Yogyakarta celebrates official anniversary

Yogyakarta celebrates official anniversary

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

If you visit the ancient city of Yogyakarta this week, you will
be greeted by colorful decorations displayed across the city.

By day, the city is brightened up with colorful banners,
posters and signboards, while at night, it is adorned with
decorative, colored lights.

No wonder, because for the first time in its history,
Yogyakarta municipal administration will officially celebrate the
city's 247th anniversary.

The celebrations will peak on Oct. 7, when the city will stage
a fireworks party and theatrical performance by high school
students at Mandala Krida Stadium.

About 6,000 people from some 60 different groups, including
the traditional Javanese Yogyakarta Palace guards, are expected
to join the event, titled Malam Pekan Gemilang Jogja (The Night
of Jogja's Splendor Week).

Everyone is also invited to join the celebration free of
charge but is required to wear something traditionally Javanese
as a passport to the event.

Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also governor of
Yogyakarta province, is scheduled to arrive at the celebration in
the palace's sacred horse-drawn cart, Kangjeng Kyai Jongwiyat,
and will officially announce Oct. 7 as the birth date of the
city.

"We have also decided to include it (the date) into the
Yogyakarta bylaws," said Yogyakarta Mayor Herry Zudianto, adding
that the date had been identified after a scientific study by a
team of experts.

The date was taken from the time that Sultan Hamengkubuwono I
officially entered the newly built palace on Sura 13, 1682,
(according to the Javanese calendar), or Oct. 7, 1756 in the
Gregorian calendar, to start ruling the newly established kingdom
of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post in an interview, Herry also
underlined the significance of celebrating the city's
anniversary, saying that it could help citizens feel a sense of
their history and the existence of the city itself.

"I do hope this will be a party for all the people of
Yogyakarta. I want to make them aware that the city belongs to
all of us and that we all share a responsibility in making it a
better place for everyone," said Herry, adding that the city
administration would declare the celebration one of its official,
annual events.

Herry also expressed the hope that the event would be included
in the tourist calendar of events, as the city administration had
prepared a number of supporting activities and programs for the
whole week ahead of the celebrations, as an additional
attraction.

Among these are an Old Jogja Exhibition, a Penjor (decorative
lamp) and Lampion (paper lantern) Festival, ketoprak
(collaborative performances of traditional drama), shadow puppet
shows, city carnival, traditional costume festival, traditional
food festival, dolanan anak (children's song and play festival),
kebaya (traditional Javanese blouse) fashion show and art
performances.

The other event in the run-up to the anniversary was the Dimas
Diajeng Competition, which commenced on Sept. 29 to elect the
city's tourism envoy. Finalists were taken into a city carnival
last Friday on a decorated, traditional horse-drawn carriage
known locally as an andong.

There is also the Jogja Great Sale, during which the
celebration's organizing committee has invited the city's stores,
shops, hotels and restaurants to offer special prices and
discounts of up to 70 percent on their normal prices. No less
than 4,150 outlets are taking part in the program.

"This is apart from some domestic airlines that are also
offering discounts of up to 40 percent on flights to Yogyakarta,"
Coordinator of the Jogja Great Sale program Stef B. Indarto told
the Post.

He said the airlines were Garuda Indonesia, Bouraq, Merpati
Nusantara and Pelita Air Service. They are offering ticket
discounts of 20 percent to 40 percent on flights to Yogyakarta
during the Jogja Great Sale until Oct. 19.

"The main objective of the program is to make Yogyakarta the
country's number one shopping tourist destination," Stef
explained.

According to Herry, such a goal was also in line with the city
administration's plan to make the municipality a city of trade
and services, with tourism and tourism-related businesses as the
main sector.

"We want to focus more on tourism based on Javanese culture,
because it is still strongly rooted in the community, and we
should maintain it," said Herry, adding that the city
administration had modified the province's motto, "Jogja never
ends" into "Jogja, the never-ending Java."

"Hopefully it will be more marketable for Yogyakarta City,"
Hery said.

In order to make the program a success, therefore, Herry also
said that minimum security standards could no longer just be an
aim, but had to be seriously implemented by the management of
public places, including hotels, restaurants and shopping
centers, especially with regard to recent bomb attacks and
threats.

"If possible, we should create a legal umbrella for them, for
example by integrating the requirements (for security procedures)
into the issuance of business licenses," he said.