DESTINATION: YOGYAKARTA!

Knowing Yogyakarta – part 1

The Special Province of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, or DIY), is the smallest province of Indonesia (excluding Jakarta). It is located on the island of Java. It is the only province in Indonesia that is still formally governed by a pre-colonial Sultanate, the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.

Yogyakarta is known as a center of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry and puppet shows. It is also famous as a center for Indonesian higher education. At Yogyakarta’s center is the kraton, or Sultanate’s palace. While the city sprawls in all directions from the kraton, the core of the modern city is to the north.

The History

The Yogyakarta Sultanate, formally the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, was formed in 1755 when the existing Sultanate of Mataram was divided by the dutch (VOC = Verenidging Indishce Compagnie) in two under the Treaty of Giyanti. This treaty states that the Sultanate of Mataram was to be divided into the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat with Yogyakarta as the capital and Mangkubumi who became Sultan Hamengkubuwono the 1st as its Sultan Pakubuwono the 3rd who was the ruler of the Sultanat of Mataram as its Sultan and had Surakarta (known as Solo) as the capital. The Hamengkubuwono the 1st spent amost 37 years building the new capital, with the kraton as the centerpiece and the court of Surakarta as the blueprint model. By the time he died in 1792, his territory exceeded Surakarta’s.

In support of Indonesia declaring independence, in 5 September 1975, the Hamengkubuwono the 9th together with the Paku Alam the 8th declared the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat to be part of the Republic of Indonesia. In return for this unfailing support, the area that being occupied by the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat was granted the status of special province based on 1950 based on the Law Number 3, with the special recognizes on the power of Sultan in his region’s domestic affairs.

Until now, there is only two governor in Yogyakarta. The first one was the Hamengkubuwono the 9th and be continued by his son, the Hamengkubuwono the 10th. Why only two? It caused unlike other provinces or regions in Indonesia, beside being the central government man, the Sultan was the cultural leader and being very respectfull from all of his people or event from the central government. In example, although the Sultan is the governor that have to obey the central government, when the President of the Republic of Indonesia came to kraton, the President of the Republic of Indonesia was only the common people that have to obey the thumb of rules in kraton....

The Regions

There are five regions in the Special Province of Yogyakarta: city of Yogyakarta, Sleman region, Bantul region, Kulon Progo region and Gunung Kidul region. The city of Yogyakarta located at the center of the Special Province of Yogyakarta, Sleman region was on the northern side, Bantul region on the southern side, Gunung Kidul region at the eastern side and the Kulon Progo at the western side. Cause of its location, all of the regions have different natural panorama that makes the Yogyakarta very beautiful...

I will continue this session with the characteristics of each regions when we met again....

posted by Kus Endarto @ 11:57 PM