Soeharto abused 'Javanese culture to maintain power'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Javanese traditions were deliberately misused by politicians in the corrupt New Order regime to maintain their power for over 30 years, prompting a nationwide antipathy against the Javanese culture and community, Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X said on Tuesday.

Therefore, according to the respected Javanese sultan, the Javanese needed to introduce a counter culture similar to renaissance to restore the tainted image of the Javanese culture.

Such a renaissance could start by restoring the original meaning of Javanese terms or idioms that had been abused by the New Order for their political interests.

Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the Yogyakarta Governor, said that during the New Order, the ruling politicians had intentionally exploited Javanese symbols and idioms to create centralistic political culture and structure in the country.

"Consequently, the Javanese community is blamed for greatly contribution to the development of the New Order political culture which was full of corruption, collusion and nepotism," he said in his cultural speech here, celebrating the 34th anniversary of the Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center.

The sultan went on to say that the dominance of the Javanese culture was obvious under former president Soeharto's leadership as it covered all dimensions of life in the country ranging from politics and economy to education.

The sultan said for example that national institutions and organizational names had generally used Javanese language such as Dharma Wanita for the association of officials' spouses Karang Taruna for the village youth organizations Graha Wirasabha Permana for the name of a hall or the motto Gemah Ripah Loh Jinawi, Tata Tentrem Kerta Raharja for a prosperous, peaceful, orderly country.

National activities had also exploited Javanese language, but unfortunately many of them failed to attain their goal outside Java, he added.

"As Javanese culture dominated and controlled the country for over 30 years, the impact was very strong to all people in the country particularly to non-Javanese," he said.

Also attending the celebration at the center were former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin, artists Ratna Riantiarno, Ratna Sarumpaet, Remy Silado and other artists.

Cultural speeches from noted figures have been the hallmark of the center. Former vice president Adam Malik, former Minister of Environment Emil Salim, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Mochtar Kusuma Atmaja, novelist Mochtar Lubis and artist Rendra were among those who delivered cultural speech at the center.