Gadjah Mada University (UGM) expressed readiness on Wednesday to act as a facilitator to unite the ideas of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X regarding the bill on Yogyakarta’s special status.
UGM Rector Sudjarwadi said that philosophically the two figures had the same view regarding who would best suit the leadership post in Yogyakarta.
“Both also have the same key words in practicing democracy, i.e. ‘ask the people’,” Sudjarwadi said Wednesday.
Even the sultanate’s slogan for the people that the late Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX applied was basically the essence of democracy, he added.
The problem is the two leaders have yet to find a meeting point to implement the same philosophy, namely in the form of an agreed bill on Yogyakarta special status to be approved into law for the benefit of the people of Yogyakarta and the country, Sudjarwadi said.
“We are ready, upon request, to provide a proposal on the best instrument to deal with the dispute through a consultative process with both President Yudhoyono and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X,” he said.
The university had set up teams to review the matter from historical, sociological and other perspectives regarding leadership in Yogyakarta, Sudjarwadi added. “All will discuss the matter together to come up with a collective view.”
The instrument to be proposed will be a synergized combination between the President’s ideas and the Sultan’s, which are visionary and based on tangible and optimal benefits, he said, adding that the instrument would be finalized by a joint policy signed by both figures.
“Of course the people’s aspirations and the decision of the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council regarding the matter will also support thoughts to merge both figures’ ideas,” he said.
The Yogyakarta palace, Pakualaman principality and community figures have expressed readiness for dialogue with the central government.
The Sultan’s younger brother, GBPH Yudhaningrat, expressed hope that such a joint forum would be able to come up with an agreed concept regarding the special status for the benefit of the people of Yogyakarta in particular, and the country as a whole.
Yudhaningrat, who is also the palace’s defense commander, said that unless the aspirations of the palace and the Yogyakarta people were heard, the law on special status would be a misappropriation that could possibly give rise to new problems.
UGM’s readiness to help settle the dispute was not the first assistance it has offered.
A team led by late political expert Afan Gaffar once delivered a draft bill for deliberation in the provincial legislative council.
A different team from the State Administrative Department (JIP) of the UGM School of Social and Political Science later did the same and came up with another draft to be presented as input for the Home Affairs Ministry in preparing for the bill.
Team member Ari Dwipayana said the team also met with Sultan Hamengkubuwono X for input and consultation. The term “parardya”, which the team once adopted in the bill for the institution where the Sultan and Paku Alam would be positioned in the provincial administration structure, was inspired by the Sultan’s explanations.
“But at that time the Sultan was not in a capacity to either confirm or reject the concept. He said he would let the central government decide,” Ari said.
