PKB supports Sultan for governor over political neutrality

The head of the Nation Awakening Party (PKB), Marwan Jafar, said his party supported the aspiration to automatically place Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as governor of Yogyakarta, but the sultan was expected to give up his political preference.

“The sultan is expected to be politically neutral. He must be able to stand above all political factions in order to be able to claim the governor’s seat,” Marwan said on Tuesday.

To this date, even though the sultan is seen everywhere wearing the blue jacket of the National Democrats, a mass organization that he co-founded with media mogul Surya Paloh, he is still registered as member of the Golkar Party.

The controversy surrounding Sultan Hamengkubuwono’s place in the future structure of Yogyakarta’s administration was first raised by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who said the country’s democratic system acknowledged no royal blood status.

After that, Minister of Home Affairs Gamawan Fauzi moved forward by proposing the idea of maintaining the sultan as king on the sole condition that he relinquish his gubernatorial seat. This idea directly sparked protests from dozens of Yogyakarta residents, who said the sultan’s unique position as both the king and governor was among those signs that marked the region’s special status.