Indonesian royalty to gather in Bandung this weekend

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Thu, 06/23/2011

Royalty from across the nation will gather in Bandung this weekend to attend the second national gathering of kings and sultans across the archipelago.

“The kings and sultans will not engage in political talks,” the head of the gathering’s working committee, Sultan Sepuh IV PRA Arief Natadiningrat from the royal house of Cirebon, said Thursday in Bandung.

Arief said some of the royals had arrived in Bandung to attend a dinner hosted by West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan scheduled for Friday at Bandung's Gedung Sate.

Hundreds of kings, sultans, crown princes and princesses from local kingdoms across Indonesia are expected to attend the gathering dressed in traditional royal attire.

The gathering first took place in August 2009 and was opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

This second gathering is scheduled to be opened by Vice President Boediono, news portal tempointeraktif.com reported.

S. Sulawesi gets new museum

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 03/09/2011

South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul YL is scheduled to inaugurate the Balla Lompa Museum in Gowa regency, South Suluwesi, on Wednesday.

Situated around 10 kilometers from Makassar, the museum contains a collection of hundreds of artifacts from the Gowa Kingdom, tribunnews.com reported.

The museum is being inaugurated after it is lifted, about 3 meters off the ground. Thanks to this unique ceremony, it will also receive a certificate from the Indonesian Record Museum as the first museum to be lifted manually.

During its heyday, the Gowa Kingdom covered several other provinces in the Eastern part of Indonesia. One of the kings was I Mallombassi Daeng Matawang Karaeng Bontomangape Sultan Hasanuddin, who has been nominated by the government as a national hero.

Welcome back

The Jakarta Post, Antara, Yogyakarta | Sat, 01/08/2011

Welcome back: A Yogyakarta king servant (middle, pointing finger) briefed local tourists visiting Ngayogyakarta Palace on Saturday. Tourists have begun re-flocking Yogyakarta after Mt Merapi eruptions last year disrupted the province’s tourism. (Antara/Wahyu Putro)

Thousands bid farewell to late King of Peliatan

Luh De Suriyani, The Jakarta Post, Ubud | Wed, 11/03/2010 9:17 AM

Royal cremation: A wooden sarcophagus in the shape of a white bull with gold plated horns makes its way along Ubud’s crowded streets on Tuesday. The coffin of the late Ida Dewa Agung Peliatan IX, the last king of Peliatan, with a 25-meter-tall bade cremation tower on it is seen in the background. The remains of the Balinese king were later moved from the tower and placed inside the sarcophagus and cremated. Almost 7,000 men from 30 hamlets in Ubud took turns to help carry the sarcophagus, the bade and the naga banda (dragon) during the funeral procession. JP/Agung Parameswara

The Bali royal families, foreign dignitaries and thousands of residents of Peliatan and Ubud flocked to Peliatan Palace to witness the grand cremation of the late King of Peliatan IX, Ida Dewa Agung Peliatan, on Tuesday.

Prior to the grand palebon agung — a cremation ritual for members of the Bali royal families — Peliatan’s royal family and nobility paid their last respects to the late King, who died from diabetes last August.

Hindu High Priest Ida Pedanda Lingsir Padang Tegal, who presided over the religious ritual, fired a sacred arrow into a 6-meter-tall dragon-shaped bridge called naga banda in a symbol of destroying the earthly desires that tormented the late king, and thus releasing his soul from the temptations of the material world.

The naga banda, presented by the Ubud royal family, was used to carry the body of the late King Peliatan to a 25-meter-tall cremation tower called a bade.

The tower has 11 pyramid-shaped roofs signifying the king’s lineage from the noblemen of East Java’s Majapahit Kingdom, which conquered the island in the 14th century.

Thousands of villagers enthusiastically carried the 20-ton bade from Peliatan Palace to Royal Dalem Cemetery. They were followed by a long procession of women carrying colorful offerings and other items as part of the ritual.

All of the members of Bali’s royal families attended the procession in the most formal of royal attire.

It took more than one hour for the hundreds of pallbearers to carry the bade over the 1.5 kilometers from Peliatan Palace, where the king had been lying in state, to the cemetery.

Pan Mandi, a theater artist from Gianyar, was one of the bade carriers.

“I am so honored to take part in the ritual. This is a sacred ritual and a reflection of our respect for the late King of Peliatan,” Pan Mandi said.

Traffic in the Ubud area ground to a halt as a sea of spectators flocked to the event. Power was turned off in the area to ensure the 11-tier cremation tower was not damaged by power cables.

Local and foreign visitors waited patiently under a scorching sun for the procession to make its way to them. Most restaurants, cafes, shops and traditional markets were closed in the morning out of respect for the event, which took the palace months to prepare for.

Peliatan Palace had also held a long series of rituals before Tuesday’s cremation ceremony.

Tjokorda Putra Nindya, the King’s nephew and the heir to the Peliatan throne, said he must follow in the late King’s footsteps by getting the palace more involved in social and cultural activities in Bali.

“Before he passed away, the late King asked me to become more actively involved in cultural dialogue for the betterment of Bali.

“We have a similar family lineage to the Ubud Royal Family, but they are more active in society,” Tjokorda Putra Nindya said.

On Oct. 7, the Palace declared Tjokorda Putra Nindya would be crowned the new king of Peliatan.

Power was turned off in the area to ensure the 11-tier cremation tower was not damaged

by power cables.

No special funeral for Mbah Maridjan: Sultan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/27/2010 7:39 PM

Mount Merapi is seen as sacred in the region

Yogyakarta Governor and Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono X said Wednesday there would not be a special funeral for Mbah Maridjan, who died after refusing to abandon his ceremonial post as caretaker of Mount Merapi’s spirits.

Mbah Maridjan

“There are no special funerals for the Sultanate’s servants. His body has been retrieved by his family and will be buried with the other victims [of the eruption],” Hamengkubuwono said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Maridjan, 83, had been entrusted by the highly respected late Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX to watch over the volcano's spirits. For years he led ceremonies in which rice and flowers were thrown into the crater to appease its spirits. Maridjan had angered officials in the past by refusing to evacuate during Merapi’s eruptions.

“[His refusal to evacuate] was because of his responsibility as caretaker of Mount Merapi,” Hamengkubuwono said.

Maridjan was among 31 people killed by hot ash spewed by Merapi on Tuesday in Umbulharjo village, Sleman, which is located 4 kilometers from the volcano.

Famous for his convictions about his position, Maridjan was reportedly found in a praying position, kneeling facedown on the floor.

A large crowd of people attended the funeral of Maridjan, Merapi's spiritual keeper

Related Articles:

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Thousands See Gatekeeper to the Mountain of Fire Laid to Rest

Mourning Mount Merapi's 'spiritual keeper'

Indonesia Holds Mass Burial for Volcano Victims

‘Mbah’ Maridjan, Mt. Merapi’s spiritual guardian dies

Spiritual guardian of Indonesian volcano dies

Merapi's volcanic eruption death toll reach 28

A motorcycle lies covered by volcanic ash at a village that is hit by pyroclastic flows from Mount Merapi eruption in Kaliadem, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday. A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia, spasms from the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth. AP/Slamet Riyadi

Atilah Soeryadjaja: Celebrating Javanese female warriors

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 10/20/2010 10:51 AM

When Javanese royal Bandoro Raden Ayu Atilah Soeryadjaja read a headline on a Singaporean newspaper stating that her hometown, Surakarta, was haven for terrorists, she was furious.

JP/Prodita Sabarini

Central Java city, also known as Solo (Surakarta), had been used as a hiding place for terrorist leader Noordin M. Top before he was killed last year in a siege on the city’s outskirts.

The headline sent shivers down 49-year-old Atilah’s spine. As the granddaughter of the Javanese king Mangkunegara VII — born and raised in the court of Mangkunegaran — she felt inspired to restore Surakarta’s image as one of the country’s centers of Javanese culture in the way she knows best.

One of the founders of the Mitra Wayang Orang Indonesia, a group of Javanese opera lovers consisting of socialites who train and perform Javanese plays, Atilah decided to produce an epic Javanese play based on the life story of her ancestor, Raden Ayu Matah Ati, the wife of the first Mangkunegaran King Raden Mas Said.

With a team of 95 dancers and musicians, Atilah will present the play Matah Ati on Oct. 22 and 23 at Singapore’s prominent art center Esplanade.

At her house in Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta, Atilah said she had set her eye on Esplanade for her play since she had conceived the idea — one of the reasons being the art center is located in Singapore, where the newspaper with the disturbing headline is based.

Esplanade’s prominence in presenting high quality performing art attracting thousands of tourists from all over the world was another reason.

“We can’t counter [the headline] with anything. But with our best work, we can show them. I didn’t tell anyone. For two years I developed the play, and rehearsed. This is for our culture and to return Solo’s image [as a center of Javanese culture],” she said.

The play is presented in the spirit of langendriyan, which Atilah explained as Javanese opera consisting of dance and singing. Atilah wrote and directed the play after carrying out extensive research on her ancestor. She was also hands-on with the actors’ costumes.

Atilah said the story highlights the life of Rubiah, who became Raden Ayu Kusuma Matah Ati after tying the knot with Raden Mas Said, and portrays her as a strong Javanese female. Rubiah was the leader of a 40-strong group of Javanese female warriors.

“I wanted to share that during that time, in the 18th century and even before, Indonesia already had a tradition of female warriors, consisting of farmers and housewives. They joined the fight.”

Rubiah, Atilah said, was a simple village girl from the village of Matah who was a gifted dancer. “She is actually the descendant of Sultan Agung, from the fourth of fifth line. Her father hid in Matah when there was conflict in Mataram,” she said, referring to the 17th century king of Mataram kingdom.

There are two versions of Rubiah’s name after she married Mas Said: Raden Ayu Kusuma Matah Ati and Raden Ayu Kusuma Patah Ati. Both “Matah” and “Patah” mean “to serve” in Javanese.

Atilah chose to use Matah Ati for her play as Patah Ati might be interpreted as broken heart, while the real meaning of her name was to serve the heart of the prince.

Atilah said she supported gender equality between men and women. However, she emphasized that as a wife, a woman’s role was to take care of the children and serve her husband. “In essence, men are above us. We should not forget our values — our eastern tradition,” she said.

Atilah learned Javanese dancing when she was little. She lived in the Mangkunegaran palace until she moved to Jakarta to attend junior high school. She felt repressed at the court when she was growing up, as she was not allowed to go out.

She was forced to fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and would have to wait until her elders had finished their meals before she could eat.

“However, I realize this training was beneficial for me as a woman,” she said.

Atilah likened herself to a lost monkey when she moved to Jakarta. The sight of tall buildings and cars overwhelmed her. In Surakarta, she used to climb trees in the palace’s court to catch a glimpse of the city.

She remembers riding a double-decked bus with her school friends without getting permission from people from home, and getting lost. “There were afternoon discos at Hotel Indonesia at that time, and I went with my friends. I was so shocked by the loud music. All this time I had only listened to Javanese gamelan,” she said.

Atilah said she had always been in love with Javanese plays, but she only put her writing and directing skills to work recently.

Married to businessman Edward Soeryadjaja, Atilah used to spend most of her spare time supporting her husband’s business. But when her children returned from studying overseas, she was able to shift her priorities. “Before, I had to help out with my husband’s business. But now, since my children have returned and taken over, I have more time,” she said.

Atilah is already currently writing her second play.

After Singapore, Matah Ati will travel to Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

‘Matah Ati’

Oct. 22 and 23

Esplanade Theater

Singapore

8 p.m.

www.esplanade.com

Long live the King

I Wayan Juniarta, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Thu, 10/14/2010 9:37 AM

Last Sunday, the people of Klungkung hailed their new king.

A new face: The new King of Klungkung
Ida Dalem Semaraputra sits in his palace.

Hundreds of people dressed in traditional costume flocked the courtyard of Klungkung palace as the court’s high priest Ida Pedanda Gede Putra Tembau of Aan crowned Tjokorda Gde Agung Semaraputra as the new King of Klungkung.

The elderly priest also bestowed a new name on the king: Ida Dalem Semaraputra.

Kings, princes and princesses from all over Bali and across the country, including members of the Nusantara Keraton Friendship Forum (FSKN), an umbrella organization cum lobby group for the country’s royalty, attended the coronation ceremony, which involved elaborate Balinese Hindu rituals and majestic sacred dances.

In feudal Bali, kings always treated the kings of Klungkung with deference and respect.

Klungkung’s military power was perhaps not as terrifying as that wielded by Mengwi or Karangasem. Its diplomatic cunningness and political calculation might not have been as sharp as that repeatedly demonstrated by the kings of the Manggis dynasty in neighboring Gianyar.

Yet the kings of Bali never failed to treat the kings of Klungkung as equals, and always sought their wisdom and advice when other kings were locked in disputes.

The prince of Karangasem and his suicidal warriors were the actual forces that conquered the neighboring island of Lombok. But the victory was humbly dedicated to the King of Klungkung, the sovereign of Bali and Lombok. And there was nothing that could unite the fragmented royalties of ancient Bali better than a legion of rebellious warriors advancing toward the Klungkung palace.

Devoted people: Followers carry the new king of
Klungkung Ida Dalem Semaraputra on a wooden
sedan.

The brutal, yet tragic rebellion of Pande Bhasa and the victorious, albeit temporary, uprising of Gusti Agung Maruti, are a testament to this unity. Kings from various kingdoms in the island sent their fiercest warriors to defend the honor of the Klungkung’s crown.

This deferential attitude and loyalty toward Klungkung might have something to do with members of the Klungkung royalty being direct descendants from the Javanese ruler installed as the island’s king by the Majapahit empire’s legendary prime minister Gajah Mada, following his military conquest of the island in 14th century.

Members of this house, thus, directly related to Majapahit and its members, are perceived as the purest blood of the island’s royalty. Only the Kings of Klungkung can use the title “Dalem” while the others must be satisfied with “Tjokorda” or “Anak Agung”.

Young scholar Sugi Lanus said the coronation of the new “Dalem” reflected the strengthening of ethnic identitity, a phenomenon more evident in the last decade.

“We are seeing a growing tendency to reinforce traditional values, local wisdom, and cultural heritage to preserve or strengthen ethnic identity in its relation to the national identity or even the global identity,” he said.

“I called this phenomenon ‘reclaiming regalia’, an effort to reclaim past glory and at the same time a symbolic mutiny from the republic. When the number of kings keeps increasing across the archipelago, it must say something about the state of our integration as a nation and a unitary republic,” he stressed.

A touch of divinity: High priest Ida Pedanda Gede
Putra Tembau of Aan places consecrated rice on the
forehead of the king during the coronation ritual.

After the establishment of the republic in 1945, most royal houses in Bali decided not to crown any kings to lead the houses. The decision was partly political — to keep up with the modern and egalitarian spirit of the new state, and partly financial — it was difficult to maintain a lavish lifestyle, a personal harem and an oversized entourage when the support from colonial government ceased to exist, and political activists screamed for land reform.

Ida I Dewa Agung Gede Oka Geg, who was crowned in July 1929 by the Dutch and officially titled Zelfbesturder Landschap Van Klungkung, was the last colonial-era king of Klungkung.

Thing started to change in the last 10 years. Politician Anak Agung Ngurah Manik Pemecutan was crowned as the King of Pemecutan, one of three royal houses — Pemecutan, Denpasar and Kesiman — in Denpasar. In 2005, Tjokorda Ngurah Mayun Samirana was installed as the King of Denpasar. And in 2008, IGN Rupawan was crowned as the King of Tabanan.

The most surprising coronation took place in early 2010 when a former model and boy band singer turned politician and religious activist Arya Wekarna was crowned by one of his fans — a self-proclaimed mystic — as the King of Majapahit in Bali.

“It was ludicrous, a man crowned as a king, with no territory, no subjects and no history, a kingdom-less king indeed. The only thing he has is audacity beyond common courtesy,” social columnist Aridus commented.

Noted thinker and writer Aryantha Soetama offered a lighter take on the singer’s coronation.

“They don’t have anything better to do so one day they decided ‘well, I am going to be a king’. After all, you don’t need a license to be a king, there are no legal requirements whatsoever a person must fill to be a king.

They can’t run a party because of the costs involved, they can’t be politicians because of the many legal requirements standing in their way. So, they simply become kings because it’s easy.”

King-ship in modern Bali, according to Aryantha, is about looking great without the greatness itself.

With this in mind, there is a huge probability that more and more kings will be crowned in the future.

Soon Bali will also be known as the Island of a Thousand Kings and Zero Kingdom.

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.

Ancient texts hold Bali’s past

Alit Kertaraharja, The Jakarta Post, Singaraja | Mon, 09/27/2010

Staff members at Gedong Kirtya, the Bali’s largest repository of lontar manuscripts, held a special religious ritual Saturday to celebrate the knowledge stored in the ancient scrolls.

Kirtya is the only government-run museum devoted to the lontar manuscripts — ancient religious texts engraved on the fronds of the lontar palm. 

A similar institution exists in Leiden, Holland, housing a collection of around 1,700 sets of the

manuscripts.

In Kirtya, the ceremony was officiated by IGB Suduasta, who is also an accomplished lontar writer and painter.

“[The ceremony] was organized in conjunction with the celebration of Saraswati day that falls today,” Gedong Kirtya head I Ketut Suharsana told.

On Saraswati day, Balinese Hindus across the island present offerings of books, which are considered the throne of Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and the arts. School students wear traditional costumes and join in mass prayer at their school’s shrines.

Assisted by the Kirtya’s staff members, Suduasta placed offerings on the wooden boxes containing the lontar manuscripts as well as on old books on Balinese culture.

“The manuscripts and books contain important information on various aspects of Balinese culture and spirituality, from literary verses of kekawin, genealogical treatises of many clans, theological discourses to traditional medicines. We have also had in our collection lontar manuscripts from Java and Lombok,” Suharsana said.

He estimated that around 2,000 sets of lontar manuscripts are still in the possession of individuals, temples and Brahmin families in Bali.

Built by a lontar lover and former resident of Bali and Lombok, L.J.J Caron, Kirtya was officially opened on September 14, 1928. It was named Kirtya Lefrink-Van der Tuuk after Dr. H.N. Van der Tuuk, a Dutch historian who donated his land and house for the museum. The name Kirtya, which was derived from the Sanskrits’ word for effort, was bestowed by the then King of Buleleng, I Gusti Putu Djelantik.

The lontar manuscripts in Kirtya played a critical role in Professor P.J. Zoetmulder’s decade-long research to compile the seminal Dictionary of Ancient Javanese Language.

Dutch envoy bids farewell to Yogyakarta Sultan

Antara News, Friday, June 25, 2010 18:34 WIB

Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Nikolaos van Dam bade farewell to Yogyakarta Sultan Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X here Friday.

"During the five years, there were good times and not-so-good ones but the Netherlands was always a good friend of Indonesia," Nikolaos van Dam, who has filled his ambassadorial post here since 2005 until August 1, 2010, said when saying goodbye to the Sultan.

He said the Dutch government and people had provided assistance, including to victims of a powerful earthquake which devastated Yogyakarta a few years ago through the Java Reconstruction Fund, or directly to the government.

"We provided assistance to the earthquake victims in Yogyakarta, among other things for reconstruction of school buildings and rehabilitation of old houses," he said.

The Sultan confirmed that the Dutch government, non-governmental organizations, foundations and people had helped the disaster`s victims and given assistance to Dr Sardjito Hospital.

"We are grateful to the Dutch government and people for helping the victims of earthquake in Yogyakrata," the Sultan said.

On the occasion, the Sultan presented a batik shirt to the outgoing Ambassador Nikolaos.

The magnitude-5.9 earthquake which hit Yogyakarta in May 2006 killed more than 5,000 people.