Title Confering upon Laskar Istana Amantubillah

Mempawah, MelayuOnline – The presence of Laskar in support for Mempawah Kingdom is apparently very important. Without Laskar, on the one hand, Mempawah is not complete as a kindom and on the other hand, the members of Laskar are expected to give total service for the kingdom. In the context of Mempawah Kingdom, Laskar means the kingdom‘s army, analogous to the position of abdi dalem in Javanese royal tradition.

As an acknowledgement and admittance of the importance of Laskar for Mempawah Kingdom, on Tuesday (02/09) night, the royal family conferred titles to some members of Laskar that had pledge allegiance to the kingdom. The title awarding was carried on in Amantubillah Palace of Mempawah Kingdom, Kabupaten Pontianak, West Kalimantan, in which the King, Pangeran Ratu Mulawangsa, directly conferred the titles to the Laskar soldiers.

Beside the King, the occasion was attended by the Queen of the kingdom, namely Sinuhun Ratu Kencanawangsa, the whole royal family, the high officials of Mempawah Kingdom‘s Laskar, and of course the soldiers receiving the titles. Moreover, there were also the kingdom‘s relatives coming from Bukittinggi (West Sumatra), Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam.

In his opening speech, Pangeran Ratu Mulawangsa stated that the title conferring is a form of appreciation among the members of the Mempawah Kingdom family. Tuanku Raja Mempawah added that by giving the titles, it is expected that the Laskar could hold high their dignity for the sake of Mempawah Kingdom. To all the Laskar soldiers, Pangeran Ratu Mulawangsa said, “Our kingdom‘s dignity depends on you all, on how you honor your culture.”

The Procession of Title Conferring

There were two categories of awards in the occassion, including title conferring and promotion giving in the structure of Mempawah Kingdom‘s army. That night, tens of Laskar soldiers were given titles in the royal audience hall of Amantubillah Palace, in which the inauguration was done by the King of Mempawah himself, Pangeran Ratu Mulawangsa. The criteria of the soldiers to deserve the titles were not easy to meet, however. They were first assessed and selected in line with merit and service they had done for the sake of the kingdom‘s glory.

The first things candidates had to do in the procession were eating a number of food, such as eggs, nasi pulut (a kind of rice), fishes, three kinds of bananas (pisang kepok, pisang berangan, and pisang raja), drinking coconut water, and at last chewing betel leaf. After that, the candidates were commanded to come in front of the King to officially receive the title and authorization certificate.

After pledging allegiance to the King, the title receivers went to Mempawah River in the back of Amantubillah Palace. There, the soldiers had to undergo the next test, to bathe in the historic river. According to a high official of the Laskar, the ritual was done to test the soldiers‘ mental strength and to clean their souls and bodies from humanly dirt.

(Iswara N. Raditya/02/02-2009)

Translation by Reza Daffi (terj/09/02-10)

Source of Photos: Collection of www.melayuonline.com (Photographer: Aam Ito Tistomo)

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