Back to Indonesia: the kris of Diponegoro

Prince Diponegoro (1785-1855) was a member of the Yogyakarta court and candidate for the succession to the throne of the sultanate in the early 1820s, but not selected. He started a campaign to become still the Sultan and this was the beginning of the Java Wat (1825-1830). Diponegoro was supported by some Muslim leaders: the most important being Kiai Modjo and Ali Basah Abdul Mustapa Sentot. In 1830 Diponegoro had the idea that he could have a meeting about conditions for negotiations, but was arrested and sent in exile to Manado and later to Makassar.
The dagger or keris of Diponegoro, a costly weapon with golden decorations, was presented to the Dutch King in 1831 and kept in the Anthropological Museum of Leiden. Now there is a policy of returning precious pieces of art that were robbed from colonial subject to the new countries (to be found on the internet under https://www.trouw.nl/cultuur-media/ex-kolonies-kunnen-roofkunst-terugkrijgen-met-nieuwe-leidraad~bec7741d/). The keris  of Diponegoro is one of the first to be restituted under this regulation.

Above a drawing of Diponegoro with his kris and the issue of the magazine of the Eurasian people in the Netherlands with Dutch minister of Education and Culture (left) and the Indonesian Ambassador in the Hague, I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja (centre) during the ceremony in early March 2020.