Yogyakarta seeks to get back ancient books
Yogyakarta seeks to get back ancient books
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The royal family of Yogyakarta Palace has called on members of
public, especially those living overseas, to return thousands of
the Palace's ancient books, which were looted by British and
Dutch soldiers in colonial era.
The chief of the Palace's internal affairs, Prince Joyokusumo,
said on Thursday that those who had the collections of Yogyakarta
Palace's Library in their possession should surrender them, as
they are Palace property.
"The seizure of our ancient books by Dutch and British
colonialists began with the reign of the first King of the Palace
Hamengkubuwono I, until that of the fourth king, Hamengkubuwono
IV, and only ended when Sultan Hamengkubuwono V was crowned as
King of the Palace," he said after meeting with the Sultan of
Yogyakarta Palace Hamengkubuwono X, who is also Yogyakarta
Governor.
Most parts of the country, including Java Island, were under
Dutch settlement for about three-and-a-half centuries beginning
in the 17th century.
The British, meanwhile, occupied the country for shorter time,
from 1811 to 1816, before the Dutch colonial reoccupied
Indonesia.
Joyokusumo said that the British colonial administrator, Sir
Stamford Raffles, and the Dutch colonial governor, Herman Williem
Daendels, were the ones responsible for the looting of the
collections of the Palace's Library.
"There are now less than a thousand collections in our
library," said Joyokusumo, who is also a member of the People's
Consultative Assembly.
The missing collections, he said, were mostly the valuable
ones, which included ancient literature from poets of the ancient
Mataram Kingdom.
He said that Yogyakarta Palace had once talked to the
government about the missing collections of the Palace Library,
but had received no concrete response.
He said that the Palace Library was currently collecting
records of its collections, including the missing ones, as part
of efforts to get the missing collections back.
He admitted, however, that the royal family as yet has no
concrete ideas on how to take back the missing collections.
Joyokusumo, the younger brother of Hamengkubuwono X, said that
some collections of the Palace's Library have been put on public
sale, both in the country and in overseas markets and bookstores.
"Recently, Queen GKR Hemas bought an ancient book which is one
of our missing collections, at Rp 200,000 from the local market
here," he said, referring to Hamengkubuwono X's wife.
He said that the words "Kawedanan Agung Punokawan Widya
Wiwaha" were written on some of the Palace's missing books.