Candra Malik, Yogyakarta – In their own unique way, the people of Yogyakarta, an ancient Javanese cultural hub, expressed on Tuesday their resistance to the government's efforts to require gubernatorial elections in an area where the local population wants the sultan to automatically become governor.
Stickers calling for a referendum began to make their appearance on buses, rickshaws, horse carriages and the walls of houses and buildings on Tuesday.
One sticker reads "Volunteers for a referendum" with a picture of the sultan's traditional soldier, while another reads "The people of Yogyakarta are ready for a referendum."
"We're also handing out these stickers to people driving on the road and anyone who passes by," said Inung Nurzani, one of the volunteers distributing the stickers.
"It's the form of our resistance against the president's statement that Yogyakarta runs a monarchy. The referendum movement is to support the sultan being appointed automatically as governor of Yogyakarta."
On Twitter, Marzuki Mohammad, a documentary film director in Yogyakarta, uploaded a graphic artist's rendition of a Yogyakarta passport to draw public attention to the tension between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, king and governor of Yogyakarta.
According to Marzuki, the Yogyakarta-style passport was a creative form of community resistance against the hegemonic power of Jakarta.
"President Yudhoyono apparently showed a political desire to deny the agreement that has been inked by Sukarno and Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX. For us, it's just like the president is offering a divorce and we are not afraid of that threat," he said.
He was referring to the country's founding president and the current sultan's father who threw his full support behind the republic in 1945. Yogyakarta served as the young republic's capital when the Dutch reoccupied Jakarta during the independence struggle in the second half of the 1940s.
In recognition of Yogyakarta's support for the struggling young republic, Sukarno gave the city the rank of a special province, a status which made the sultan governor of the province for life, with the head of the princedom of Pakualam, which is part of the Yogyakarta sultanate, as his deputy.
The debate on whether the sultan automatically becomes the governor erupted when Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX died in 1988.
Vice Governor Paku Alam VIII became governor and at his demise, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X became governor but only through an election which caused an uproar in Yogyakarta at the time. The sultan overwhelmingly won the governorship and his term is due to end in 2011.
Butet Kartaredjasa, a senior actor known for mimicking the presidents of Indonesia, said he felt comforted by the Yogyakartan's way of voicing opposition.
"It's our style to keep appearing witty and funny in face of the harsh political issues and the disrespect from the president. We are not afraid of the president, but we also would not scare him. He just needs to know that we already have a passport design," he said.
Sitok Srengenge, an internationally-renowned poet living in Yogyakarta, said that if the president wanted to make a political decision, then he had better ask the people first. "His personal opinion cannot be imposed on the people. Moreover, having the sultan as the governor is the will of the people. It's democratic."
Agus Noor, a creative writer, pointed out that like most Yogyakartans, he abides by the local saying of "Pejah Gesang Nderek Sultan" or "Following the sultan, alive or dead."
Franz Magnis-Suseno, a prominent sociologist and political analyst who lived for a long time in Yogyakarta, said that it was important to preserve Yogyakarta's tradition.
"We probably should leave it to the authorities in Yogyakarta to find out what the people there want," he said, adding that decisions should not be made "unilaterally."
However, he said that while the people of Yogyakarta have to preserve their sense of unity under the sultan, his leadership may not necessarily be in the form of the governorship.
At the center of the debate is whether the government will agree to the Yogyakartans' demand that the law automatically grant the sultan the gubernatorial seat. If it does, however, the law would be inconsistent with higher laws that require all governors, like other administrative heads, to be elected.
[Additional reporting from Ismira Lutfia & Kinanti Pinta Karana.]