Javanese Court Society and Politics in the Late Eighteenth Century: the Record of a Lady Soldier

JAVANESE COURT SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: THE RECORD OF A LADY SOLDIER PART II: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS : THE COURTS AND THE COMPANY, 1784-1791* Ann Kumar The diary provides an extensive record of the political developments which took place in Surakarta over these years. Its information is not, however, presented as a continuous narrative, and the author never supplies a resume of previous events; nor does she set her narrative within a framework of political theory. It therefore often appears cryptic to an outsider, and more so on those occasions where it is clear that the diarist herself was not party to the political strategies of all those involved in the developments unfolding as she wrote. Even MangkunSgara himself, with whom the diarist was closest, may at times have had reason to be less than frank and open with her about his intentions. Nevertheless, the general trend of developments in the different relationships involved could not be kept secret, and angry interviews and hurried nocturnal consultations did not escape the notice of the court abdi (retainers). It is clear too that MangkunSgara liked to maintain the morale of his followers by keeping them informed of any political gain he felt he had made, or any stand he took for what he believed was right. Because of the sometimes artless, sometimes summary, style of the diarist, and the sparseness of her interpretative comment, the present writer has found it essential to use the letters of V.O .C. officials, reporting on the political developments they saw, to fill in the lacunae and elucidate the way in which a linked series of events unfolded in Surakarta over this period: on their own, the entries of the diary often appear as a series of not obviously connected stills, like the changing pictures of a bio scope. The material of the diary has not been amalgamated with that from the V.O .C. archives, however: the testimony of the diarist is presented in italics followed by the data from V.O.C. archives and the present writer's comments and explanations. By this separation, it is hoped that the reader may be able to form some idea of the perceptions of the two sides of a particular political and cultural encounter, and to see where they diverge and where they coincide. It should be noted that only entries dealing with political events of major importance have been included, and that many others, noting less important "political" events, 1 have * Part I of this article appeared in Indonesia, 29 (April 1980), pp. 1-46. The diary, written by a "lady scribe and soldier" at the court of MangkunSgara I , covers the period 1781-91. The manuscript is KITLV Or [Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Oriental Ms.] No. 231 of the collection of the Insti tute at Leiden. All references to the diary (which comprises 303 large double pages) will only cite the relevant page number, with L or R to signify the left or right side of the double page. 1. Omission of this detail weakens, however, the impression that the diary gives of a fairly high level of political turbulence: see below p. 109. 67 68 been omitted in the interests of brevity and relative coherence of presentation. Developments are presented in simple chronological order, as they occur in the diary. Initially, it had seemed that a better analytical perspective might be achieved by analyzing the different relationships involved—between the Mangku- nSgaran and the Pakubuwanan houses, between the Pakubuwanan and the V .O .C ., between the MangkunSgaran and Yogyakarta, etc.—under separate headings, but this separation was impossible to maintain, for developments (or even expected developments) in one relationship clearly very much affected the balance of others. * * * Prelude The first entry dealing with political affairs of major importance occurs under Slasa-Pon 26 Sapar 1710 AJ [Tuesday, January 20, 1784 AD] recording that the Dutch Resident [F. C. van Straalendorff] grave MangkunSgara a letter from the Governor of the northeast coast [Johannes Siberg], promising him the V.O .C.'s protection both for himself and for his descendants provided they remained allies of the Company. 2 Furthermore, MangkunSgara was promised the succession to the throne of Mataram3 4 if the Sultan should die. In the events of 1790-91, an alleged undertaking by Siberg that MangkunSgara would become ruler of Yogyakarta if the first Sultan predeceased him was to be a major factor in the maneuvers of the different parties. This record in the diary supports the interpretation that MangkunSgara, at least, genuinely believed that such an undertaking had been made by a representative of the V.O.C. As regards the second part of the entry, it is noticeable how, even outside times of crisis or of succession to the throne, the MangkunSgaran was very conscious of the prox imity of Yogyakarta. There are a number of entries in the diary reporting the presence of Mataram "sp ies,"1* presumably with a reciprocal interest in Surakarta. In Puasa 1712 [July 1786] "letters from Mecca" arrived in the mosques of Sala, Pranaraga, and Patiyaniman [??]. These were "Arabic letters calling on the for getful to come to their senses,"5 and were "suppressed"6 by the Sunan. The diarist's entry on these admonitory letters is unfortunately very brief— unfortunately, because it tells us only enough to know that these letters must have been in the same vein as two which were discovered in Surakarta nearly eighteen months later, and which caused Greeve, Siberg's successor as Governor of the northeast coast, a great deal of concern on account of their political implications. 7 2. 31R. It was this same letter, as reported by the diarist, which exempted MangkunSgara from observing the awisan: see Part I, p. 38. 3. The two major successor states to the former kingdom of Mataram are usually known as the Sunanate of Surakarta and the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. Because Yogyakarta was situated in the region of Mataram, however, it inherited the old name, which is often used by the diarist. She also uses the toponym Sala (pronun ciation and modern spelling Solo) much more frequently than the official designa tion Surakarta to refer to the kraton (nSgri sala), its ruler (prabu sala) and his people (wong sala). 4. "tSlik m a ta ra m see, for example, 68R, 169R, 211L. 5. "surat arab ingkang lali kinen emut" (81L). 6. "sinilSp" (ibid .). 7. See Greeve to Batavia, January 1, 1788, in Koloniaal Archief [henceforth KA] 69 Greeve's two letters purport to be from a king who is "from Mecca" but has a Javanese title (Susuhunan Ayunjaya Adimurti Senapati Ingalaga) and who will come soon and displace the present king of Sala. The latter is described as dishonoring his royal and priestly forbears, being himself nothing less than the Devil's king, a rebel against God and the angels, an enemy of his country, one who gives no good law, and in whose land food and clothing are expensive and rain scarce. The let ters comment sharply on the present ruler's alliance with the Europeans ("A King of the Europeans, you please God no more; it is finished with you; get out, you apostate from the Faith!") and deride his reliance upon them. ("Shall the Euro peans, then, indeed be more powerful than God?") They are couched in esoteric terminology and make reference to omens such as rainbows of different colors. There is a gap of some eighteen months between the letters reported by the diarist and those reported by V .O .C . officials: the diarist mentions no later letters, the V.O.C. officials no earlier ones. Were they the same letters? It is unlikely that they would have remained in circulation for so long, especially if, as the dia rist claims, the Sunan wished to suppress them. It seems more probable that the phenomenon of prophetic, warning letters was more widespread than the V.O.C. was aware: Arabic letters posted in mosques were not likely to come to the atten tion of the Dutch representation, especially since it was then led by the highly un reliable and self-interested Palm. The circumstance that the letters reported by the diarist were posted in the fasting-month lends support to this supposition, for this was the time of year when a devout Muslim could be expected to call on his co religionists to remember their religious duties. The evidence of the diary also shows that such letters were posted as mosques in places outside the capital (one of them in a region, Pranaraga, where MangkunSgara's sons held appanages). Finally, the Sunan's suppression of the earlier letters suggests that they too were unflattering in their description of his rule. In the same month, Raden Mas Kareta, half-brother of Mangkunttgara and father of Wirakusuma, returned to Sala from exile. 8 As we shall see, these relatives of MangkunSgara, and particularly Wirakusuma, were shortly to achieve importance through the actions of the Crown Prince, heir to Pakubuwana III. At the end of the month of Dulkaidah 1712 AJ [late September 1786] 160 Yogya- karta soldiers from two prajurit corps visited Sala and gave bSksa performances for the Sunan, as well as in the Dutch loji [factory]. 9 After the death of the Dutch (First) Resident Palm in 1789, the Sunan's court made serious complaints to Governor Greeve about Palm's behavior, which are dis cussed below. Among the numerous grievances listed was that Palm had compelled the kraton to receive a dance-party from Yogyakarta.10 3708, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie Overgekomen Berichten [henceforth VOCOB], 1789, where a Dutch translation or paraphrase of the letters is appended.

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