I

t is simply beyond our imagination to let the Yogyakarta sultanate, as one of the oldest living monarchies in the country, crumble in the wake of modernism. For some, the existence of the sultanate may look anachronistic in democratic Indonesia, but history showcases undisputed evidence of the city'€™s contribution to the country'€™s advancement of freedom, diversity and equality.

People of the city have been embroiled in a thorny issue that has clearly created a divide after Sultan Hamengkubuwono X made a bold, if not revolutionary, move that many consider a gross violation of the centuries-old tradition and beliefs that founded the sultanate. The controversy will also give the central government a new headache as the sultan'€™s decision to appoint his eldest daughter, GKR Pembayun, the crown princess will require amendments to the 2012 Yogyakarta Special Status Law.

On one hand, revising the law to accommodate the sultan'€™s wishes will pit political brokers in Jakarta against those who aspire to keep the Yogyakarta sultanate as it is. On the other hand, turning a blind eye to the sultan'€™s initiatives constitutes Jakarta'€™s irresponsibility. The central government, through the Home Ministry, is mandated to supervise and guide regional governments to work in harmony to achieve national interests and protect national unity.

Indeed in the eyes of the rest of the royal family, the sultan has broken the rules. He gives up his ancestral title as Kalifatullah, roughly the equivalent of a British king or queen'€™s title of Defender of the Faith, and alters his name to Hamengkubawono (linguists say bawono and buwono similarly mean '€œuniverse'€ but the former is not gender-biased), so as to allow his daughter to assume power. If the Yogyakarta special status is intact she will succeed her father as the governor.

Whether the sultan'€™s move signals his desperation because having no son would force him to relinquish his power to his brothers or one of his half-brothers, is open to interpretation. But, like it or not, the sultan has instigated an overhaul of the Yogyakarta governance system.

Perhaps the reforms he introduced can rival his move to hold a public gathering back in 1998 in which he delivered a landmark speech to demand then president Soeharto to step down while others lacked the guts to do so.

Looking on the bright side of the sultan'€™s decision to allow a woman to take the lead is a global phenomenon that no one can resist. Democratic Indonesia once had a female president and is a fertile ground for women leaders.
Yogyakarta is and should not be an exception. Moreover, there was a precedent in Aceh, where a sultana or female sultan ruled in the 17th century.

Now that the sultan has relinquished his religious attribution as an Islamic spiritual leader, he has put an end to Islamic identification of the Yogyakarta kingdom, which indeed is an encouraging development given Yogyakarta'€™s plural society.

The wheel of change will keep rolling in Yogyakarta. Who knows if the monarchy'€™s submission of its executive power will be the city'€™s next agenda of reforms.