Celebration goes on despite royal dispute

Celebration goes on despite royal dispute

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post/Surakarta, Central Java

A conflict over the royal succession has plagued the Surakarta Hadiningrat Palace for the past several months, but that did not seem to prevent people from celebrating the Javanese New Year's Eve at the palace on Wednesday night until very early on Thursday.

Although there were rumors that the kirab pusaka (ritual parading of the palace's sacred objects) would not take place because of the conflict, people still gathered at the palace.

And it wasn't only local at the palace, but people from other cities throughout Central Java as well as from East Java.

The palace considers Suro a sacred month, so it is always during this time that it conducts a ritual to wash or bathe all of the sacred belongings of the palace. After all the sacred objects such as kris and spears are washed, some of them are paraded around the palace on New Year's Eve to give people the opportunity to see them.

Thousands of royal servants dressed in traditional clothes usually join the parade. Yet, the biggest attraction are the Kyai Slamet, nine sacred albino buffaloes, which always lead the parade.

Locals believe the animals possess certain supernatural powers. Some come to the parade just to collect some of the animals' feces or urine, which they believe can bring them fortune and cure diseases.

"I'll be lucky I can get a bit of Kyai Slamet's feces. I need this for my grandchild. I'll rub some on his forehead to cure the fever that he has been suffering," Sukirmanto, 71, of Ngawi, East Java, told The Jakarta Post.

Sujini, 63, of Kedung Banteng, Sragen regency, Central Java, was pleased to be at the ritual. "Surakarta Palace is the spiritual kiblat (direction) of the Javanese people. That's why I always try to manage to get here every New Year's Eve."

Both Sukirmanto and Sujini said they were not concerned about the royal conflict that had led to two rival princes claiming to be the rightful rulers of the palace.

"I'm just an ordinary person. I have no idea about the conflict. What I know is that the palace is the spiritual kiblat of the Javanese people," Sujini said.

This year's parade of the palace's sacred belongings was officially started by Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Haryo Hangabehi, who has crowned himself head of Surakarta Palace and named himself Pakubuwono XIII.

The parade began at Puri Kamandungan in the compound of the palace several minutes after midnight. At least 13 sacred royal objects were paraded around the palace during the ceremony.

Although the parade and the celebrations looked merry outside the palace, the situation inside was not quite so cheerful.

The washing of the sacred objects was not conducted openly. Nor was it attended by government or former government officials who have been awarded royal titles from the palace, as in the past. Only Surakarta Major Slamet Suryanto was seen at the washing ceremony.

This year's celebration of the Javanese New Year, or Suro 1, 1938 Wawu, according to the Javanese calendar, which fell on Feb. 10, in Surakarta was the first since the death of Surakarta's Sultan ISKS Pakoeboewono XII.

A prince of the palace who asked for anonymity told the Post it was impossible for KGPH Hangabehi to hold the washing procession for the palace's sacred belongings because the keys to the Ndalem Ageng (special room in the palace where the sacred belongings are kept) were in the hands of KGPH Tejowulan.

"There is no way he can remove the sacred belongings from the room by force because everyone is afraid of the (spiritual) consequences," said the prince.

In the conflict, the Tejowulan camp, which is outside the palace, controls the keys to the room in the palace containing the sacred belongings. The Hangabehi camp, on the other hand, while it does not have access to the sacred room, does occupy the palace.

Both camps have filed complaints against each other with the local police. Even the presence of a number of former government officials failed to bring the two camps to the negotiating table on Monday. No representatives of either of the camps showed up at the meeting site at a restaurant in Surakarta.

That is probably why prominent figures such as former TNI chief KPA (Kangjeng Pangeran Adipati) Wiranto, former state secretary KPH (Kangjeng Pangeran Haryo) Moerdiono Hadisapoetro and former minister of population KP (Kangjeng Pangeran) Haryono Suyono, who in the past always attended the palace procession, preferred to gather at another location in Surakarta.

"I will not come to the palace and perform a pisowanan (pay a visit to the sultan) on the eve of Suro," Wiranto said prior to the celebration.

These three figures are among those who have tried to act as mediators in the conflict. They have tried to arrange meetings between KGPH Hangabehi and KGPH Tejowulan, who have both crowned themselves the new sultans of the palace, but to no avail.