A portrait of Javanese general Prince Diponegoro, painted by renowned artist Basoeki Abdullah. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
JAKARTA: Javanese Muslim general and national hero Prince Diponegoro has been dead for almost two centuries now, but the legendary stories about his heroism, especially during the Java War, have continued to resonate with many Indonesians.
For obvious reasons. The five-year war that he waged against the Dutch between 1825 and 1830 almost bankrupted the occupying government and the consequences from the war were deemed responsible for the brutal Cultivation System that was imposed by the colonial government.
Historians have also argued that it was Diponegoro's Java War that served as the impetus for Indonesia's nationalism and the general struggle against Dutch colonialism culminating in the country's Declaration of Independence in 1945.
For the ordinary Javanese he was seen as a messiah figure, hellbent on liberating the common man from the yoke of colonialism and his use of Islam as a rallying call made him the ideal Muslim figure that politicians from the past and present have tried to emulate.
In the past two decades, the prince's name has been mentioned a lot, especially during election seasons.
Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto has made no secret about his admiration for Diponegoro and has made efforts to paint himself as his successor.
When he first ran for president in 2014, with his nationalist rhetoric and his penchant for riding a horse during campaign events, Prabowo tried to project an image that he was the rightful heir to the Javanese hero.
In a short film produced by Prabowo's campaign team and released nine years ago titled Prabowo: Sang Patriot (Prabowo: The Patriot) it was proposed that Prabowo’s father, former economy minister Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was the descendant of two individuals who assisted Diponegoro during the Java War.
British history professor and an expert on Diponegoro Peter Carey lends credence to Prabowo's efforts to connect himself to the Javanese prince.
Carey said Prabowo’s mother, Dora Sigar, was a descendant of one of the Manadonese commanders named Benjamin Tomas Sugar, who served under Gen Hendrik Markus De Kock, a Dutch general who was assigned to arrest Diponegoro in March 1830 in Magelang.
Carey said that Sumitro even joked about the fact that his and Dora’s ancestors were on different sides in the Java War.
“So the history of the Java War cuts both ways in Prabowo’s family,” Peter said in an interview with The Jakarta Post.
“But, I think that who we are related to is irrelevant. All of us have to do the work ourselves.”
These days, Prabowo has done away with his heroic strongman image and his campaign team portray him as chubby, fun politician who likes to dance.
The work of tending Diponegoro's legacy has now fallen into the hands of presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, who runs on an opposition platform.
Anies, former education minister who in 2015 was on hand when the Dutch government returned a much-coveted Diponegoro relic, his chakra-tipped staff, has recently made his admiration of the Javanese hero public.
In September Anies along with his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, visited the prince's grave in Makassar in September.
“Prince Diponegoro was an inspiration for the people's struggle. When he fought, it not only inspired his troops but also all the people of Java at that time, to choose to be part of the resistance movement," Anies said, as quoted by Antara.
In recent weeks, Anies' campaign team has doubled down on the candidate's professed love for Diponegoro.
In two videos uploaded to his YouTube channel, Anies claims that there are lots of events in his life that link him with Diponegoro.
Anies says that his Javanese-style joglo house in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, originated from an Islamic boarding school in Tegalsari, Ponorogo, East Java, where Diponegoro once went for his Quranic studies.
“This joglo is from 1743 and the prince was born in the 1780s. So about 50 years after the joglo was built, he studied under its roof,” Anies said in the video.
At the centre of a wall backgrounding a large table in the middle of the house, Anies has installed a batik painting of Diponegoro's portrait drawn by West Javanese painter Rosid, which often serves as a backdrop for the candidate's political speeches and interviews.
Anies further shows off his admiration for the Javanese prince by planting a sapodilla tree, a sign of all Javanese who consider themselves supporters of the prince, in front of his house.
In another video, Anies talks at length about his role in representing President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who was on a foreign trip, when accepting Diponegoro's staff as well as responding to speculation that he was dismissed from his ministerial position simply because he did not inform the President about the receipt of such a historic relic, which many Javanese believe carries magical powers.
The staff, also a walking cane, had been kept for more than a century by the descendants of Jean Chretien Baud, the Netherlands Indies governor-general from 1834 to 1839. Baud obtained the cane as a gift from Prince Notoprojo, who joined Diponegoro in the Java war but later defected to the Dutch side.
"It was a top secret mission and the staff was sought after by many collectors [...] the President was overseas so I officially accepted the staff on behalf of the President," Anies said.
Political analyst of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Wasisto Raharjo Jati said historical relics from Diponegoro had no intrinsic value in themselves and that political candidates capitalised on ideas among the people that charisma and leadership qualities could be inherited from bygone figures.
Wasisto also said that politicians exploited their alleged ties to Diponegoro because the prince was once widely regarded among Javanese as a Satria Piningit, a Javanese term for a messianic figure who is expected to bring prosperity to his people.
“The image [of Prince Diponegoro as a Satria Piningit] is what Anies and Prabowo are trying to attach to themselves,” Wasis said.
“That's symbolic personification. The candidates try to portray themselves as certain figures.”
Meanwhile British historian Carey, who wrote Diponegoro's biography The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785-1855 said that without doubt Diponegoro’s concern for the wong cilik (common people) made him a role model for politicians.
“He was not perfect and did not pretend to be. But he was consistent to the end and never compromised or did deals with the Dutch,” Carey said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
