Hamzah rekindles the past

Hamzah rekindles the past

Bambang Muryanto, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Late one Saturday afternoon, a horse-drawn carriage gracefully
emerged from a mansion somewhere in Kotabaru, Yogyakarta.

Two "high-ranking court servants" in full Javanese costume sat
in the front, driving the carriage. Another stood at the rear,
holding a tall umbrella.

The carriage proceeded slowly down the road in Kota Baru. All
the way, onlookers attentively followed its progress. But who
were the three people in the carriage?

One of them, sitting right next to the coachman, had
pronounced North Asian features. He was holding a kebud, an
instrument made from the hair of a horse's tail, which is used to
shake off dust.

While the carriage clanked along, he received a greeting from
some people who knew him. Was he really a high-ranking court
servant? No. He is, however, a well-known businessman in
Yogyakarta, none other than Hamzah Hendro Sutiknow, who owns
Mirota Batik, a famous outlet for batik cloth and a variety of
traditional handicraft products.

Hamzah is known to be in close contact with traditional
artists in Yogyakarta. He often participates in ketoprak, a type
of traditional Javanese play. Recently, together with some of
Yogyakarta's leading traditional artists, he starred in a
ketoprak performance that was one of the highlights of the
Yogyakarta Arts Festival.

In the play, he assumed the role of an emban, a female
servant. "I was given the role because it was the easiest one to
play and also because I'm already old," said Hamzah, who is of
Chinese descent.

Late every Saturday afternoon, if he has the time, Hamzah
travels round the city in his horse-drawn carriage. He starts
from his house and goes to the tourist strip along Jl. Malioboro
and through the North Square before returning to Kota Baru.

That afternoon, he only went round Kota Baru. "I can't go
round the city because I have to shortly attend a fashion show in
my shop," said Hamzah, 55. So, the procession around the city had
to go ahead without him.

All along the way, the black-and-yellow horse-drawn carriage
attracted the attention of passersby. Cantering along streets
crowded with motorcycles and automobiles, the antique-looking
carriage aroused plenty of curiosity.

Upon seeing the carriage, locals and tourists alike may
be reminded of the fact that about a century ago, horse-drawn
carriages were a common sight on the roads of Yogyakarta.

Hamzah began taking regular trips round the city in his
carriage about a year ago. When he is busy, the carriage tours the
city without him, a reminder to people, amid the ongoing progress
of modern times, of what life in Java was like in bygone days.

At first, Hamzah used an andong, a two-wheeled carriage drawn
by two horses that is still used as a means of transportation in
Yogyakarta even today. However, as the andong failed to attract
the attention of tourists, he decided to replace it with a horse-
drawn carriage with a more attractive design.

So, now he uses a horse-drawn carriage that resembles the Kus
Gading, one of the carriages owned by the Yogyakarta sultan. Made
in 1901, the carriage is now on display in the Yogyakarta
Sultanate Carriage Museum.

Hamzah spent some Rp 32 million on making a Kus-Gading
look-alike. "Although it resembles Kus Gading, the replica is
smaller," said Paidi, its maker.

Although Hamzah likes taking trips around the city in his
carriage, this does not mean that he is seeking popularity or
trying to create a sensation. "I do it simply because I'm very
fond of Javanese culture," said Hamzah, who added that he liked
gendhing (traditional Javanese songs). Besides, he believes that
what he does will promote tourism as it provides an interesting
sight in the streets.

That's why in the holiday season Hamzah planned to travel
round the city in his carriage every day. Unfortunately, this
plan has remained unfulfilled to date as he is too busy. Apart
from being the director of Mirota Batik, he also owns a milk
factory.

Hamzah allows some of his employees to travel round the city
in his carriage during the holiday season but only he himself is
permitted to don the traditional Javanese garb and sit next to
the coachman. He is too busy for all this, though. "I'm not happy
seeing someone else wearing the Javanese costume," said Hamzah,
an English literature graduate from the Sanata Dharma Institute
of Higher Education.

Besides his penchant for Javanese culture, Hamzah is a horse
lover at heart. He owns seven horses, one of which, Satria
Kinayungan, is extraordinary in that it has two crowns of hair.
It is believed that anybody who owns a horse like this will
become a "knight" and command great respect.

Hamzah also has six more horse-drawn carriages in his
collection. The oldest was made in 1928 and was specially designed
for leisurely rides. This carriage is now kept in his shop as
part of the decor.

Hamzah's love of horses and, subsequently, horse-drawn
carriages began to develop when he was still a boy. Claiming that
he also knows how to drive a carriage, he said that he learned
this at a very young age. "When I was a boy, I often rode in
andong and would ask the coachmen to let me drive," reminisced
Hamzah, who is also a fashion designer.

Of his five siblings, Hamzah is the only one with a great love
of Javanese culture, a passion that he has inherited from his
mother, Tini Yuniarti. He can still remember clearly how his
mother listened with rapt attention to radio broadcasts of
traditional Javanese shadow puppet shows.

She would also take him to see performances staged by Ngesti
Pandowo and Kawedar, two traditional traveling troupes, when they
visited Yogyakarta. When Hamzah was seven, his mother asked him
to take Javanese dance lessons.

His deep passion ultimately molded him into a fully-rounded
Javanese person who speaks very refined Javanese and always
behaves in strict compliance with traditional Javanese mores.

Although he owns a replica of the Kus Gading carriage, he
never rides in it as an owner normally would, sitting in the
cabin. "Only members of the sultan's family deserve a seat
there," he said.

Now that he has started making regular trips around the city
in his carriage, Hamzah has another dream. He wants to show the
people of Yogyakarta the real function of the sedan chair that he
owns.

In the past, noblemen from the palace went about in sedan
chairs, carried on the shoulders of a number of bearers.

"To make this dream come true, I will need at least 20
people," he said. Why? Well, he doesn't just want to show off
his sedan chair, but wants to stage a full-scale traditional
procession with music provided by a group of gamelan players.

He plans to do this every year during the Muslim post-fasting
lebaran holiday.

If his dream becomes a reality, Yogyakarta might well become
more attractive to tourists.