Bill on Yogyakarta special status feared to breach democracy

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

With its long-standing reputation as the town of scholars, Yogyakarta appears to have cold-shouldered democracy, which the world recognizes as the best principle of governing, when it comes to the political status of monarchic rulers.

The matter came to the fore after a team of experts made public a bill on Yogyakarta's status as a special province recently.

The most controversial issue is that the bill confirms the privilege of the Yogyakarta sultan and the ruler of the Paku Alaman principality to hold the top and second executive posts respectively through direct appointment by the President, a practice that has been maintained since the country's independence in 1945.

This would effectively close the door to elections for the gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial posts, which would be an antidemocratic selection of leaders.

But surprisingly, there have been no rallies against the bill since it was printed in two local dailies two weeks ago as part of an effort to raise public awareness on the draft.

Neither has the bill raised the public's curiosity on a Rp 6.5 billion fund provided by the provincial administration to finance the drafting of the bill and its campaign among House of Representatives legislators, who are expected to begin deliberation when they resume their sitting in mid-August.

Only a few observers have openly branded the draft as undemocratic. Local councillors, meanwhile, have refrained from opposing the bill out of fear of a possible political backlash from their constituents.

"I'm convinced that over three-quarters of the Yogyakarta population do not mind granting monarchic rulers the exclusive right to take the gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial posts," historian P.J. Soewarno of Sanata Dharma University, a member of the team who drafted the bill, told The Jakarta Post.

A poll conducted last year said that 50 percent of those living in the city, who are mostly migrants, opposed the ruling, but over 80 percent of those in rural areas were in favor of it. Soewarno believes that the trend has not changed.

It was founding president Sukarno who awarded Yogyakarta the special province status, following a joint statement issued in September 1945 by the then Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX and Paku Alam VIII, who declared the unification of the two sovereign kingdoms under the newly born state of Indonesia. As a consequence, Sukarno stipulated that the province's governor and deputy governor belong to the two royal families.

The posts are now held by Hamengku Buwono X and Paku Alam IX respectively.

Aceh is the other province that has been awarded special status. The Law on special autonomy granted to Aceh went into effect on Jan. 1, 2001.

The provincial administration picked a team whose members are mostly senior lecturers at Gadjah Mada University's (UGM) school of social and political sciences led by noted political observer Prof. Afan Gaffar.

Comprising 10 chapters and 28 articles, the bill authorizes a direct election of heads of regencies and the mayoralty.

It also stipulates that the degree of autonomy in the economy and politics is concentrated at the provincial level, breaking the regional autonomy and fiscal balance laws, which empower regencies and mayoralties.

In line with its special status, the draft gives the Yogyakarta provincial government the autonomy in administering agrarian affairs, tourism, education and culture. In an effort to generate revenue, the draft stipulates that the province of Yogyakarta take 80 percent of income and value-added taxes, and sales tax, which includes that of luxury items.

The debate on whether traditional rulers are automatically assigned to the top and second top posts in the province surfaced in 1999 ahead of the election of Hamengku Buwono X as the second governor.

At that time the provincial chapter of the United Development Party nominated Sofyan Dharmawan for the gubernatorial post. But political tension resulting from the party's move forced the provincial legislature to unanimously elect Hamengku Buwono X.

Thousands of people, mostly from the rural areas of Yogyakarta, flocked to the provincial legislature for what they called the People's General Assembly to protest against the council's reluctance to name Hamengku Buwono X the Yogyakarta second governor.

Afan played down the undemocratic spirit of the draft, saying that people should not consider the draft as final. He said people were allowed to convey their objections or criticism to the draft and they would be taken into account during the bill's deliberation at the House.

"The draft is the first initiative toward Yogyakarta's dream of having a ruling on its status as a special province," he said.

Another political observer, Pratikno from UGM, suggested that the gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial posts monopolized by the two aristocracies in Yogyakarta be changed to a symbolic status. Therefore, the governor and deputy governor do not deal with a day-to-day policy-making process, he said.

"The people who will be mandated to carry out day-to-day administrative jobs must be selected through a direct election," he said.

Pratikno said that separating the two functions was a must otherwise Yogyakarta residents might one day protest or denounce their sultan for his mismanagement.

"I think giving them the posts is not the correct way to honor the two respected kings. Just let them occupy symbolic posts," he said.