Yogyakarta

The Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, or DIY), is the smallest province of Indonesia (excluding Jakarta). It is located on the island of Java. Yogyakarta is the only province in Indonesia that is still governed by that area's precolonial monarchy; The Sultan of Yogyakarta serves as the elected governor of the province. In English it is pronounced /ˌdʒoʊɡdʒəˈkɑrtə which derives from its Dutch spelling Jogjakarta. In Javanese (and Dutch) it is pronounced[joɡjaˈkartɔ]. Named after the legendary Hindu city of Ayodhya, it is also referred to more casually as Jogja.

Geography

Yogyakarta is located in south-central Java. It is surrounded by the province of Central Java (Jawa Tengah) and the Indian Ocean in the south.

The population of DIY in 2003 was approximately 3,000,000. The province of Yogyakarta has a total area of 3,185.80 km². Yogyakarta has the second-smallest area of the provinces in Indonesia, after the Jakarta Capital Region. However it has, along with adjacent areas in Central Java, some of the highest population densities of Java.

History

The Yogyakarta Sultanate, formally the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, was formed in 1755 when the existing Sultanate of Mataram was divided by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in two under the Treaty of Giyanti. This treaty states that the Sultanate of Mataram was to be divided into the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat with Yogyakarta as the capital and Mangkubumi who became Sultan Hamengkubuwono I as its Sultan and the Sultanate of Surakarta Hadiningrat with Surakarta as the capital and Pakubuwono III who was the ruler of the Sultanate of Mataram as its Sultan. The Sultan Hamengkubuwono I spent the next 37 years building the new capital, with the Kraton as the centerpiece and the court at Surakarta as the blueprint model. By the time he died in 1792, his territory exceeded Surakarta's.

The ruler Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX (April 12, 1912 - 1988) held a degree from the Dutch Leiden University, and held for a time the largely ceremonial position of Vice-President of Indonesia, in recognition of his status, as well as Minister of Finance and Minister of Defense.

In support of Indonesia declaring independence from the Dutch and Japanese occupation, in September 5, 1945, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya and Sri Paku Alam VIII in Yogya declared their sultanates to be part of the Republic of Indonesia. The declaration is as follows:

"We, Hamengkubuwono IX, Sultan of the Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, declared:

1. That Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat function as a monarchy as a Special Territory of the Republic of Indonesia
2. That we as the Regional Head of Yogyakarta held control and power in the Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, and upon that cause in which the situation nowadays all government elements in the Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat from this moment is all under our control and with it too all other authorities we take over entirely.
3. That the connection between the Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat and the Central Government of the Republic of Indonesia is direct and we will only bear responsibility upon our Land directly to the President of the Republic of Indonesia.

We ordered that all residents of the Land of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat to heed our mandate.

Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, 28 Puasa, Ehe, 1876" (Javanese Calendar), Gregorian Date: 5 Sept 1945

In return for this support, the declaration of Special Authority over Yogyakarta was then granted fully in 1950.

By this act, Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX was appointed as governor for life. During the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch after World War II (1945-1950), the capital of the newly declared Indonesian republic was temporarily moved to Yogyakarta when the Dutch reoccupied Jakarta from January 1946 until August 1950.

The current ruler of Yogyakarta is his son, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who holds a law degree from Universitas Gadjah Mada. Upon the elder sultan's death, the position of governor, according to the agreement with Indonesia, was to pass to his heir. However, the central government at that time insisted on an election. In 1998, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X was elected as governor by the provincial house of representatives (DPRD) of Yogyakarta, defying the will of the central government. "I may be a sultan," he has been quoted in Asia Week as saying, "but is it not possible for me to also be a democrat?"

Administrative Divisions

Yogyakarta province is subdivided into four regencies (kabupaten) and one city (kota):

• Bantul Regency (506.86 km²)
• Gunung Kidul Regency (1,485.36 km²)
• Kulon Progo Regency (586.27 km²)
• Sleman Regency (574.82 km²)
• Yogyakarta City (32.5 km²)

Yogyakarta City

Jogjakarta City (also Jogja, Yogya, Jogjakarta) is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a center of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. It is also famous as a center for Indonesian higher education. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949.

The area of the city of Yogyakarta is 32.5 km². While the city sprawls in all directions from the kraton, the core of the modern city is to the north, centering around the site of a few buildings with distinctive Dutch colonial-era architecture and the contemporary commercial district. Jalan Malioboro, with rows of sidewalk vendors and nearby market and malls, is the primary shopping street for tourists in the city, while Jalan Solo, further north, is a shopping district more frequented by locals. At the southern end of Malioboro, on the east side is the large local market of Beringharjo, not far from Fort Vredeburg a restored Dutch fort.

At Yogyakarta's center is the kraton, or Sultan's palace. Surrounding the kraton is a densely populated residential neighborhood that occupies land that was formerly the Sultan's sole domain. Evidence of this former use remains in the form of old walls and the ruined Taman Sari, built in 1758 as a pleasure garden. No longer used by the sultan, the garden had been largely abandoned. For a time, it was used for housing by palace employees and descendants. Reconstruction efforts began in 2004, and an effort to renew the neighborhood around the kraton has begun. The site is a developing tourist attraction.

Arts and Culture

Yogyakarta is known for its silver work, leather puppets used for shadow plays (wayang kulit), and a unique style of making batik dyed fabric. It is also known for its vivid contemporary art scene. Yogyakarta is also known for its gamelan music, including the unique style Gamelan Yogyakarta, which developed in the courts.

Yogyakarta is also a haven for underground art. It is home to many independent filmmaking communities, independent musicians, performance artists, and visual artists. One underground community that is internationally reputable among art collectors but barely heard of within the country is the Taring Padi community in Bantul, which produces posters using a technique called cukil. daren kidul Dono Kerto Turi.

Museums

Due to the importance of Yogyakarta during the war of independence from the Dutch, there are numerous memorials and museums. Yogya Kembali, and Fort Vredeburg are two major museums of about 11 named in the city.

To the east of the town centre is a large air-force museum; as Indonesia was for a period in the Soviet sphere of influence this museum contains a number of vintage Russian aircraft not widely available for inspection in the NATO sphere of influence. The collection includes examples of the Mig 15 trainer (NATO designation Mongol), MiG 17 (Fresco), MiG 19 (Farmer), Mig 21 (Fishbed) and Tu16 (Badger), together with an assortment of American and British aircraft.

Transportation

Yogyakarta is served by Adisucipto International Airport which connects the city with some other major cities in Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, and Pontianak. It also connects the city with Singapore (operated by Garuda Indonesia) and Kuala Lumpur (operated by AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines).

The city is located on one of the two major railway lines across Java between Jakarta / Bandung and Surabaya. It has two passenger railway stations, Tugu Railway Station serves business and executive class trains while Lempuyangan Station serves economy class trains. Both stations are located in downtown Yogyakarta city.

The city has an extensive system of public city buses, and is a major destination for inter-city buses to elsewhere on Java or Bali, as well as taxis, andongs, and becaks. Motorbikes are by far the most commonly used personal transportation, but an increasing number of residents own automobiles.

Starting from early 2008, the city has operated a bus rapid transit system called Trans Jogja. This system is modeled after TransJakarta. But unlike Trans Jakarta, there is no particular lane for Trans Jogja buses, they run on main streets. Currently there are six lines of Trans Jogja service, with routes throughout main streets of Yogyakarta, which some overlap one another. The lines extend from Jombor bus station in the north as far as Giwangan main bus terminal in the south and Prambanan bus shelter in the east via Adisucipto International Airport. Trans Jogja has now become a new trademark of Yogyakarta and frequently used by local citizens and tourists alike.

In a recent forum discussion on long-term future transportation plans in Yogyakarta held in Universitas Gadjah Mada, Head of Yogyakarta region transportation master plan team, Prof Ahmad Munawar, said that, in 2016 various modern transport modes include monorail, aerobus, and tramwill begin operating in the city and the region.