http://www.theage.com.au/world/sultan-lends-an-ear-to-javanese-goddess-20100702-zu3x.html
a.. 3:33AM Saturday Jul 03, 2010 Sultan lends an ear to Javanese goddess TOM ALLARD July 3, 2010 The Sultan of Ternate Kingdom, Mudaffar Syah, sits down in front of the kingdom's symbol in his palace in North Maluku, Indonesia. Photo: Mosista Pambudi SHE is Java's most fabled mystical creature. Nyai Loro Kidul, the Queen of the South Seas. A fickle goddess, both amorous and ferocious, she has been the lover of the Javanese kings and sultans for over 500 years. And, according to, Mudaffar Syah, the Sultan of Ternate, the spice island 1500 kilometres to the east of Java, Nyai Loro Kidul, is unhappy as modernity grips Indonesia's most populous island and its traditional rulers. ''The Queen of the South Seas is a Javanese belief. She was given the power to rule the sea in the southern end of the world,'' explains Dr Mudaffar, the latest in an unbroken line of monarchs in Ternate stretching over 800 years. ''Before, she only stays in Java. But since many prominent figures, especially the sultans of Yogyakarta and Solo, do not follow her rules, she asked me if she could stay in Ternate. ''She is now my adviser in every problem.'' It's a story that the sultan relates with nonchalance, as if the realms of the supernatural and Nyai Loro Kidul's displeasure with the Javanese descendants of Indonesia's pre-colonial Mataram kingdom would be self-evident. One of dozens of traditional rulers across the archipelago, Dr Mudaffar is not the only sultan to believe in the spirit world, but he is one of the few prepared to speak openly about it. Laying claim to the Queen of the South Seas is certainly bold, but the Sultan of Yogyakarta has stopped the practice of ceremonially sharing a room set aside in his palace or kraton to commune with Nyai Loro Kidul. He has only once, in 2002, held the Bedhaya dance to honour the spirit, and reportedly shocked onlookers when he dismissively smoked a cigar during the occasion. The sultan says it is late in the evening when he communes with spirits at his palace, built in the 18th century. His fourth wife and Queen, Nita Budhi Susanti, also has a special gift for speaking with ancestors. The sultan has an inquiring and non-dogmatic take on religion that would horrify the noisy religious conservatives who are challenging Indonesia's unique, syncretic form of Islam. While a passionate Muslim, he was schooled by priests and majored in philosophy at university. In his mid-70s, Dr Mudaffar looks 20 years younger despite chain smoking kretek cigarettes and is an accomplished Hawaiian steel guitar player. He spent his youth playing in Jakarta nightclubs until a council of Ternate village chiefs selected him as the next sultan. ''There is only one religion, the difference is in culture,'' he says. And, he adds, God is manifested in many different forms, including the spirits. ''This supernatural you cannot find in the material world. It is in you or, I can say, the inner world.'' The most glaring evidence of the deep belief of spirits in Ternate lies on its main thoroughfare where traffic carefully negotiates around a grave. It has been there for hundreds of years, the resting place of an esteemed warrior, the name of whom neither the sultan nor the locals are prepared to say aloud. Dr Mudaffar says he recently negotiated to get the spirit to move. ''It hinders the traffic, so I and the queen invite him, and ask his permission, to bury him somewhere else and he agreed,'' he says. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
