West Java Council Greenlights Name Change to Tatar Sunda

The discourse on changing the name of West Java Province to Tatar Sunda has entered a new chapter after all factions in the West Java DPRD officially gave the green light to proceed with the proposal to the next legislative stage. This crucial decision to preserve identity finally received the most concrete response from the regional parliament after being agreed upon during a hearing between Commission I of the West Java DPRD and a number of Sundanese academics, cultural figures, and historians in the Commission I Room, Bandung, on Thursday. The proposal had previously faded in 2013, 2015, and 2020. “The Democrat, PKB, PKS, PAN, PDIP, Golkar, and PPP factions stated their agreement to proceed to the next legislative stage for the name change of West Java Province. Gerindra and Nasdem earlier conveyed they would follow suit,” said the Chair of Commission I of the West Java DPRD, Rahmat Hidayat Djati, after leading the meeting. Rahmat explained that the proposal to change the province’s name had actually been discussed in several meetings. However, it was only on this occasion that all faction representatives were fully present and officially conveyed their political stance. “So, the proposing team has presented this three times. But it was only today that it was attended by complete representatives of the factions,” he said. The strategic steps following this approval will depend on the refinement of the academic paper and the decision of the council leadership on whether it will be deliberated through a Special Committee or reviewed internally by Commission I. Rahmat also reminded that the final regulation for this name adjustment must obtain approval from the central government. “Earlier, comments were also conveyed from the West Java Provincial Governance and Regional Autonomy Bureau on what the stages are like, and from the Legal Bureau, because ultimately this must become the central government’s approval,” Rahmat stated. Interestingly, the DPRD’s spotlight did not stop at the province’s name. The legislature is also pushing for the strengthening of local identity in the naming of housing estates, tourist attractions, buildings, and the numbering of Prospective New Autonomous Regions so they do not merely use cardinal directions but instead absorb distinctive local names. “Including prospective New Autonomous Regions, don’t use West, East, North, South. They should reflect Sundanese names, not just West Cirebon, West Indramayu, East Cirebon, North Sukabumi, but have distinctive local names,” said Rahmat, adding that the legal umbrella could be a Regional Regulation or a Governor’s Regulation. On the other hand, Padjadjaran University Professor and member of the proposing review team, Ganjar Kurnia, asserted that the name change to Tatar Sunda holds deep historical, sociological, cultural, and psychological value to save the Sundanese identity, which is increasingly marginalised by administrative approaches. Based on historical records, the Tatar Sunda region once stretched from Banten, through Jakarta, to Cipamali on the border of Central Java. “In the past, Jakarta was administratively part of the Sunda region. Banten was also a Sundanese area, and history shows that Tatar Sunda stretched from Banten to Cipamali, part of Central Java,” said Ganjar. Ganjar dismissed concerns about administrative complexity or the potential for other regions to secede. He cited the successful name change from Ujung Pandang to Makassar as a routine bureaucratic matter. “Ah, those are just derivatives. Administrative matters, letterheads, stamps, and so on are just ordinary. As was said earlier, almost all factions support it. Then it will be continued with the next stages, including further review,” he said. Although acknowledging that a name change is not an instant guarantee of economic prosperity, Ganjar stressed the importance of forming a new work ethic through this identity. “The hypothesis is that changing the name to Sunda does not automatically bring prosperity. But if it changes to the Sundanese name, there is an ethos, a spirit, a desire that I, as a Sundanese person, must be better than others,” he said. The West Java Provincial Government stated that it has received, reviewed, and examined the academic paper for the proposed name change based on philosophical, sociological, economic, and juridical foundations. Currently, the West Java Provincial Government is awaiting direction from the regional leadership to determine the next bureaucratic steps in accordance with Law Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government. “Of course, these stages do not come directly from the government, but there are further steps from Commission I, approval first, just like proposing a New Autonomous Region,” said Faisal, Associate Expert Policy Analyst at the Governance Bureau of the West Java Regional Secretariat, at the same location.