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Anyone with but the flimsiest knowledge
of Indonesia will know the pivotal role Yogyakarta has played. In
culture, in rebellion, in battling invaders the Kraton has been at the
heart of the Javanese story. And Stamford Raffles is a man forever
linked with Singapore despite the fact he spent much longer on Java than
he did on the fledgling island state. He also spent 5 years on Penang
and from there he cast envious glances at the long narrow island that
lay beneath the equator, seeing it as vital to British interests in the
East.
He formulated a plan to bring the island
under British control, kicking out the French in the process and sailed
to Calcutta to convince the great and good, his paymasters there. His
enthusiasm got them on board and in 1810 he sailed for Melaka to
assemble the forces needed for such an operation as well as develop the
human intelligence vital to the success of the mission. That he spoke
the language and was sympathetic to the locals was in his favour and for
several months he intrigued from the historic port on the Malay
peninsular.
| When the
conditions were deemed correct, both at sea and in Java, the
force set sail, heading south past the island of Singapore and
across to the great isle of Borneo before turning south and
heading for a spot just west of the port of Batavia. Here, the
British invaded and pushed the French south to the great castle
of Cornelius which was besieged before finally falling. |
Additional Reading:
The Conquest Of Java - Major William Thorn
The Lost Temple Of Java - Phil Grabsky
In The Footsteps of Stamford Raffles - Nigel
Barley
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Now it was time to spread out across the
island, develop the contacts Raffles had developed from afar but in
Yogyakarta the welcome was not so warm. He had been warmly greeted in
Solo but things were not going well further south so it was with some
trepidation that he entered the Kraton with a mere 900 troops as
support. He gained entrance to the Sultan’s inner sanctum where some
hundreds of armed men looked on with ill-disguised loathing at these new
intruders.
There was an issue over the seating
arrangement that would have left Raffles looking inferior to the Sultan
and not as the leader of government. Things got heated for a while and
daggers were drawn as the mob moved in, the Sultan sneered at the
visitors. Had the Sultan signaled the attack, there was no way the
visitors would have succeeded, so outnumbered were they but say what you
like about Raffles, he had balls. He insisted the chairs be rearranged,
inferring it was all a misunderstanding, but showing confidence and
strength and the Sultan acquiesced. An agreement was reached as with
the other sultans on the island, extending all privileges to the British
as had been extended to the Dutch and the French previously.
| No one was
convinced as to the relevance of the treaty. The British widely
believed the Sultan would renege as soon as the opportunity
arose and within months was co opting the Sultan of Solo and
running round killing some local chiefs and building up his
defences. |
Getting To Yogyakarta:
Flights from Jakarta are plentiful and cheap.
Lion Air, Garuda and Star Air are just three airlines. Trains
are also a comfortable option, about 7 hours from Gambir,
Jakarta right to the heart of Yogya |
The British returned with another small
force to bring matters to a head. The Sultan spurned messengers seeking
he negotiate so the British took occupation of a fort opposite the
Kraton that had been developed by the Dutch. As the British forces
approached Yogyakarta, they were attacked by rock throwing natives but
had little trouble encamping.
Facing the invaders was a force of some
40,000 troops well armed as well as a large number of cannon. The
Sultan, confidant such a small force was no match for his larger forces
offered them an unconditional surrender that was rejected out of hand.
The British attacked, feinting at the main north gate while a larger
force had crept through the surrounding Kampongs unnoticed and attacked
the northeast section of the walled compound. It took 3 hours to take
the Kraton and the Sultan was expelled to the Island of Bangka, recently
handed to the British and renamed Duke of York Island. His brother was
named Sultan and the Palace was moved to Pakualaman Kraton a little to
the east.
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Raffles returned to Batavia and Bogor to
earn his salary that was for administering the island to the greater
good of his employers The East India Company. But one gets the
impression that Raffles was never happier than when he was out getting
his feet dirty exploring and recoding the history and fauna of a place
and that dealing with autocrats was a mind numbing distraction for him.
He gathered about him a team of like-minded fellows and had them running
round Java learning as much as possible about the place and it wasn’t to
be long before he heard something that intrigued him greatly.
It is likely he was already aware of
Prambanan, sitting then as now, by the main Solo – Yogyakarta road but
what is unclear was when he first heard of the Hill of Statues. When he
did hear of the presence of some monument of great antiquity, he
approached a Dutchman, Cornelius, and asked him to head down there and
take a look. Given the travel time involved Raffles would have head to
content himself with the day-to-day tedium of running Java, waiting for
news from his envoy. At the time, he cannot have held out great hopes,
after all, he would have often been told of some great building only to
find little of substance. But he made a wise choice in sending
Cornelius, a man familiar with the region and a man familiar with
Prambanan so he waited.
He was excited when he first heard from
the Dutchman but could not get away from the office and the intriguing
that surrounded it. But in November 1814 his wife Olivia died. Early the
following year, his patron supported who had backed his mission to Java,
Lord Minto, died. Raffles, never particularly strong in his own
constitution responded in the only way he knew how. He climbed Gunung
Gede, south of Batavia. He left Bogor on 26 April 1815 and first set
eyes on the Hill of Statues on 18 May 1815.
At that time Borobodor was covered in
undergrowth and statues of 504 Buddha’s laid scattered in the secondary
jungle that had reclaimed the area. It supposedly took 200 men more than
2 weeks to clear away the scrub and with each branch hacked away a small
piece of the whole was revealed. Raffles and his crew would have gazed
on in amazement at the scope of what was laid before them. The ‘extent
and grandeur’ mixed with the ‘beauty, richness and correctness of the
sculpture’ took his breath away and left him with a myriad of questions.
Who? What? When? Why?
While Raffles was taking in the
monumental vista before him, events were moving rapidly on the
battlefields of Europe. A rejuvenated French army was defeated at the
Battle of Waterloo and as part of the peace Java was returned to the
Dutch. Raffles was out of a job. Borobodor was ignored when the Dutch
returned and slowly the jungle returned. Not until the French
‘discovered’ Angkor Wat in Cambodia did interest turn again to the Hill
of Statues. And today, as one million visitors a year tread the tiers of
this ancient monument in the footsteps of Raffles, the same questions
are being asked.
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