Slamet Susanto and Sri Wahyuni, Klaten/Yogyakarta – Protesters demanded on Tuesday that Surakarta's special status be restored – and that the regency be separated from Central Java.
More than a hundred members of the Community for Surakarta's Special Region (KMP DIS) made their demands at ritual offering held at Prambanan temple on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java.
The ritual was held by presenting six tumpeng (cone-shaped rice served with side dishes) to be blessed and eaten by demonstrators and passersby.
"Through this ritual we want to remind the central government to restore the special status of Surakarta," event organizer Tumenggung Hadi Nagoro said.
KMP DIS coordinator Soetardji expressed a similar sentiment, saying that their demands were not baseless. Surakarta's special status had previously been acknowledged historically and legally, he said.
Legal acknowledgment, according to Soetardji, came in the form of a Sept. 1, 1945, announcement by Surakarta Sultan Pakubuwono XII that stated that the sultanate was a special region within the Republic of Indonesia.
Additional acknowledgement, he said, was given by a Sept. 19, 1945, presidential charter affirming Pakubuwono's announcement and the Aug. 19, 1945, presidential charter proclaiming Pakubuwono and Mangkunegoro VIII the leaders of the special region.
"Surakarta played an important role in the birth of the Republic of Indonesia. It did not just sacrifice land. Pakubuwono VI even died in the war for independence," Soetardji said.
Surakarta was the first kingdom to acknowledge Indonesian independence and did so on Sept. 1, 1945 – four days earlier than Yogyakarta, Soetardji said. The special status for Surakarta demanded by the group was different from that held by Yogyakarta, he said.
Yogyakarta's Sultan and Paku Alam were automatically proclaimed governor and vice governor, he said, adding that "the special status of Surakarta that we're demanding is for the authority to manage and preserve Javanese culture and to make the palace a center of Javanese culture."
Protesters also demanded that a new province be created including seven regencies that are currently part of Central Java: Surakarta (also known as Solo), Sragen, Klaten, Boyolali, Karanganyar, Sukoharjo and Wonogiri.
"We have confidence that with the authority of a separate province, we will be able to increase our wealth without leaving behind our own traditions," Soetardji said.
State administration expert A.A.G.N. Ari Dwipayana of Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences said he doubted that Surakarta could easily reclaim its special status.
"Constitutionally, it's possible – but it would be very tough. [Surakarta] underwent a different historical process," Ari told The Jakarta Post.
Four regions were acknowledged as autonomous after Indonesian independence: Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Bone and Deli, Ari said. Surakarta, Bone and Deli had to deal with a social revolutions due to anti-feudalism and nationalist movements between 1945 and 1946, he said.
For security, a central government representative was sent to Surakarta, which was later incorporated into Central Java province.
"Only Yogyakarta did not face the same challenge thanks to the intelligence of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX in anticipating the same movement through a democratic administration and his dynamic political role at the national level," Ari said.