Penang Story: The Diary of the Javanese Prince Exiled in Penang

Penang Story Lecture: Hamengkubuwono II, The Diary of the Javanese Prince Exiled in Penang, 1810-1814

Date: Sunday, 20 July 2014, 3.00pm to 4:30pm
Venue: The Royale Bintang, 1 & 2 Weld Quay (Pengkalan Weld)

Abstract

After the British invasion of Java, Raffles was made Lieutenant-Governor of Java. The Sultan of Jogjakarta Hamengkubuwono II (1750-1828) who resisted foreign rule was captured and exiled, first to Batavia, then to Penang, along with members of his family and his servants. The Sultan was at first under house arrest in Fort Cornwallis, and then moved to a house in Penang. Around 50 people were part of his retinue in Penang. There are only a few records in British documents of the Sultan’s activities in Penang. But one of his sons wrote a diary in Javanese, which recorded the daily life of the Sultan in exile, the correspondence between the Sultan and the British government in Penang, the Sultan’s hopes and dreams of returning to Jogjakarta, and the Prince who became the healer. The diary is rich with detail about a relatively obscure episode in the region’s history. While he is remembered by the Javanese, accounts of Hamengkubuwono II in Javanese differ markedly from the scant accounts of him by Western commentators in English and Dutch sources.

Biodata

marganaSri Margana obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees from the Department of History, The Faculty of Humanities, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, in 1995 and 2001. In 2001 he joined the advanced Master programme of CNWS, University of Leiden, the Netherlands, within the framework of TANAP (Towards a New Age of Partnership) project. In 2007 he obtained a PhD degree from the University of Leiden. In 2010, he was research fellow at the NIOD institute for three months. Within the framework of the Sites, Bodies and Stories research project, he worked on notions of citizenship and conflict in the context of current historical debate among the people of Banyuwangi (Eastern Java). Being a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University since 1998, he is currently Head of the History Department.

margana2Adrian Perkasa is a MA student in the Department of History, Faculty of Cultural Science, Gadjah Mada University. He received his bachelor degree in History and International Relation from Airlangga University in 2012. His thesis in History was entitled “Orang-Orang Tionghoa dan Islam di Majapahit/ Chinese Muslim in Majapahit” and published by Penerbit Ombak in 2012. In 2013, he joined The Summer School Program in USM, Penang Malaysia and as Graduate Student Fellow in Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Currently he is Executive Director of Indonesian Heritage Trust and Lecturer in Universitas Ciputra, Indonesia.

 

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About Penang Story

The Penang Story Initiative was started in 2001 by Penang Heritage Trust and jointly organized by Star Publications with the support of various stakeholders. With the UNESCO WHS Inscription in 2008 and the growing awareness about cultural heritage issues, the new chapter of the Penang Story, Penang in Global History, continues to celebrate cultural diversity and has expanded to include a re-discovery of Penang’s place in local, regional and global history. The public lecture will bring together various scholars from all over the world to share their research on a particular subject of interest.

Organized by:
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Sponsored by:
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