Could Yogyakarta Finally be The Sultanate Republic?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com –

A heated discourse on determining the status of Yogyakarta has been filling the

air with a big question: will there ever be a Sultanate Republic of Yogyakarta? 

"No, there’s no way for any referendum to determine the status of Yogyakarta.

That’s would be unconstitutional as there will be no legal basis for holding a

referendum in this regard," said Constitutional Court chief Mahfud M.D. who

spoke to the media here Tuesday afternoon.    

Yogyakarta is a province within the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.

Yet, Yogyakarta is steeped in royal culture inherited from the long history of the

Javanese sultanate which resulted in the  sultan becoming automatically  the 

governor of the province since the birth of the republic in the mid 1940s.    

Mahfud, who built his teaching career at the Yogyakarta-based Universitas Islam

Indonesia (UII) before moving into politics a decade ago in Jakarta, tried his best

to stand in between the seemingly open conflict between President Susilo

Bambang Yudhoyono and Yogyakarta province governor Sultan

Hamengkubuwono X.    

President Yudhoyono has voiced  opposition to the discourse on letting the Sultan

of Yogyakarta  hold the automatic governorship of the province. He apparently

wants Yogyakarta governorship filled by someone elected through a direct

election, just like in all the republic’s 32 other provinces.    

In his response, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has said that he will tender his

resignation as governor of the province if the central government regards him as

an obstacle in the restructuring of the province’s administrative arrangement.

Citing relevant articles of the Indonesian 1945 Constitution, Mahfud said both

President Yudhoyono and Governor Hamengkubuwono were constitutionally

correct in their stances vis a vis the discourse.

Article 18 point 4 of the Constitution, Mahfud said, stipulates that governors,

district heads and mayors are respectively the heads of  provincial, district and

city governments. They are all democratically elected leaders who get their term

in office through direct elections.    

Whereas, just underneath that very article of the Constitution, Article 18B

stipulates that a special status is granted to Yogyakarta. This article clearly points

out that the state acknowledges and respects the certain units of regional

governments which enjoy special status, or of special characters, though remain

being governed by the laws.    

"I just want to say that both (leaders) have their constitutional views which must

be respected," said Mahfud in a clear tone of balancing his position in the debate,

in contrast to the positions taken by some political and public figures who indicate

their pro- or contra ideas.    

Mahfud added that there are five regions in Indonesia that hold special status.

Aceh province was made a special region due to its Islamic law system

implemented in the province; Jakarta became special because it was the capital of

the country and Yogyakarta has special status because of its historical heritage.    

Mahfud, however, let both camps, those in support of the specialty of Yogyakarta

and therefore back the Sultan as an automatic governor, and those with a contrary 

opinion and deem that a democratic political process a necessity, to debate their

arguments openly in the parliament.

Monarchy System

The national discourse has been developing fast since earlier this week after

President Yudhoyono made a comment related to the issue. "There should not be a

monarchy system which contradicts our Constitution or democratic values," the

president said, adding that the nation "need to find a system that represents all

considerations, including the special status of Yogyakarta and the implementation

of democratic values."

This statement was then followed by a comment by Sultan  Hamengkubuwono in

which he said ready to resign from the Yogyakarta governorship. He hinted that

his being on the governorship seat of the province might have been seen as an

obstacle to include the province in the direct election systems applied nationally.  

However,  a Presidential aide, Velix Wanggai, said to the media  that  President

Yudhoyono has always "respected" Yogyakarta’s special status as a province and

a sultanate. And that he would consider the long history of the Yogyakarta

sultanate as the central government works to implement democracy in all

regions.    

"The President still takes into account the special status of Yogyakarta, the

existing system there and the history of the kingdom’s merger into the unitary

state of the Republic of Indonesia," Velix said on Sunday.    

Airlangga University sociologist Hotman Siahaan said that it was wrong to

consider Yogyakarta a monarchy. Yogyakarta was a "symbolic" monarchy for the

Javanese - and not a true political monarchy.    

"The government of Yogyakarta has applied all the principles of democracy and

the administration functions just like other provinces. It would be wrong if the

President did not immediately affirm Yogyakarta’s special status," he said on

Monday.

New Law

The government has been asked with preparing a new law on the status of

Yogyakarta after the old one prepared by the previous House of Representatives

was suspended following a deadlock over the main issue of whether the

province’s governor was to be elected or appointed.All nine House factions have

proposed the automatic appointment of the Yogyakarta king or sultan to governor,

but the government represented by former home minister Mardiyanto wanted the

governor to be elected through a public direct election.

Indonesia owed its Independence to Yogyakarta Sultanate when the highly

respected Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX stood decisively in defense of the

fledgling republic after declared that the sultanate merged into the republic.

President Sukarno then awarded a province status, a special one, including the

sultan’s privilege to be governor.    

A survey conducted by Kompas daily in April 2007 showed that 74.9 percent of

residents in the province agreed that their governor should be someone from the

sultanate. Another survey conducted in the same year showed a similar result.

Summary

Yogyakarta is a province within the unitary state of the Republic of

Indonesia. Yet, Yogyakarta is steeped in royal culture inherited from the long

history of the Javanese sultanate which resulted in the  sultan becoming

automatically  the  governor of the province since the birth of the republic in the

mid 1940s.    

Mahfud, who built his teaching career at the Yogyakarta-based Universitas

Islam Indonesia (UII) before moving into politics a decade ago in Jakarta, tried his

best to stand in between the seemingly open conflict between President Susilo

Bambang Yudhoyono and Yogyakarta province governor Sultan

Hamengkubuwono X.

President Yudhoyono has voiced opposition to the discourse on letting the

Sultan of Yogyakarta hold the automatic governorship of the province. He

apparently wants Yogyakarta governorship filled by someone elected through a

direct election, just like in all the republic’s 32 other provinces.

In his response, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has said that he will tender his

resignation as governor of the province if the central government regards him as

an obstacle in the restructuring of the province’s administrative arrangement.

The national discourse has been developing fast since earlier this week after

President Yudhoyono made a comment related to the issue. "There should not be a

monarchy system which contradicts our Constitution or democratic values," the

president said, adding that the nation "need to find a system that represents all

considerations, including the special status of Yogyakarta and the implementation

of democratic values."

This statement was then followed by a comment by Sultan

Hamengkubuwono in which he said ready to resign from the Yogyakarta

governorship. He hinted that his being on the governorship seat of the province

might have been seen as an obstacle to include the province in the direct election

systems applied nationally.

Opinion

By virtue of this case , i want to give my some opinion about the

controversy ”Could Yogyakarta Finally be The Sultanate Republic?”. This

controversy make the Indonesian people to give his/her opinion about this case.

The opinion can be in form of Pro or Contra.

Indonesia is a country which have many different tradition and culture.

This tradition and culture represent their identity in each region.

Each region have different governance system, such as Yogyakarta. This region

still use the monarchic governance system. This governance system is led by a

king.

The government’s program to change Yogyakarta’s Governance System

from monarchic to democratic party surely generate contracdistinction from

people, especially native people from Yogyakarta. They difficult to leave their

culture which hereditary they attentive.

In my opinion, if this decision is applied in Yogyakarta, then will difficult

to applied. Because native people disagree about this program. Especially,

Yogyakarta is one of some region with special status. Like Nanggroe Aceh

Darussalam (NAD), Yogyakarta also have special status. This status given to

Yogyakarta, because Yogyakarta have historycal heritage.

If this decision want to applied in Yogyakarta, then need agreement from

Indonesian people. Because Indonesia is a country which follow democratic party.