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Direct relationship to Diponegoro is irrelevant. What matters is service: Carey
Ten years ago, then presidential candidate from the Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto, who is running for president for a third time this year, modeled himself after the national hero including disseminating campaign photos showing him riding a horse during campaign events.
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Celebration: British historian Peter Carey (left) speaks at the Urip iku Urub (Life is Light) book launch in Malang, East Java, in November 2018. He was accompanied by editor FX Domini BB Hera (center) and historian Kuncoro Hadi. The book was presented as a birthday gift for Carey, who turned 70 in April that year. (-/Nedi Putra AW)
In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan has portrayed himself as a devoted fan of historic Javanese general Prince Diponegoro, who was renowned for his leading role in the Java War, between 1825 and 1830.
Ten years ago, then presidential candidate from the Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto, who is running for president for a third time this year, modeled himself after the national hero including disseminating campaign photos showing him riding a horse during campaign events.
British historian Peter Carey, an expert on Diponegoro who has written the definitive English-language reference on the life and struggle of the Javanese prince, The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785-1855, spoke with The Jakarta Post and explained why a royal figure from two centuries ago still casts a spell over today's politicians. The following is an excerpt from the interview.
Question: What incited Prince Diponegoro's struggle against the Dutch?
Answer: The struggle was incited by the rapacious and disgusting way the Dutch behaved when they returned to Java in August 1816 and imposed exorbitant fiscal demands. Diponegoro’s leadership and struggle drew on that very real suffering created by the Dutch for the farmers and wong cilik (ordinary people) in the southern part of central Java. This was a socio-economic struggle for survival and dignity at the hands of a foreign oppressor.
How important is Prince Diponegoro in the story of Javanese heroism so that the two presidential candidates seem to really want to attach their image to him?
Diponegoro set us an example, particularly in his concern for the wong cilik and the dignity of the Javanese people. He was not perfect and did not pretend to be. He had a roving eye and enjoyed good South African wine (Constantia) but he was consistent to the end and never compromised or did deals with the Dutch, even though that cost him his family, his fortune and his freedom. So his legacy for us is a very strong one.
