8 - Social Changes in Kotagede, 1972–2010

Summary

ADMINISTRATIVE RE-DESIGNATION

It must be mentioned in advance when dealing with social changes in Kotagede that the town has undergone administrative re-designation since the original study for this book was conducted in 1970–72. The “Kemantren (Ward) of Kotagede, Jka (Jogjakarta)”, has changed its name to “Kecamatan (Subdistrict) Kotagede” and is one of the fourteen sub-districts constituting the City (Kota) of Yogyakarta. The geographic boundary of Kecamatan Kotagede, however, remains the same as that of former Kemantren Kotagede. The ten Rukun Kampungs (RK or neighbourhood association) which constituted the Kemantren of Kotagede before (see Figure 2.1) are now rearranged into three groups, forming three Kelurahans (Kl. or urban community) as follows: (1) Kl. Rejowinangun consisting of four ex-RKs, i.e., Rejowinangun, Gedongkuning, Pinalan and Tinalan; (2) Kl. Prenggan, of two ex-RKs, i.e. Prenggan and Tegalgendu; and (3) Kl. Purbayan, of four ex-RKs, i.e. Gedongan, Basen, Alun-Alun, and Purbayan. Each Kelurahan is further divided into Rukun Warga (RW or residents association), and the RW further into Rukun Tetangga (RT or neighbours association). There are all together 40 RWs and 164 RTs in the Kecamatan Kotagede. The area of Kecamatan Kotagede is sometimes called “Kotagede Administratip (= administrative Kotagede)”.

Meanwhile, those areas, which were formerly designated as “Kotagede Ska (Surakarta)” belonging to the Kabupaten (Regency) of Bantul, no longer bear the name Kotagede, not to speak of Ska, at all at present. Former Kalurahan Jagalan Kotagede Ska, Kalurahan Singosaren Kotagede Ska and Kalurahan Mutihan Kotagede Ska are now simply called Desa Jagalan and Desa Singosaren, both belonging to Kelurahan Banguntapan, and Desa Mutihan belonging to Kelurahan Wirokerten — all forming part of Kabupaten Bantul. Desa Jagalan, which occupies the core part of the old town of Kotagede, has five RWs divided into fourteen Kampungs (abbreviated as Kp.). In spite of all these new administrative designations, the former core areas of Kotagede (see Figure 2.2) are still regarded by most of the residents as a single socio-cultural entity in terms of geographic proximity, network of family and marriage, closeness in social interaction, cooperation in economic activities, commonness in customs, and a shared local history with a number of prominent remnants from the past. Perhaps for these reasons, those areas of Kotagede are still semi-officially called “Kawasan Kotagede” (= Kotagede Region)1 especially for the promotion of tourism.