Sabda Raja against Paugeran Lanang: Quest for Gender Equality in Yogyakarta Kingdom

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze how Sultan Hamengku Buwono X transformed Paugeran Lanang (old tradition privileging male leadership). This case study took place in the Yogyakarta Kingdom using structuration theory of Anthony Giddens and conflict theory of Dahrendorf. The sultan had the privilege to change the norms. Structure of significance was found in the king’s dominant power, in which the Sultan owned the resources of culture, economy (lands, buildings, sugar plants, corporations), and 4,487 people as devoted servants of the kingdom. Another king’s power in his practical politics was that he was capable of creating new structure to reconstruct the government of Yogyakarta Special Region in line with the power he had as a Governor. The sultan transformed Paugeran Lanang through his privelege as a king by declare a statement called Sabda Raja which inherently was as a law. The king stated that female can be a ruler called as Sultanah.