School offers training to preserve royal culture

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta | Tue, 10/05/2010

A pawiyatan cultural school was set up by the Yogyakarta Palace to provide special training to palace servants or abdi dalem in a hope to preserve Javanese traditions and culture at the royal palace.

Yogyakarta royal ruler Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X recently inaugurated the school in a traditional ceremony attended by members of the palace servants and soldiers.

“Abdi dalem must master the knowledge and culture of Jawa Ngayogyakarta,” said Sri Sultan, referring to Yogyakarta’s Javanese traditions and culture.

Abdi dalem, he said, was part of the culture, meaning its members must master the culture and the very detailed aspects of the palace.

Mastering them, he said, would create a cultural bastion of the nation in the era of global cultural

infiltration.

The palace official, Gusti Bendoro Pengeran Haryo (GBPH) Gusti Joyokusumo, said the school was set up to comprehensively preserve Yogyakarta’s traditions and culture as well as its royal values and philosophy.

Previously, members of the palace’s abdi dalem were recruited without being given specialized training, posing the risk that they may lack understanding on the palace’s values and philosophy,

he added.

“In the hope of ensuring the abdi dalem really understands and appreciates the palace culture, the pawiyatan must be formed,” Joyo-kusumo said.

The pawiyatan school will be opened periodically, and in its initial stage it is predicted to accommodate 100 abdi dalem apprentices. Two meetings will be held on a weekly basis and each training session will last for a month.

“After completing the training, participants will obtain certificates from the palace,” said Joyokusumo, adding that participants would also receive lessons on the royal language, governance and palace ranks.