Fictitious kingdoms keep appearing. Up until now, there are three new fictitious kingdoms in the community. First kingdom is Keraton Agung Sejagat, followed by Sunda Empire. The third kingdom is King of the King which claims that it could pay Indonesia’s debt off and have Rp 60 thousand trillion of wealth. Recently, Youtube has been fulfilled by the fact of existence of Negara Rakyat Nusantara which suggested Negara Kesatuan Republik Inondesia to be dissolved.
The phenomenon of fictitious kingdom is not really a new thing in Indonesia. These also appeared during the reign of the first President of Indonesia, Sukarno. Bung Karno was even deceived by the existence of King Idris and Queen Markonah who claimed to be the inland kings in the area of Lampung. However, their lies were finally revealed because the queen accidentally spoke Javanese at some occasions.
Based on the facts, these phenomena appeared because of there were many kings governing in Indonesia as part of traditions. It is related to the history of Indonesia, when these kingdoms are bound to be united under the modern nation Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia. The phenomena related to the kings could be caused by various motives of seeking popularity. The era of internet and information which rapidly spread could also cause create opportunities for those who wanted to be famous. The appearance of these kingdoms: Keraton Agung Sejagat (East Java) and Sunda Empire in Bandung (West Java) were raised by people who have experienced grandiose delusion (Koentjoro, 2020).
The initiators’ success of these fictitious kingdoms to persuade their followers is also supported by psychological power so that it could convince them. They told stories they believe in their own way attractively therefore it seemed real. It hypnotized people to decide whether to become their follower or not. Psychological power works in that way, to make people easily believe what they heard and are told to (Koentjoro, 2020).
As for the followers, they were persuaded not only because certain motive (for example, economy), but also because other reasons. According to what Kerajaan Agung Sejagat has confirmed, their followers were willing to spend sum of money as membership requirements. Their decision to be one of the followers could be because several reasons, as for example to what relates to the post power syndrome. Most of them were those who once had not-too-high position in the community. As when they retired, they had no one to either rely on or be told to.
There are two things to be paid attention to: the motives and trend of public distrust. The appearance of Keraton Agung Sejagat had different motives compared to the other three. Kerajaan Agung Sejagat had economic motives behind its appearance, raising because of the trend of public distrust towards certain parties: for example, government, media or even the boss at the office. People in the community tend to believe with uncertain things (conspiratorial, speculative or mystical) to answer their curiosity in a nutshell. These trends not only occurred in Indonesia, but also all around the world, including western countries –which, let us say, have different kind of thoughts and better financial condition compared to people in Indonesia.
For six years, research of Cambridge on nine countries has shown that western citizens also tend to believe more in conspiratorial/ irrational things. In other words, we could not say that our people retarded at all, because it no longer relates to the background of education, economy, ethnics, religion or race. It relates more to the condition of: public sociality and politics; and their own public humanity, as stated by Devie Rahmawati, 2020. “There is a term in sociology, called neotribalism, which means a group of people that have their own emotion, characteristic and thoughts. Imam said neotribalism can be exemplified by the fanatic supporter of football club or a gang. There are also exclusivity and hierarchy in the community” (Imam B Prasodjo, 2020)
Furthermore, neotribalism grows in the term of solidarity added with some narrative stories. As for these fictitious kingdoms, the myth of kingdom stories became one of legit narrative stories or meanings which have an uncertain source. However, people tend to love to tell these stories –a mixture of modern and traditional knowledge, not in the term of academic discourse or study. Therefore, the story become irrational, like the appearance of Kekaisaran Matahari.
Today, it is easy to get and update information and news, but not all of them are valid. In this situation, there could be possibly some parties who take advantage of public confusion over the information and news. It could also be so useful yet tricky, especially for other people to gain economic profit and earn money from it. The process began smoothly: people tend to gather around in the community and there was possibly a person who persuaded or threatened people to follow their circle.
To prevent these kingdom reappear, both government and society should work together to increase critical thoughts through education system to support public participation in understanding their rights and responsibility proportionally, therefore public could be able to be critical in viewing a phenomenon. Today, this phenomenon looked like an anti-thesis of the so-called Cultural Kleptomania syndrome, which appears also with causes. Its appearance is like criticism for the feudal government. Their political patronage also becomes one of the factors of the appearance.
In another perspective, the appearance of Sunda Empire and Keraton Agung Sejagat is also viewed as social movement. It is because their followers and successor had often believed in conspiratorial theory and pseudo science. They are also not satisfied with the world order and socio-political economic order in the area where they live, as well as having ambitions that neither were nor have been achieved, so that they dreamed about having back their glory which they acknowledged as the best life to be reapplied into the present-life. It is more to the detail that culture and social life always are dynamically changing, based on what people think.
They also like to wear a symbol of empire. In the anthropological perspective, symbol is a great tradition that has so far become a central figure of culture in various cultures in Nusantara. The way a person associates her/him/themselves to a great figure in the past is often done by some people in Indonesia to seek for political legitimacy. By associating her/his/their ancestors with Siliwangi, King Pajajaran, or Brawijaya, King Majapahit or others based on history of Sunda Empire, it is claimed that it is a pseudo science: a thing which is unclear or does not have supporting facts or whatsoever.
In conclusion, these facts should be read and viewed in various perspective with different scientific disciplines, motives and backgrounds. Also, a literacy society is needed to sort and choose various news and information (correct, actual, precise and valid): which ones to believe and need. Applying mutual awareness among society and nation’s element should be started from the government by doing information dissemination, while other parties, such as political infrastructure, including higher education, community organization and large-scale mass media, are demanded to explain the history of kingdoms that have once existed in the country. This should be done to prevent the appearance of (another) fictitious kingdom phenomena. Hopefully.***
