Soeharto embodied Javanese ruler

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.