Kind hearts are worth more than coronets

By K. Basrie

CIREBON, West Java (JP): What's so right about being royal in an era when democracy, with its thorough leveling of social classes, reigns supreme?

Nothing, according to nobles attending the ongoing Keraton (Palace) Festival here.

Character and skill are what really count, they told The Jakarta Post.

"You are nobody if you have a bad attitude and it will be hard for you to find work if you have no skill, even though you have a royal title," said Andi Kumala Idjo, 35, son of the last ruler of Gowa Kingdom in South Sulawesi.

Idjo said mistakes or lapses in judgment by bluebloods received more attention from the public.

Others nobles agreed. Pangeran (prince) Haryo Endro Kusumo from the Pakualaman principality of Central Java said: "Once a royal family member makes a mistake, everyone in the family bears the impact."

Royalty no longer commands kowtowing and awed respect. But some people, and particularly those living around former palaces, still look up to nobility and expect them to be models of decorum, Endro said.

"We have few problems in a big city like Jakarta, where people don't care much about the royal families," he said. "But we have to be what the people and the palace rules want us to be if we live in our own society."

Poppy, a Cirebonese studying at a university in Bandung, said there were still high expectations of those of noble birth. "I have a lot of friends and neighbors from the royal families, and I learned that it isn't so easy for them because they cannot do things like us.

"Just to go to a disco for a birthday party, they should think a thousand times in case their friends mock them," said the 21- year-old.

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, so to speak?

"Not really," said Imanuddin, 43, from the Kanoman Palace of Cirebon. "It depends on one's personality."

Imanuddin said some of his relatives had dispensed with their noble titles and no longer wished to be identified in royal family trees.

"I don't know why, maybe because they feel ashamed or that it is pointless to have such titles," he said. "Or they might be bored with what they call complicated palace rules."

Prestige

The prevailing public perception is that a royal name and pedigreed background is the red carpet to privileges in government and business.

"Who said that?" said Ratu (queen) Sriningrat, 66, wife of the late ruler Prince Muhammad Amir Mulyono Natadiningrat of Kacirebonan Palace.

The glory of the past is just that, she said sadly.

"Today is today. We're no different than other poor people in this town," she said through tears. "I've sold almost all of our property to put my son through university, but it's still hard for him to find a job even though everybody here knows him as the son of a former ruler."

Imanuddin, a construction supplier who holds the royal title Pangeran Patih, said he had never received any "facilities".

"Businessmen wouldn't take a second look at the title, except if you had a renovation project for your palace to be bid upon," he said. "Then they will come to you calling out your titles."

Idjo from Gowa Kingdom had a similar opinion.

"Not all relatives of our family, for example, could become employees at the state offices even though the local authorities paid great attention to us," he said.

"If you fail the entrance exam, not even a royal title can help."

Prince Arifudin Martawijaya from the Kasepuhan Palace of Cirebon said only good manners and a fine education would help people, including royalty, reach the top.

"The glory days are dead," he said. "Today, one should work and study hard to get success. The royal names and social status mean a lot in this palace compound and its surroundings, but nothing outside."

There have been reports that some public figures, including those in business, are prepared to pay to have royal insignia behind their names.

"I don't think so," said Martawijaya. "It might be a misunderstanding."

Royal titles were only through descent or, on occasion in the past, granted to loyal servants or people who had devotedly presented gifts to the ruler.

"I don't believe that people today are still looking for titles from the palace, which for many means nothing at all," he said.

Kings, sultans and their brethren once ruled areas in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku.

Their days as divine rulers ended with Indonesia's independence in 1945. Only the Sultan of Yogyakarta, a staunch supporter of Indonesian independence, retained his titles and his hereditary holdings.

Many royal families have scattered and their members departed the ancestral home.

Those who remain within palace walls receive stipends from the local authorities for repair and other maintenance work.

"But they are not mere artifacts," said Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, the present ruler of Yogyakarta. "They should also do something, based on the current needs, to make the palace more attractive for both local and foreign tourists."