Mixed fortunes for palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta

By Sumanto

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Yogyakarta Palace may be the exception in the grim historical journey of palaces in contemporary Indonesia. While most royal houses have collapsed or are crumbling, the Yogyakarta Palace is dynamically shaping its own role in Indonesia today.

Many palaces, including the Surakarta residence just 64 kilometers away, are in advanced stages of disrepair, unable to fund basic maintenance let along renovations. But Yogyakarta Palace has constructed museum chambers on its grounds without any outside aid.

The now defunct Tempo weekly once quoted Christianto Wibisono, director of the Indonesian Center of Business and Data, as saying that Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX, the hereditary ruler of Yogyakarta Palace, ranked among Indonesia's 50 richest people due to his royal treasures.

Sultan Hameng Kubuwono X inherited the riches from his late father. Thanks to this inheritance, a special museum to keep personal items belonging to Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX was added to Yogyakarta Palace in 1994. The funds have also covered routine maintenance of the palace and supported the calendar of cultural events at the royal site.

In late 1996, Yogyakarta Palace sponsored the People's Cultural Show, an art event involving 800 traditional and contemporary artists. Yogyakarta Palace and several other sponsors paid up Rp 500 million to stage the show, a fantastic sum for other palaces in this country.

Sultan Hamengku Buwono X is also involved in social and political activities. Often seen in casual dress in his luxurious Mercedes Benz, the thoroughly modern royal bears more of a resemblance to an important government official than a grand ruler.

During this year's general election campaign, the ruling Golkar functional group relied on the sultan, who is chairman of Golkar's Yogyakarta regional executive board, as a vote getter. Modern life has not diminished the aura of royalty.

Surakarta

Time has not been so kind to Kasunanan Palace in Surakarta. It has never really recovered after a fire ravaged its buildings in 1985.

There is an abjectness and gloom about the outermost building called the Pagelaran (the outermost building). Blue, rightfully the dominant color of the facade, is washed out into an opaqueness. Support beams stand precariously and there are gaping holes in the roof. The stinging, pungent odor of corroded iron and dust greets one in the building's interior.

The chamber for the royal gold carriage is deserted, adding to the somber pall hanging over the building. Renovation of the Sasana Handrawina, where the king entertains his guests, is still unfinished.

According to Kajeng Raden Haryo Tumenggung Condro Negoro, the palace housekeeper, financial constraints are the main problem. "The palace does not have a major source of funds," he said.

The royal household relies on routine financial assistance from the government, an amount which is just enough to pay the salaries of some 300 courtiers (abdi dalem). Virtually nothing is left over for maintenance of palace grounds --reconstruction of Sasana Handrawina was only possible through private donations.

Although Yogyakarta Palace has managed to keep in step with changes, Sultan Hameng Kubuwono X has underlined the need for a change in the palace organization in response to societal developments.

Gusti Bendoro Pangeran Haryo Joyokusumo, who oversees the institutions in Yogyakarta Palace, said the sultan is aware that most of his power today was merely ceremonial.

The late Sultan Hameng Kubuwono IX symbolized his power as "Crown for the People", a term still smacking of politics, his has done a modern take on this by calling it a "Crown for People's Cultural Welfare".

"The present sultan must be a cultural leader," the sultan said of his role.

He is currently studying a proposal for palace reorganization drawn up by a team of experts. "The palace institution must be in tune with continuous development," said Joyokusumo, the sultan's younger brother. Failure to do this would mean the institution would become apocryphal, an outdated relic serving no purpose.

Several problems need to be solved before Yogyakarta Palace implements its modern management system.

One is related to the delicate relationship between the palace and its employees. Many of them work for a pittance, satisfied to be part of the esteemed palace retinue.

Take Djojo Suwito, 68. He has worked at the palace for 27 years but is paid only Rp 4,200 (US$1.71) a month. "Despite my small salary, my dedication to the palace has never dimmed," said the father of six.

There are about 25,000 court employees at Yogyakarta Palace, many about Djojo's age. Most of them work one day a week, and get paid between Rp 2,300 and Rp 25,000 a month depending on their ranks.

They admit that the prestige of serving the sultan in their elegant uniforms is more gratifying than any payment. There are some 1,200 people on the waiting list to become court employees.

A younger generation raised in a modern democracy is unlikely to be charmed by this vestige of feudalism.

"We have to raise the salaries of court employees, but we do not want people to serve the palace because of the attraction of a high salary," Joyokusumo said.

Karkono Partokusumo, an observer of Javanese culture, said it was to be expected that society's perceptions of the palace would change. "No system is free from change," he said.

These two great palaces in Java have traversed different historical roads. In Partokusumo's words, Yogyakarta Palace continues to command public respect because of the historical role played by the late Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX in the early days of the Indonesian struggle for independence.

The Surakarta royals sided with the returning Dutch, a move which led to antipathy among both the people and Indonesia's rulers. Surakarta's Sri Susuhunan Pakubuwono XII was excluded from any significant role in Indonesia's political development.

Different paths, different circumstances today. But the two palaces share at least one similarity, Partokusumo said. There are still people who revere the royal households as spiritual protectors in the era when rationalism reigns supreme.