Soeharto embodied Javanese ruler

By Onghokham

JAKARTA (JP): Ever since president Soeharto launched the concept of lengser keprabon (Javanese for stepping down from the throne or, more accurately, "leaving kingship") people have been hotly debating what it meant.

Recent events in the last few days seem to have accelerated the process of abdication from his 32-year presidency of the Indonesian republic. The use of this expression indicates Soeharto's approach to his position in state and society, that of a Javanese monarch.

Soeharto was born in a village in the princely territory of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, an indirectly ruled area in Dutch Java. The son of peasants, he did not enjoy a university education as his predecessor Sukarno did. An army career brought him to the presidency. But if Sukarno became a dictator because he was the "Great Leader of the Revolution", Soeharto became one because, like the old Javanese kings, he was Paku-Buwono (Nail of the Universe); take the "nail" away and the universe collapses. There is no tradition of becoming a senior minister such as Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, or a power behind the throne.

The princes who within Soeharto's living memory have stepped down from their position were Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII (1877- 1921) who more or less abdicated his kingly duties by living in his pleasure palace, now the four-star Ambarukmo hotel, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.

A clearer case of a princely abdication was that of Mangkunegoro VI in the 1900s because he was disappointed that the colonial government did not approve of his oldest son as his successor. He ended his life in exile. Mangkunegoro VI was related to Soeharto's late wife.

Other Javanese rulers who were forced to abdicate after the Dutch firmly established their colonial rule in Java in 1830 fared a worse fate, be it death, exile or prison such as former president Sukarno who died in military detention in 1970.

As a Javanese monarch, Soeharto always felt that his personal control and harmony with the spiritual world was as much a guarantee for the well-being of the nation and the state. In short, his destiny was the same as nation and state.

Hence, his fasting before every August 17 commemoration of Indonesia's independence and also on the eve of other important days in his life. Well known are his consultations with gurus. He always liked to surround himself with the various great pusaka (sacred heirlooms) of the past, such as what are known as Gadjah Mada masks of Bali said to date from the 13th century Majapahit empire. Gadjah Mada was the prime minister believed to be the builder of this empire, a story which is more myth than reality.

There is also a sacred gong from the palace of Surakarta and others.

He also stood in contact and good relations with the past powers of the last remaining princes of Central Java such as the sultan, susuhunan and the Mangkunegara royalty. The latter was of special importance since his late wife was a descendant of Mangkunegara II (the current ruler is Mangkunegara the IX) and said to be the real royal pusaka from the old royal houses of Java, possessing the real "flaming womb" to hand over in a magical sense their power to Soeharto.

Indeed, female royalty have, according to Javanese myths and historical chronicles, this magical power able to raise a Javanese commoner to kingship. When his wife died two years ago, there were much speculation to this effect and the recent train of events again confirmed the myth's power. The Mangkunegara princes were in the tradition of Indonesian royalty the first entrepreneurs in their respective realms.

At one time, everybody was talking about his supposed guru, the late Gen. Sudjono Humardani, cofounder of the Center for International and Strategic Studies, a prominent Jakarta think tank.

However, in Soeharto's autobiography, he denied this speculation and said that he himself was a superior in spiritual power to Humardani. The best expression of this belief is Soeharto's adopting the Semar figure of the Javanese epics of the wayang, the Mahabarata, which plays such a dominant role in Javanese cultural and spiritual life.

The Semar figure in these epics symbolizes the people, and Soeharto felt he was the embodiment of the people. The expression of manunggal, emergence into one "unit", has been on the lips for 32 years of the New Order government. Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, called himself the "mouthpiece of the Indonesian people" which was a different conception but also authoritarian.

Until the last moment, Soeharto maintained his royal style in a spiritual and physical way. Just a few days before his announcement abdicating his power, he called prominent citizens for consultation. Their number was nine and except for three or four people, they all looked as they were from local religious and spiritual centers.

It is as if the legendary "Nine Saints" of Java was recalled to pump new magical power into his waning authority. Until the end, Soeharto kept his composure as if mastery over his emotions meant continued control over the situation.

In the end, probably more than anything else, it was his advanced age which brought about his fall, just as Sukarno's rumored ill-health caused his demise.

Sukarno's revolutionary rhetoric had held the nation in trance, how far did Soeharto's style of government cower Indonesia's political. social and cultural elite into submission?

In reality, of course, Soeharto relied on his military, business and political alliances. However, the elite's obsession with power and status -- just as mad as the Chinese obsession with money -- might have contributed to patrimonial and praetorian order of Indonesia.

In the past as well as in contemporary history, it only knows of cyclic change rather than evolutionary history. It is and has been a history of birth, rise to the top then a swift Untergang and Golterdammerung. The "Nail" has disappeared. jerk

To ensure the concepts of "Great Leader" or the "Nail" disappear, what we need most of all now is the emergence of a strong and vocal loyal opposition rather than a strong government and leader.

The writer is a historian.

Window: In reality, of course, Soeharto relied on his military, business and political alliances. However, the elite's obsession with power and status -- just as mad as the Chinese obsession with money -- might have contributed to patrimonial and praetorian order of Indonesia.