Royal family split over appointment of new sultan
Royal family split over appointment of new sultan
Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java
Cirebon people are turning their attention to the Kanoman Palace,
home of one of three royal families in the West Java ancient
city, as a dispute over the coveted throne heightens.
The conflict surfaced after the sultanate's chief executive,
Prince Mohamad Imamuddin, disclosed on Jan. 1 the last will and
testament of the late Sultan Kanoman XI appointing Prince Elang
Muhammad Saladin as his successor.
The announcement immediately sparked widespread protests, with
102 top palace officials signing a petition on Jan. 2 opposing
the appointment of Prince Saladin. They said the coronation of
Saladin would be a break from tradition, which stipulates that
the sultan transfer power to his first-born son from the queen.
The angry officials also doubted the validity of the
testament, saying Sultan Kanoman XI, who died on Nov. 19 last
year, fully understood tradition.
Based on tradition, Prince Muhammad Emirudin should succeed
his father.
Spokesmen for the royal family loyal to Emirudin, Elang
Nasiruddin and Kemas Muharram, claimed on Wednesday that some
1,000 members of the Kanoman royal family were committed to
maintaining the tradition.
"Appointing a crown prince through a testament is unacceptable
and we don't believe the late sultan would have behaved this way.
We suspect there is a certain party intending to disrupt the
tradition," Muharram told a media conference.
He said the royal family would convene to discuss a plan to
inaugurate Emirudin as Sultan Kanoman XII.
Princess Mawar Kartina, the elder sister of Saladin, defended
her brother's appointment as the next sultan.
"Everybody should comply with the testament as it was the
sultan's order," Mawar told reporters on Wednesday.
She said that as Muslims, members of the royal family should
uphold Islamic law, which stipulates that a testament must be
honored.
She challenged the opposition's suspicion, accusing the
protesters of having been provoked by outsiders. She questioned
the collection of signatures for the petition against the
testament, which was submitted just one day after the testament
was made public.
"It was strange because many of the signatories were out of
town at the time," Mawar said.
She welcomed the plan to hold a meeting of the royal family as
proposed by Emirudin's loyalists, but suggested that the
convention explore every avenue to settle the dispute.
"The most important thing is we have to stop trading
allegations," she said.