YOGYAKARTA (pronounced "Jogjakarta"
and often just shortened to "Jogja")
ranks as one of the best preserved
and most attractive cities in Java,
and is a major centre for the
classical
Javanese arts of
batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry
and puppet shows. At its heart is
Yogya's first family, the
Hamengkubuwonos, whose elegant
palace lies at the centre of Yogya's
quaint old city, the
Kraton ,
itself concealed behind high
castellated walls. Tourists flock
here, attracted not only by the
city's courtly splendour but also by
the nearby temples of
Prambanan
and
Borobudur , so there are
more hotels in Yogya than anywhere
else in Java and, unfortunately, a
correspondingly high number of
touts, pickpockets and con artists.
Yogyakarta grew out of the dying
embers of the once-great Mataram
dynasty. In 1752, the Mataram
empire, then based in nearby Solo,
was in the throes of the Third
Javanese War of Succession. The
reigning susuhunan, Pakubuwono
II , had been steadily losing
power in the face of a rebellion by
his brothers, Singasari and
Mangkubumi, and the sultan's nephew,
Mas Said. To try to turn the tide,
Pakubuwono persuaded Mangkubumi to
swap sides and defend the court,
offering him control over three
thousand households within the city
in return. Mangkubumi agreed, but
the sultan later reneged on the
deal. In fury, Mangkubumi headed off
to establish his own court. Thus
Yogyakarta was born, and Mangkubumi
crowned himself Sultan
Hamengkubuwono I . He spent the
next 37 years building the new
capital, with the Kraton as the
centrepiece and the court at Solo as
the blueprint. By the time he died
in 1792, his territory exceeded
Solo's. After his death, however,
the Yogya sultanate went into
freefall and spent most of the
nineteenth century concentrating on
artistic pursuits rather than
warmongering. In 1946, the capital
of the newly declared Republic of
Indonesia was moved to Yogya from
Jakarta, and the Kraton became the
unofficial headquarters for the
republican movement. With the
financial and military support of Sultan
Hamengkubuwono IX , Yogya became
the nerve centre for the native
forces. Today, over fifty years on
from the War of Independence, the
royal household of Yogya continues
to enjoy almost slavish devotion
from its subjects and the current
sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, is one of
the most influential politicians in
the country.
