Royal Realist

8/9/2019 Royal Realist

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ROYAL REALISTHH Hamengku Buwono X is an enigma in Indonesia. In a country that is a republic, he

retains his title of Sultan of Yogyakarta and is' also the elected governor of the Special

Region of Yogyakarta. He is highly respected by his people and admired for his efforts

in promoting the region as a centre for business, education and culture. However, on

27 May this year, his focus changed when an earthquake killed some 6,000 people

and left more than 600,000 homeless.

textDITRI KEMALA RIZKIphotosADAM GLEN

yfirst concern is the housing sector," the

Sultan explains when we meet him in his

spacious office in the palace compound.

The architecture is Dutch colonial and

the furniture is antique Javanese, with

paintings of country scenes and portraits of his ancestors. It is in

these rooms that he receives his guests, including many heads of

states from overseas. He is dressed today in a Western business

suit, but he is equally at home in batik or military drill when on the

road.

His manner is regal; he speaks firmly (with a slight

Javanese accent) and logically

sometimes he is famouslyoutspoken. His mind is methodical, well informed, ordered and,

although he has a very friendly manner, his messages are clear.

"The central government has the obligation to help rebuild

houses destroyed by the earthquake. That is now happening, but

it is taking time. According to a statement from Jakarta, they are

looking at some 206,000 houses. They say funds for this will

gradually be taken from the National Budget 2006-07. The first

phase will use about 20 per cent, which means only enough

money to rebuild 40,000 homes.

"We are not only talking about contracting, but how we

should design a working plan for people to form a cooperative

group to rebuild their own homes. We will provide assistance in

designing an earthquake-proof house, but we will leave the style

to them. But that will not be enough of course so, as a priority we

are trying to provide a base, column structure and roof that are

quake-proof. The walls can be added in later, or even plastic

could be used for the time being," he says.

"The first to get these will be the underprivileged who do

not have the money to start rebuilding. Many of these people are

still living in tents, which has been fine until now, but there will be

problems when the rainy season kicks in," he says."We shall concentrate firstly on the villages within

Yogyakarta," says the Sultan. "As a first phase, we shall build

those 40,000 homes with community involvement. For example,

10 people will build 10 homes. We are cal ling on gotongroyong

(the basic Indonesian concept of mutual cooperation and

self-help), all the while trying to minimise social resentment. We

will try to rebuild so that everyone can enjoy a better living

environment. If there was no water before, we will make a well.

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Inside the Palace Museum A wrecked sedan chair

"AS SULTAN, I CAN OFFER SUPPORT, GET PEOPLE TOGETHER AND HELP THEM

UNDERSTAND THIS WAS A NATURAL DISASTER THAT WAS NOBODY'S FAULT."

"Presidential Decree No. 9 Year 2006 stated that the

Governor is the executor and guarantor in the recoveryprocess. The earthquake made things confusing enough, so

with this, everything should go through only one channel. As

Sultan, I can offer support, get people together and, more

importantly, call on local wisdom, the gotong royongspirit of

harmony, to help them to understand this was a natural

disaster that has to be accepted as nobody's fault.

"With this in mind, I also want to inject new zest and

enthusiasm into the people. We pray together for those who

lost their homes or loved ones, but the cycle of life must

continue.

"My expectation is that my people will also be creat iveand not depend fully on others to donate funds because

these are limited. Therefore, the only way to survive is

through creativity and dynamic self-initiative."

THE PEOPLEIn the face of this disaster, the people of Yogyakarta have

given their Sultan reason to be proud.

"As I went around on the Sunday after the

earth-quake, I could see the trauma; I watched people sitting

on rattan mats, in a state of shock and depression. But only aday later, people were using their initiative in volunteering

to begin clearing the rubble. Then there was the help from

fellow Indonesians. People from Magelang, Wonosobo,Temanggung, Jawa Timur, Kediri and Madiun are still com-

ing to Yogya with food and the offer to help clear debris. All

for free. People from Kediri even erected an open kitchen for

the homeless. They are only small farmers. They are all truly

extraordinary people."

After housing, publ ic infrast ructure is the next prob -

lem, especially in the sectors of health and education. Water

has been restored as only secondary irrigation systems were

damaged. "With the current budget, however, we can only

repair half the elementary schools because the junior and

senior high schools are under the authority of the centralgovernment," the Sultan adds. "They will probably have to

use tents temporarily. And we have organised double

classes in the mornings and afternoons."

SINGLE POLICY"The one-door policy will link every sector and government

department. We shall set up an information flow through IT,

which can be read by anyone. Therefore, if there is non-

governmental aid coming in, it will be a simple procedure,

clear and transparent. Interested parties can channel their

donations to whichever sector they wish to help .

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"For international institutions, it will be the same a

one-door policy; it will not be like Aceh. Each NGO brings its

own funding and makes its own tender. When the project

houses were built in Aceh, they just left, without caring

whether the houses would in fact be used or not. Here in

Yogya, that will not happen."

COORDINATION

"When a disaster occurs, there is difficulty among all

departments of the central and local governments, andwithin NGOS and help from abroad. It is unbelievably

difficult," says the Sultan.

"Now, with my experience after the May earthquake,

I think Indonesia as a whole (remember the whole country

lies on fault lines) needs to establish a Rescue Task Force

Institution, which would be able to mobilise all emergency

action on a central and provincial level. And this should

apply also to floods, landslides and volcano eruptions. This

Institution should be able to leap into instant action to help

people.

"As for foreign help/their rescue units' first job was tohelp victims on the ground. Then they built emergency

hospitals for the injured. I asked them to do this, and all t he

while we had to take into account the possibility of more

destructive aftershocks.

"For example, some Malaysians came to the rescue

of an old lady buried under some concrete. The locals were

trying to hack it away, but the relief team had the equipment

and got her out in no time. Practical things like this as we

have no experience in speedy rescue procedures.

"As we look around the greater Yogya area, the ap-

proach is different and there is a good and bad side to this.The good side is that the victims who do not want to leave

their destroyed homes have set up tents near them, therefore

looting has been rare during the disaster. My friends who

came to help were surprised to be served tea, and they were

impressed by how appreciative the people were. A bond

grew, just by their being able to say thank you in person.

"Many of the people were living in refugee shelters,

but the rest were scattered in 100,000 tents, so the distri-

bution system was tedious because we had to go door-to-

door; if people had all been concentrated in the refugee

tents, it would have been a much easier task. We had to

(and still have to) provide t rucks, first for the city and then

the mountain areas. We also had to use helicopters th ere to

fly in food.

"Donations were gratefully accepted, but most of it

was instant noodles, rice and blankets," explains the

Sultan. "What was also needed were necessities for women

and children. So it became my wife's responsibility to

provide these beginning from underwear, bras and

sanitary pads to toothbrushes, sarongs and other things.

We either bought them or asked friends to donate, so

money could go elsewhere.

"I felt rather awkward at first, but when I told my friendRudy about the problem, he said not to say any more; he

immediately sent six trucks with women's sanitary needs.

"It is worthwhile for NGOs and foreign governments

to know that while blankets and rice are important, I have

the authority to ask BULOG to take out 100 tonnes of rice for

disaster relief. Therefore, what happened was t hat when the

people received the 10-kg rice distribution, they sold it

because they still had rice left in their shattered homes.

"Another touchy problem was that young married

couples had no privacy in one-room tents, so there was

some embarrassment. Tents with separate rooms would bemuch better," smiles the Sultan.

POLITICS

Politics and politicians have always been sensitive subjects

for the Sultans of Yogyakarta. Sultan Hamengku Buwono is

at once territorial and philosophical.

"It is the local government's duty to assist the

community, therefore politicians from Jakarta should not

interfere," he says. "But if a political party wants to help, wewill accept by all means. But I would not allow them to hoist

their party's flag while they do it.

"My expectation is that when we are talking about a

disaster, please talk in the name of humanity, don't scare

people with anything else whether it be politics, special

interests or religion."

HELP

Things are progressing, but Yogyakarta is still in dire need

of help. The Sultan is very clear and precise

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"I will accept help in any form with open arms. I cannot

specifically point to one item because we have an obligation to

ensure recovery in all areas. The most important thing is that

tourists from Indonesia and abroad should feel safe in coming

back to Jogja. While the earthquake was disastrous, it affected

less than 15 per cent of Jogja's total area."

He adds a word about another simmering problem, as if

the area needs more troubles. But nearby Mount Merapi has been

threatening, if not to erupt, then certainly it has been letting off

steam.

"Merapi will never explode totally; there might be an

eruption, but that would only affect about 10 km beyond that

(and that includes the city) is safe.

"We would also like to see conventions and meetings here in

Jogja," adds the Sultan. "Four hotels are being renovated; the

Sheraton suffered the most damage; the Ibis, Melia and Jayakarta

were slightly damaged; and the Novotel is already back in

business. But our people are working very hard to make sure

convention, meeting and exhibition spaces have been repaired to

full capacity."

FUTURE"After the earthquake, made efforts to set up an investment

scheme where, if we invest one point, we should not only achieve

a profit of 1.5 points, but three points; even better if it is five points.

"We are focussing on the technology sector with the aim of

being the leader in the implementation of standardisation from raw

materials to finished items produced in Yogyain order to have a

higher price tag. For example, furniture export from Yogya is about

30 to 40 containers a month. But don't forget we get many

complaints such as poor quality, especially with cracking. The

Ministry for Small and Medium Enterprises cannot invest in

technology, so we do hands-on investment in things like kilns, sowood will be dry before being processed and exported, thus

avoiding cracks."

The Sultan is buoyant and optimistic about the future of his

province and people. Good things (such as earthquake-proof

houses) will come out of this disaster. Yogyakarta will recover and

move on.

"In Yogya, there is a saying," muses the Sultan. "To lose

our wealth is nothing. If we lose our life, a part of ourselves is gone.

But if we lose our dignity, then we have lost everything." A

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