Bantul honors tradition in 173rd anniversary

Bantul honors tradition in 173rd anniversary

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta

Bantul regency has celebrated its 173rd anniversary in a somewhat unusual manner.

In an official, solemn ceremony held on Wednesday at Trirenggo Square, which is located right in front of the regent's official residence, all the participants were dressed in traditional Javanese costume -- attire usually reserved for special occasions like wedding or other traditional ceremonies.

Yogyakarta Deputy Governor Sri Pakualam IX presided over the event.

Female participants wore kebaya blouses and batik wraps, complemented by Javanese-style hair buns, or konde, while the men sported surjan or beskap shirts, blangkon caps, and batik sarongs. Some also carried keris, Javanese double-bladed daggers, on their backs as accessories.

And that was not all. Javanese traditional gending, songs played by a gamelan orchestra, accompanied the whole event, which was conducted entirely in Javanese, including the official address by the inspector of the ceremony.

Various traditional performances were staged, like jathilan (a dance on a horse-shaped bamboo plaitwork in which the artists usually dance themselves into a trance), campursari (a musical hybrid of Javanese and dangdut, or local pop music), rebana (tambourine music), and many other traditional forms of entertainment.

"We deliberately chose to stage a traditional Javanese event in a bid to preserve the culture we have inherited from our ancestors," Bantul Regent Idham Samawi told The Jakarta Post after the ceremony.

Although Bantul is 173 years old, 1986 marked the first time its anniversary was celebrated officially by the regency administration. The decision to designate July 20, 1831, as the date on which Bantul was founded was made in 1985 following a year-long study and a workshop involving historians and the public.

The date, July 20, 1831, was the time when then Hamengkubuwono IV of the Yogyakarta sultanate officially inaugurated the first regent of Bantul, Kanjeng Raden Tumenggung Mangunegoro.

"Of course, there are some who don't accept the decision. That's why the government welcomes any initiatives to reexamine the matter," Idham said.

Regarding the current situation and future challenges, Idham said that human resources problems were the most pressing ones that the regency was facing at present. Of the 816,000 people living in Bantul, according to Idham, 57 percent depended upon the agricultural sector. Unfortunately, he said, Bantul had limited agricultural land of only some 16,500 hectare.

"As a result, the farmers here has limited land on which to plant crops, which is why it is difficult for them to fulfill their basic needs, including health and education needs," Idham explained.

When people were unable to send their children to school, he said, it was clear that it would be difficult to produce high- quality human resources. Poor human resources in turn would result in the people remaining overly dependent on the agricultural sector.

"Poverty is like a vicious circle. It's hard to break out of it," he said.

In the light of this, the Bantul government had committed itself to reducing the dependence of its people on the agricultural sector to 21 percent within a period of between five and ten years. In the last four years, for example, the local government has tried its best in bring investors to the region. As a result, some 20,000 workers had been provided with jobs in the industrial sector.

The handicraft sector was also being targeted by the Bantul government so as to increase employment. To develop this sector, the local government had been providing workshops, soft loans, and technical assistance to craftsmen.

Idham also said that the maritime sector was no less promising. However, the lack of a good port in the region had made people neglect this sector.

"We have conducted a feasibility study on the possibilities for the construction of a port in Bantul and the study has confirmed that it is feasible. Once it becomes a reality, I believe it will be able to employ some 12 percent of the 57 percent currently dependent upon the agricultural sector," Idham said.