5 Myths about Surakarta Sultanate: DEBUNKED!

08 May 2021

Welcome to another entry of the 5 Myths Debunked series! This week, we are going to talk about Surakarta Sultanate. Do you know what Surakarta Sultanate is? Well, it won’t be a surprise if you guys have zero ideas about what—or who this sultanate is. The Surakarta Sultanate was once a powerful sultanate, like many others before Dutch East Indies existed. It had a significant role in creating the Yogyakarta Sultanate (and some history with the Mataram Sultanate). Surakarta is like a brother of Yogyakarta Below are five myths about Kasunan Surakarta!

  1. Ruled by a Sultan

Don’t worry if you get this wrong. People will assume a sultanate is ruled by a sultan due to its name. But in Indonesian, the name of Surakarta Sultanate is actually Kasunanan Surakarta, so I guess it makes sense. But oh well, if you are the Sultan, you can do anything, right? The Surakarta Sultanate is ruled by a Sunan. The current sunan is Pakubuwono XIII.

  1. Part of Yogyakarta in Modern Days 

Perhaps you need a better history teacher! Surakarta and Yogyakarta are two different sultanates. Although their origin is the same, they both came from Mataram Sultanate. The reason the Mataram Sultanate was split into two different sultanates was because of the Treaty of Giyanti. The eastern side of Mataram became Kasunanan Surakarta headed by Pakubuwono III (the King of Mataram), while the western side was ruled by Mangkubumi and became Kesultanan Yogyakarta (Mangkubumi was the brother of Pakubuwono II).

  1. Lost its sovereignty because of the Dutch

Well, this one is neither hard nor easy. So, if you get this one wrong, it’s OK, you’ll still have a lot to learn about our history. Surakarta Sultanate was like Yogyakarta in the present day. Back in 1945, the sultanate had its own region in the realm of Indonesia. It was an autonomous region like Yogyakarta. But because of an incident in the keraton that killed Patih Sosrodiningrat, anti-monarchy movement started to rise. So, it wasn’t the Dutch and the central government that took the sovereignty of Surakarta; instead, it’s the people.

  1. The Royal Family is Gone

Really? Another mistake from you? Their power was gone, but the royal family still existed (Long Live the Royals! Wait… do you guys know the show? Long Live the Royals? No? OK.) In fact, there are many royal families from the sultanates era that still exist within Indonesia. Although they don’t have any power, they are still being respected as the Sultan or part of the royal family.

  1. The Sunan cannot vote in an election.

You might think like this because of the news that Queen Elizabeth II cannot vote in the election. Queen Elizabeth II and Pakubuwono XIII have different powers over their region. Also, there is no mention about a sultan cannot vote in pemilu or pilkada in our constitution!

Those are five myths about Surakarta Sultanate or Kasunan Surakarta in Indonesian. Even though it doesn’t have the same power as the Yogyakarta Sultanate in the realm of the Republic of Indonesia, the royal family still exists, and so does their culture. As Indonesians, we should learn the sultanates’ history because they are the foundation of our nation and provinces. The next in the 5 Myths Debunked series will be a province. Can you guess what province it is? I’ll give a hint; the region is known for the flood. See you in the next episode!

Editor: Clara Nathania

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Handiko Wijaya