and the ways in which Sultan Hamengkubuwana X used the kraton as a stage for cultural/religious/political drama that figured significantly in the process of Reformasi that led to the democratic transformation of 1998.
Hamengku means to give more than you receive. Hamengku means to act as a loving parent, giving peace, protection and security to the heart. Regardless of how much state power it is given, Kraton Yogyakarta has a strong desire to be a lamp in the center of society with the values, vision and history of leadership. Suharto ruled the nation with a concept of political leadership rooted in Javanese culture, that of Yogyakarta. However, in many cases he acted on the basis of his personal interpretation.
– Sultan Hamengkubuwana X
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Notes
- 1.
Reformasi refers to the movement for political and moral change that emerged in response to the economic crisis of 1997 and 1998 and culminated in the resignation of President Suharto on May 21, 1998. It can be translated in two ways: “Reform” and “Reformation.” Indonesians used both terms. The English “reform” emphasizes the political dimension of the process, “reformation” the religious aspect. In the late 1990s Ohio State University Political Scientist William Liddle and I often appeared together on panels devoted to the Indonesian political crisis and subsequent democratic transition. It was very nearly a standing joke that Bill referred to it as “reform” and I called it “reformation.” As much as anything else, this choice of words reflects alternative disciplinary orientations.
- 2.
See S. Eisenstadt (ed.) Max Weber, On Charisma and Institution Building: Selected Papers, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
- 3.
E. Gellner, Saints of the Atlas, London: The Trinity Press, 1969, p. 70.
- 4.
Wirabhumi (et al.) state that in 1945, “Overnight the courts were reduced to political irrelevance. Their rulers lost both inherited power and traditional sources of income. Many simply disappeared, while others clung to a preacrios existence as tourist attractions or cultural centers.” E. Wirabhumi (Project Director), Karaton Surakarta, Jakarta: Yayasan Pawiyatan Kebudayaan Kraton Surakarta, 2004, inside front dust jacket. This is true of Surakarta and most of the other traditional courts, but is most certainly not the case in Yogyakarta.
- 5.
The others are Aceh in North Sumatra and Jakarta.
- 6.
On General Soedirman and his role in the Indonesian Revolution see: S. Said, Genesis of Power: General Sudirman and the Indonesian Military in Politics, 1945–49, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1991.
- 7.
I can not independently confirm the veracity of this tradition.
- 8.
I and other foreigners living in Yogyakarta at the time were offered roles as extras in this production. Military officers came to our houses to “invite” us to “help” with the film. Kraton officials told me that it would be most inappropriate for me to appear riding on a tank dressed as a Dutch soldier and advised me to decline the offer. I did.
- 9.
http://id.shvoong.com/books/1755952-kontroversi-serangan-umum-maret-1949/ Pak Poerwo provided me with this information in 1978 and asked that it remain confidential for as long as Suharto was president.
- 10.
H. Putra, “Remembering, Misremembering and Forgetting: The Struggle over ‘Serangan Oemoem Maret 1949’ in Yogyakarta Indonesia,” Asian Journal of Social Science, vol. 29, no. 3, 2001, pp 471–494.
- 11.
On Poerwokoesoemo’s understanding of the sacred geography of Yogyakarta see Chapter 1.
- 12.
T. Sarsito, “Javanese Culture as the Source of Legitimacy for Soeharto’s Government,” Asia Europe Journal. Intercultural Studies in the Social Sciences and Humanities, July 2006, pp. 1–16 and W. Liddle “Suharto’s Indonesia: Personal Rule and Political Institutions,” Pacific Affairs, vol. 58, no. 1, 1985, pp 68–90.
- 13.
On the history of New Order Indonesia and the Reformasi movement see A. Schwarz, Nation in Waiting: Indonesia’s Search for Stability (2nd edition), London: Allen and Unwin, 2000 and K., O’Rourke, Reformasi: The Struggle for Power in Post Suharto Indonesia, London: Allen and Unwin, 2003 and K.Va n Dijk, A Country in Despair, Indonesia between 1997 and 2000. Leiden: KITLV press, 2001. On the religious and ethnic violence of the period see M. Woodward, “Religious Conflict and the Globalization of Knowledge: Indonesia 1978–2004,” in Linell Cady and Sheldon Simon (eds.) Religion and Conflict in South and Southeast Asia. Disrupting Violence, London: Routledge, 2006. This chapter is not intended as a comprehensive analysis of the role of religion and culture in the Reformasi movement. Accounts of the economic impact of the crisis and of political struggles and violence in Jakarta are included to provide contexts for the dramatically different course Reformasi took in Yogyakarta.
- 14.
I would like to thank Professor Clark Cunningham, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urabana-Champaign for this observation.
- 15.
See J. Bresnan, Managing Indonesia. The Modern Political Economy, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
- 16.
H. Geertz, The Javanese Family. A Study of Kinship and Socialization, Glencoe: The Free Press, 1961 p. 147.
- 17.
In Javanese mystical thought Wangsit Keprabon can be distinguished from Wahyu Kedhaton as the former refers to political authority in a general sense and the later to kingship in specific. For understanding the role of Javanese culture and religion in the New Order legitimation strategy, the distinction is of only marginal significance because Suharto never claimed to be king. While Wangit Keprabob was most commonly used in reference to Suharto, Wahyu Kedhaton was also used. See M. Mubarok and A. Rasyidin, Soehatro Tak Pernah Mati, Surabaya, Institute for Development Economic, 2008, pp. 125.
- 18.
J, Sachs, “The East Asian Financial Crisis: Diagnosis, Remedies, Prospects”, Brookings Paper, vol. 28, no. 1, 1998.
- 19.
See Chapter 6 for an account of Id al-Fitri celebrations.
- 20.
R. Simanjorang (ed.) Kurusuhan Mei 1998. Facta, Data dan Analisa, Jakrta: Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa, 2007, p. 19.
- 21.
Tajuk, vol. 1 no. 14, September 1998, pp. 20–21.
- 22.
Simanjorang, op. cit., pp. 224–228 and M. Woodward,”Rice, Chickens, Politicians and the IMF: Politics, Morality and Food in Indonesia,” Suvanabhumi, vol. 11, no. 1, 1998, pp 9–13.
- 23.
Suryopratomo, “Sekapur Sirih” in, J. Luhulima, Hari-Hari Terpanjang. Menjelang Mundurnya Presideeetn Soeharto dan Beberapa Peristiwa Terkait, Jakarta: Kompas, 2001, p. vii.
- 24.
Simanjorang, op. cit., p. 37.
- 25.
Luhulima, op. cit., p. 84. Official portraits of the president and vice president are displayed in virtually every office and school in Indonesia.
- 26.
On “indirect speech” in Indonesian and Javanese religious and political discourse see, M. Woodward, “Textual Exegesis as Social Commentary: Religious, Social and Political Meanings of Indonesian Translations of Arabic Hadith Texts”. The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 52, no. 3, 1993, 565–583.
- 27.
Forum Keadilan April 20th 1998 Noer is a prominent modernist Muslim intellectual and author. Rais is a University of Chicago trained Political Scientist and at the time was the General Chairman of Muhammadiyah. Madjid held a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago and was among Indonesia’s most prominent Islamic theologians.
- 28.
Suara Pembaruan, 18 December 1997
- 29.
Jakarta: Pustaka Muthmainnah, 1999.
- 30.
In this respect its’ discourse style resembles tht of the popular Islamist periodicals Media Dakwah and Sabali.
- 31.
M. Cook, Forbidding Wrong in Islam, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 75.
- 32.
Ibid., p. 75.
- 33.
Arzyumardi Azra “Death of Religious Tolerance?” Jakarta Post January 3, 2003
- 34.
A. Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto. Menelusiri Laku Ritual, Tempat-Tempat dan Guru Spiritualnya, Yogyakarta: Galang Press, 2007 and Bu Tien, Wangsit Keprabon Soeharto, Yogyakarta: Galangpress, 2007, M. Shoelhi, Rahasia Pak Harto, Jakarta: Grafindo, 2008 M. Mubarok and A. Rasyidin, op. cit., F. Soempeno, Prabowo Titisan Soeharto? Mencari Pemimpin Baru di Mada Paceklik, Yogyakarta: Galangpress, 2008, K. Pamungkas, Rahasia Supranatural Soeharto, Yogyakarta: Penerbit Narasi, 2007.
- 35.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., pg. mentions Luhulima’s work as an example of this style of analysis.
- 36.
See Mubarok and Rasyidin, op. cit., p. 124.
- 37.
This is true not only in an absolute sense but also in comparison to other nationalist leaders, many of who were educated in Dutch schools.
- 38.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., p. 14.
- 39.
The Javanese calendar is extremely complex. It includes 5 day and 7 day weeks and Islamic and international months. This yields a large number of unique days, each of which is said to have its own mystical association.
- 40.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., p. 14.
- 41.
Ibid., p. 179. Hamengbubuwana I’s practice of this form of meditation is depicted in the reliefs and the Pagelaran wall of the kraton.
- 42.
Pamungkas, op. cit., pp. 8–9.
- 43.
R. Heine-Geldern, “Conceptions of State and Kingship in Southeast Asia,” Far Eastern Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 1, 1942, pp. 15–30.
- 44.
J. Noorduyn, “Majapahit in the fifteenth century,” Bijdragen tot de Taal, Land en Volkenkunde, vol. 134, no. 2/3, 1978, pp. 207–274, p. 220.
- 45.
I. Rohmaniyah, “Religion, Culture, the State and Women: Women’s Issues and Polygamy in Indonesian Legislation” For a literary and historical account of the ways in which this ideology informed social life among the Javanese elite of the early twentieth century see P. Ananta Toer, The Girl for the Coast, New York: Hyperion Books, 2002.
- 46.
This observation is based on field work conducted in Yogyakarta in the late 1970s.
- 47.
Op. cit., pp. 145–150.
- 48.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., p. 93.
- 49.
Ratu Kidul is very rarely mentioned in discussions of Suharto’s quest for magical power. To have done so would have risked a public confrontation with the Yogyakarta and Surakarta kraton.
- 50.
See B. Andaya, The Flaming Womb. Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.
- 51.
This complex of belief can be traced to Indian Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism and to the more general Hindu notion that divinities come in male and female pairs. From this it follows that if the king is an incarnation or manifestation of a Hindu god or Mahayana Buddhist celestial Buddha or Bodhistava, that his queen must be a manifestation of the femine aspect of divinity. Here see W. O’ Flartey, Eroticism and Aeseticism in the Mythology of Siva, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976 and R. Heine-Geldern, op. cit.
- 52.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., pp. 87–89, Soempeno, op. cit., pp. 83–84.
- 53.
Noorduyn, op. cit., p. 212.
- 54.
Artha, Bu Tien, op. cit., p. 51.
- 55.
Artha, Dunia Spiritual Soeharto, op. cit., p. 89.
- 56.
Artha, Bu Tien, op. cit., pp. 89–90. Many Javanese are not convinced and believe that she did use black magic and sorcery to enrich her family. Among dissidents she was often referred to as “Ibu 10%,” for the commissions she allegedly extracted from government contractors.
- 57.
Artha, Ibib., pp. 93–93 and Soempeno, op. cit., pp. 83–84.
- 58.
Tri Sakti is a private, primarily Chinese and Christian university. The fact that the killing of Chinese Christian students led to the massacre of Chinese Christians in many parts of Indonesia is among the appalling paradoxes of the crisis of 1998. If, as appears likely, the killings and the riots that followed were planned by the government, they were a betrayal of almost unfathomable proportions because the Chinese business community was the New Order’s chief partner in the development program on which its legitimacy rested.
- 59.
See Lululima, op. cit., pp. 112–120.
- 60.
Ibid., p. 123.
- 61.
Kompas May 16, 1998
- 62.
Op. cit., pp. 47–48.
- 63.
See BBC online http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/indonesia/special_report/118576.stm, Associated Press online http://members.tripod.com/~reformasionita/ap071098.html and Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan, “The Rapes in the Series of Riots” http://www.huaren.com/Indo/atrocities.html
- 64.
See Tim Relawan Untuk Manusia (The Volunteers Team for Humanity),” The Rapes in the Series of Riots: The Climax of an uncivilized Act of the Nation Life.” (sic) http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4120/tim1.html
- 65.
Asia Week, July 24, 1998
- 66.
J. Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror , New York: Basic Books, 1997, p. 67 observes that many rape victims have difficulty even naming their experience, let alone discussing it authorities who may have well been complicit in the crime.
- 67.
Luhulima, op. cit., p. 115.
- 68.
A report by Radhika Coomaraswamy the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women included as an appendix in Simanjorang, op. cit.), pp. 397–416 confirms this analysis.
- 69.
D. Daihani and A. Purnomo, Lansekap Berbagai Kerusuhan da Potensi Disintegras, Jakarta: Lembaga Penelitian Universitas Trisakti, 2000.
- 70.
S Tambiah, Leveling Crowds, Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia, Berkeley: University of California Press
- 71.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 6 October 1989
- 72.
Suara Pembaruan, 11 December 1996
- 73.
Kompas, 14 May 1998
- 74.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 12 May 1998
- 75.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 14 May 1998
- 76.
Kompas, 14 May 1998
- 77.
Kompas, 17 May 1998
- 78.
Kompas, 17 May 1998
- 79.
Forum Keadilan, 7 September 1998
- 80.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 14 May 1998
- 81.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 15 May 1998
- 82.
Jawa Pos, 16 May 1998
- 83.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 14 May 1998
- 84.
Forum Keadilan, 7 October 1998
- 85.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 15 May 1998
- 86.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 16 May 1998
- 87.
E. Wirabhumi (Project Director), Karaton Surakarta, Jakarta: Yayasan Pawiyatan Kebudayaan Kraton Surakarta, 2004, p. 22.
- 88.
Luhulima, op. cit., p. 223.
- 89.
Ibid., pp. 223–224.
- 90.
The term “Long March” was used for demonstrations or “demos” as they were commonly referred to that began on university campuses and culminated with rallies at off campus locations. During this period the government tolerated student demonstrations, but only on campus for fear that off campus events would incite the “masses.” This was a high risk strategy that could have easily failed. Had the crowds turned violent, or been broken up by security forces, I do not care to think about what Indonesia might be like today.
- 91.
Sowan is a Javanese term for a courtesy call on a person of high status.
- 92.
Kompas, 21 May 1998
- 93.
Forum Keadilan, 7 October 1998
- 94.
Kedaulatan Rakyat, 21 May 1998
- 95.
It would be only a slight exaggeration to refer to it as the Department of Sacred Geography.
- 96.
As quoted in S. Kutoyo, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwana IX: Riwayat Hidup and Perjuangan, Jakarta: PT. Mutiara Sumber Widya, 1996, pp. 128–129. The full texts of both statements are preserved on marble plaques displayed in the kraton museum memorializing Hamengkubuwana IX.
- 97.
Koran Tempo, 9 August 2008.
- 98.
Selamat Datang di Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat. Website homepage for Kraton Ngayagyakarta. http://kraton.yogya.indo.net.id.
- 99.
M. Eliade, The Myth of Eternal Return or Cosmos and History, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954. S. Tambiah, World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand Against a Historical Background, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
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Woodward, M. (2011). The Kraton Revolution: Religion, Culture, Regime Change and Democracy in Yogyakarta. In: Java, Indonesia and Islam. Muslims in Global Societies Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0056-7_7
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