S

ultan Hamengkubuwono X may likely be busy in the next five years to smoothen the transition of a female sultan taking over the reins in the Yogyakarta customary sultanate.

Tuesday officially marked Hamengkubuwono entering his 19th year as Yogyakarta governor, as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated him in a ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta.

Under the 2012 law on Yogyakarta’s special status, the sultan is the ex-official governor of Yogyakarta, unlike in other provinces where the governors are elected.

Hamengkubuwono has benefitted from a recent Constitutional Court ruling that paves the way for his daughter to become a Yogyakarta governor, and subsequently take the sultanate’s throne, in an issue that has not only divided the Yogyakarta royal family for years, but also Yogyakartans.

However, many see the ruling as not automatically allowing his first daughter GKR Mangkubumi to take over as sultana since the 2012 law still recognizes “Hamengkubuwono” as the royal title of the Yogyakarta sultanate’s leader. Hamengkubuwono is traditionally a male name.

Revising the wording is considered crucial to allow the female lineage of the royal family to take the throne, which subsequently will let a female successor sit as its governor, said Bayu Dardias, an expert on Indonesia’s customary kingdoms from Gadjah Mada University.

Bayu predicted Hamengkubuwono would maintain his work as both Yogyakarta royal leader and governor while working out all possible legal frameworks to support the idea of having the first ever sultana in more than two centuries.

“In the next five years [as a governor], preparing the legal and procedural framework will likely be a priority [of Hamengkubuwono],” Bayu told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The Constitutional Court ruled last month in favor of the royal servants of the Yogyakarta Palace, who filed a judicial review petition challenging the 2012 law last year amid internal conflict within the Yogyakarta royal family and opposition from the sultan’s brothers.

The ruling annulled a provision which initially stipulated that Yogyakarta’s gubernatorial candidates should present a curriculum vitae outlining, among others, the records of their wife, that according to the plaintiffs implied patriarchal domination.

In their arguments in the judicial review case, the government did not lean toward certain sides, but said it had no intention to intervene in the sultanate’s tradition, nor determine who is eligible for taking the throne. The government also signaled that it would support any future changes in the law, saying that it needs to be “discussed in a wise manner to reach a just consensus.”

The House of Representatives, however, had failed to present their arguments in time before the deadline set by the bench, prompting the court to waive considering their notion.

Backed with Parampara Praja, a team of eight advisers, including former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, the Sultan has the advantage in revising the law with the support of experts “who are ready to help him,” said Bayu.

Hamengkubuwono, who is entering his 28th year as sultan, has five daughters and no son. But, Hamengkubuwono claimed that he had not yet started discussing the succession following the Constitutional Court ruling.

“In truth, I do not want to retire yet and so we have not talked about it. However, a governor is a public official that is part of the nation and should not be limited by gender,” the sultan said after his inauguration at the State Palace on Tuesday.