Councillors call on Sultan to spell out special status

Councillors call on Sultan to spell out special status

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Members of the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council want a
bill on Yogyakarta to spell out the province's special status in
terms of culture and public administration.

The councillors said the bill, which is being deliberated by
the provincial legislature before being submitted to the House of
Representatives, should also detail the province's historical and
sociological backgrounds, in order to provide a strong basis for
the development of a future democratic administration.

"The essence of Yogyakarta's special status is respect for the
province's traditional and cultural rights, in whatever form that
people here choose to demonstrate these rights, while at the same
time continuing the process of democratization.

"Despite the presence of two royal palaces, the sultanate and
the Pakualaman (royal branch), Yogyakarta must adopt and develop
a democracy in which the governor is elected and is held
accountable by the public," Totok Daryanto told The Jakarta Post
here on Friday.

The bill, prepared by a team led by Affan Gaffar, a political
scientist from Gadjah Mada University, outlines the province's
special status in terms of culture, education, tourism and public
administration.

But the bill has angered some because it automatically gives
the top position in the province to the royal family. And while
many people loyal to the sultanate have expressed their support
for the bill, many others, especially those from the political
elite and migrants, have protested the bill. Some of these
critics have proposed that to counter the position of governor
earmarked for the royal family, a "prime minister" position be
created to oversee the day-to-day running of the administration.

Totok said that both the sultanate and the Pakualaman deserved
special status because they were national assets that had been
integrated with the Indonesian unitary state.

"It is a historical fact that the two kingdoms were integrated
into Indonesia following the country's independence in 1945, and
Yogyakarta was later given special status in 1950. But neither
the people or the royal families have enjoyed any special status
under former president Sukarno or the New Order regime," he said.

According to its special status, the province should have a
governor and deputy governor, two symbolic positions to be given
to the sultanate and the Pakualaman, respectively.

"The province should also have an administration head serving
a five-year term of office, and he or she should be
democratically elected by the legislature," Totok said.

Ahmad Subagya, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP)
faction in the legislature, agreed that the symbolic positions
would signify the special respect for the royal families.

"I'm also very much interested in the solution
proposed by Pak Ryaas Rasyid (former minister of home
affairs and regional autonomy). He said if the Yogyakarta
governor was special, its provincial administration secretary
had to be special too," he said.

Political observer Bambang Cipto of Muhammadiyah University in
Yogyakarta said the controversy surrounding the province's top
posts was the most crucial issue to be resolved by the bill.

Bambang, who said he was of the opinion that the person who
oversaw the day-to-day running of the province should be
democratically elected, suggested the Yogyakarta palace could be
considered a political enclave, that had separate authority from
the province's top executive. In this case, the sultan's position
in relation to the central government would be right below the
president.