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CHAPTER III

DISCUSSION

A. Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace

1. History

The short history of the palace has been written by the staff of the

palace on a book entitled Mengenal Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat.

Based on the drafting team of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace (2007: 5), the

short history of the palace can be seen in following paragraphs.

The palace was built after an agreement between the three parties,

namely Mangkubumi, Pakubowono III and VOC. The agreement was held in

the village Giyanti (Salatiga), on February 13, 1755, then called the Giyanti

agreement. As a result of the agreement, the kingdom of Mataram was divided

into two parts, namely Kasunanan Surakarta Palace and Yogyakarta Sultanate

Palace.

Furthermore, with the new area, Mangkubumi established the

kingdom of Mataram Yogyakata in Banyan Region, in 1756. And his title is

SRI SULTAN HAMENGKUBUWANA 1. The full title is: NGARSA DALEM

DALEM SAMPEYAN INGKANG SINUHUN KANJENG SULTAN

HAMENGKU BUWANA SENOPATI ING NGALOGO NGABDURAHMAN

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SAYIDIN PANOTOGOMO KHALIFATULLAH INGKANG JUMENENG DATE

OF ING NGAYOGYAKARTA.

The palace was opened for public in the year of 1960, but there was

only the people who had business and special permission could enter the

palace. In the year of 1971, the palace managed the ticketing service and

opened as a tourist attraction, so that everyone who have the ticket could enter.

In managing the palace as tourist attractions, they built Tepas Keprajuritan.

Tepas Keprajuritan was built to manage the tourism in Bangsal

Sitihinggil and Pagelaran, and Tamasari Water Palace as tourist attractions.

They have the duty to manage the ticketing service, the tour guides, and the

cleanliness of Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran, and Tamasari Water Palace.

(Interview with KRT Kusumonegoro, 5 December 2015)

2. Location

Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace is located in Rotowijayan street

number 1, Yogyakarta. The location is very strategic because the palace is

located in the center of Yogyakarta city. The palace is located near Malioboro

street and it is surrounded by many of tour attractions such as Vredeburg

Castle, Taman Pintar, Ageng Mosque.

Nowadays there are 4 parts of the palace, which are opened as tourist

attractions, they are Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran, Main Palace, Horse-

drawn Carriage Museum, and Tamansari Water Palace.

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Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran is located near the north square.

Followed by Horse-drawn Carriage Museum, which is located 50km from

Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran. Main palace is located behind Bangsal

Sitihinggil and Pagelaran and Tamansari Water Palace is located 1km from

Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran.

The following sub chapter will discuss the organization structure of

Tepas Keprajuritan where the writer does job training as a tour guide.

3. Organization Structure

Tepas Keprajuritan has 24 staffs who run the office. The office

manages Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran and Tamansari as tourist

attractions. (Interview with KRT Kusumonegoro, December 5th, 2015)

Here is the organization structure.

LEADER

SECRETARY IMPLEMENTER TREASURER

GUIDE PERSONNEL HYGIENE SECURITY

Picture 3.1: The organization structure of Tepas Keprajuritan

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The following sub chapter will discuss Bangsal Sitihinggil and

Pagelaran where the writer does job training as a tour guide.

4. Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran

The area of the palace has been divided into several area, The drafting

team of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace (2007: 9-11) describes Bangsal

Sitihinggil and Pagelaran as follows.

Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran is the front part of the palace. The

function of this area is to hold Javanese traditional ceremony that is Garebeg

ceremony. The ceremony is being held 3 times a year to celebrate the Islamic

holiday.

There are three types of Garebeg ceremony, that is Garebeg Syawal,

Garebeg Besar, and Garebeg Maulud. Garebeg Syawal is held on the first day

of Syawal month to celebrate Idul Fitri. Garebeg Besar is held on the 10th day

of Dzulhijjah month to celebrate Ied Mubarak. Garebeg Maulud is held on the

twelfth day of Mulud moth to celebrate the day Prophet Mohammed was born.

At Garebeg ceremony, the Sultan gives donations in the form of

Gunungan to his citizen. Gunungan which is made from fruit and vegetables

symbolizes wealth and prosperity of Mataram kingdom. The gunungan made

in the main palace, be carried through Bangsal sitihinggil and pagelaran then

mosque Agung to be prayed and then be shared to his citizen.

Besides, being used for Garebeg ceremony, Bangsal Sitihinggil and

Pagelaran is opened as tourist attractions. There are 13 buildings in this area,

that is :

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a. Bangsal Pemandengan

This building was used by the sultan or the military high

commander to see their soldier did war practice in north square. Now

the function of the building is as a souvenir shop.

b. Bangsal Pagelaran

The function of this building is to hold an event to celebrate

Islamic holiday, which is called Garebeg ceremony, this ceremony is

being held 3 times a year that is Garebeg Syawal, Garebeg Besar, and

Garebeg Maulud. The number of pillars in this building is 64,

symbolize the age of prophet Mohamed in his life time.

c. Bangsal Pengapit

Bangsal pengapit was a place for the commander in chief to

hold a meeting and to wait for sultan’s commands. There are two

Bangsal Pengapit, they are on the right side and left side of Bangsal

Pagelaran. Nowdays the function of Bangsal Pengapit is as museums.

There are statues about Javanese traditional clothes and Javanese

traditional ceremonies.

d. Bangsal Pangrawit

This building was used for the king to inaugurate his prime

minister. After the year of 1942 this building wasn’t being used because

there was no prime minister.

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e. Bangsal Pacikeran

Bangsal pacikeran was used for the sultan’s servant

Singanegara and Martalutut, they were the sultan’s servant who did the

execution of palace prisoner. This building was not used anymore in the

year of 1926 because executed the prisoner wasn’t suited Javanese

culture. There are two bangsal pacikeran on the right and left side of

Bangsal Pagelaran.

f. Bangsal Sitihinggil

Bangsal Sithinggil was used as a place to enthrone the king.

This building was used to inaugurate Ir.Soekarno as the president of

RIS (Republic Indonesia Serikat) at 17 December 1949.

g. Tarub Agung

Tarub Agung is a place for Sultan’s guest who would attend

ceremony in Sithinggil. They waited at Tarub Agung before attending

the ceremony at Sitihinggil.

h. Bangsal Manguntur Takil

Bangsal Manguntur Takil is a dais for the sultan when the

ceremony of enthronement the king was held. The dais is only

imitation, the authentic dais made from gold and only use for the king’s

enthronment.

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i. Bangsal Witana

Bangsal Witana was a place to put the palace inheritance when

king enthronement and garebeg ceremony is being held. When the king

enthronement and garebeg ceremony is not being held, the palace

inheritance saved at the main palace.

j. Balebang

Balebang was a place to save 2 Javanese traditional percussion.

Now the function of the building is to show a film to the tourists. The

film is about garebeg ceremony which was done by the palace.

k. Bale Angun-Angun

Bale Angun-angun was a place to save inheritance spear which

is called Kanjeng Kyai Sura Angun-angun. Now the building is empty

because the inheritance saved in the main palace.

l. Bangsal Kori

The function of this building was for Sultan’s servant Kori and

public prosecutor who had the duty to deliver the people’s wishes and

complaints. Now the building is empty because all of the Sultan’s

servant is in the main palace.

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m. Regol Brajanala

Regol Brojonolo is a gate which connected between Sithinggil

Lor and Main Palace. The gate is only opened three times a year, that is

when garebeg ceremony is being held.

During job training activity as a tour guide in Bangsal Sitihinggil and

Pagelaran, I observed the roles of the tour guides. The next sub chapter will

discuss the roles of tour guides in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran.

B. The Roles of Tour Guides in Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace

After the palace was opened as a tourist attraction, the palace added a

tour guide as one of their services to the tourist. In doing their job, tour guides

have several roles that must be fulfilled. Their roles are

a. Informer

As an informer, they gave information to tourists such as the

location of toilet, location of the deposit box and any information that

the tourists ask.

Before having the opportunity to guide the tourists, I studied

the materials such as the history of the palace during my job as an

informer. I sat near the entrance with another internship students and

my supervisor. There were three activites which I had done as an

informer. I was giving direction to the tourists who followed the wrong

path, giving information that the tourists asked, and offering the service

of tour guide.

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The first activity was giving the direction to the tourists who

followed the wrong path. There was no rule which stated that visitors

must be accompanied by a tour guide during their visit at Bangsal

Sitihingil and Pagelaran, so that the decision of using the service of

tour guide was made by the tourists. The tourists who did not use the

service of tour guide may follow the wrong path and did not follow the

path that had been provided by Tepas Keprajuritan. The wrong path

that followed by the tourists can be seen in the following picture.

Picture 3.2: The sketch of Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran

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The pink line was the path that must be followed by the

tourists. While the red line was the path that had been followed by the

tourists. I sat with my superisor and other job training students in the

informer section which was marked by the blue rectangle in the sketch.

My job as an informer was giving direction to the tourists who followed

the wrong direction. For example I said “Maaf Pak, lewat sebelah sana

dulu, jalurnya memutar” to the domestic tourists and I said “This way

Sir” to the foreign tourists while I pointed out the right path.

Secondly, I gave the information that the tourists asked.

During their visit at Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran they asked

several questions to the information section. As an informer, it was my

responsibility to answer their questions and to give them the

information that they asked. The example was the tourists from

Australia who asked me the location of the Main Palace. He showed me

the picture of the main palace in the book entitled Indonesia that he

brought. Then I answered him that the location of the main palace was

behind Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran. I directed him to the main

palace by going out from Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran and turn

left about 200 meters. I gave information that the tourists asked because

tour guide has to inform and explain the information that the tourists

asked (Muhajir : 2005).

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My last job as an informer was offering the service of tour

guide. I offered them whether they want to be accompanied by the tour

guides or not, for example I asked them “Do you need an official

guide?” to the foreign tourists and I asked “Perlu pemandu Pak?, nanti

dijelaskan biar tahu sejarahnya” to the domestic tourists as they walk

through the information section. I had to offer them the service of tour

guide actively so that they used my service as a tour guide and I had the

opportunity to guide the tourists.

b. Tour Guide

The role of the tour guides was guiding the tourists around

Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran. They took the tourists around the

building in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran and they gave

explanation during the tour about the building and everything inside

them such as statues, photos, and reliefs.

After I learned the guiding material for a week, I practiced to

guide my supervisor. I guided him around the palace and he assessed

me whether my explanation was less complete or not, then he gave me

the complete explanation.

On the second week of my job training, I had the opportunity

to guide domestic tourists. This activity was to make sure that I had

mastered the material well and practiced them to guide domestic

tourists. I guided once a day, whether it was individual tourist, or group

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of tourist. In this activity I greeted them and welcome them to the

palace. I explained the short history of the palace as we standed in

Bangsal Pagelaran and explained the function of the north square,

Bangsal Pemandengan and Bangsal Pagelaran.

Next, I took them to Bangsal Pengapit. I explained the

function of Bangsal Pengapit in the past and the function of Bangsal

Pengapit nowadays. I also explained the statues inside it. There were

two part of statues, the first part was the traditional clothes worn by the

palace’s soldiers, the second part was the traditional clothes worn by the

sultan’s family. During my explanation in Bangsal Pengapit, I

explained about the javanese culture that is the javanese traditional

clothes worn by the palace’s soldiers and the sultan’s family.

Then I accompanied them to walk into Bangsal Pangrawit,

Bangsal Pacikeran, Tarub Agung, Bangsal Sitihnggil, Bangsal

Manguntur Tangkil, and Bangsal Witana. I explained them the

functions of each building.

After that, I explained the function of Balebang in the past and

the function of Balebang nowadays. Then I took them inside to watch

the movie about traditional ceremony in the palace, that was Garebeg

ceremony. This time I explained them about Javanese culture,

especially Javanese traditional ceremony.

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Lastly, I explained them the statues in Bangsal Pengapit.

There are three parts of the statues. The first part is the statue of

Khitanan ceremony. The second part is the statue of Pondongan

ceremon. The third part is the statue of Tetesan ceremony. I also

explained the meaning of each ceremony and its function.

I explained the short history of the palace, the function of each

building, and the culture of the palace. The culture of the palace is

Javanese culture such as Javanese traditional ceremony and Javanese

traditional clothes in Bangsal Pengapit. I explained them because it is

the responsiblities of a tour guide to explain the information about

culture, history, and the other aspects that the tourist need

(Muhajir:2005).

The process of guiding which I had done in the second week is

the same with the process of guiding in the third, and the fourth week of

my job training. There was only one diference, that was the use of the

language during guiding activity. I used Indonesian language to guide

domestic tourists and I used english language to guide foreign tourists.

During my job training from March 22th until April 20th , I

guided 19 times. There were three types of tourists that I guided. The

first is foreign tourist. I guided foreign tourists five times, they were

two Malaysia tourists, one Czech Republic tourist, one Russian tourist,

one Australian tourist, and one Indian tourist. They were included as

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foreign tourists based on the theory which states that foreigners who

travel to other country than the country where they usually stayed are

called foreign tourist (Yoeti : 1996).

The second is domestic tourist. I guided domestic tourists 13

times. They were two tourists from Malang, two tourists from

Surakarta, five tourists from Jakarta, and 25 tourists from Yogyakarta.

According to Yoeti (1996,144), the citizen of a country who travel

within the limits of its own territory without passing through their

borders. So the tourists from Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surakarta and

Malang are included domestic tourists.

The last is domestic foreign tourist. I guided domestic foreign

tourist once. They were Japanese citizen who lived in Jakarta to work

for a long time. They were included as domestic foreign tourist, as

Yoeti (1996,144) stated that foreigners who live or reside in a country,

who travel the region of the country where he lived are called domestic

foreign tourist.

c. Photographer

During the tour, the guide suggests the tourist to take pictures

as a memory of their visit. They often help the tourist to take a photo

with the best background, such as the symbol of the palace.

During guiding the tourists, I followed the suggestion of my

supervisor that I had to suggest the tourists to take pictures in certain

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areas and helped them to take pictures. I suggested them to take a photo

in front of the palace’s symbol and helped them to take a photo so that

the whole group tourist had a good memory during their visit in the

palace.

d. Promotion Agent

A tour guide also has the role to promote the tourist attractions

in their city and its surrounding. In this case, tour guides in Bangsal

Sittihinggil and Pagelaran promote the palace by suggesting the tourists

to visit other parts of the palace, that are main palace, horse-drawn

carriage museum, and Tamansari water palace.

At the end of my guiding activity, I suggested the tourists to

visit other parts of the palace, that are main palace, horse-drawn

carriage museum, and Tamansari water palace. The example is I said

“Setelah ini silahkan dilanjutkan ke Keraton belakang bu, ke Museum

Kereta Kraton sama Tamansari juga bisa” to domestic tourists.

Another example is I said “You can continue to visit the main palace,

Horse-drawn Carriage Museum, and Tamansari water palace” to

foreign tourists.

I suggest the tourists to visit the other part of the palace

because one of the role of a tour guide is promoting the environment

(Mudhi’uddin : 2013).

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e. Public Relations Officer

Tour guide also has the role of Public Relations officer. They

represent the palace and its Javanese culture, so that they have to serve

the guests well because the whole part of the palace is represented

through the face of the tour guide.

In my experience as a tour guide, the supervisor asked me to

serve the tourists as well as possible, so I served them as well as I can.

For the example, I greeted them and welcomed them with friendly

smile. I also used professional appearance, that was Batik which

represented Javanese culture.

According to Mudhi’uddin (2013,78) the tour guide is obliged

to build a positive image, professional appearance, and good attitude to

gain the trust of the public, so I welcomed them with friendly smile and

professional appearance.

The tour guide in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran has several roles,

they are Informer, tour guide, photographer, promotion agent, and public

relations officer. After discussed about the role of tour guide, the following sub

chapter will discuss the process of guiding tourists based on my experience as a

tour guide

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C. The Process of Guiding Tourists in Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat

Palace

There are 3 parts of activity in the guiding process, they are preparation,

guiding activity, and closing. Each part contains the steps in the process of

guiding tourists which will be explained in the following explanation.

a. Preparation

Preparation is a very important part to do before doing the guiding

activity. There are 3 parts of preparation during my job training. They are

studying the material, summarizing the material, and practicing to guide.

The first part of preparation is studying the material. Before practicing

guiding tourist, I studied the material about the palace, which will be explained

during guiding activity. The materials included the short history, the function

of the buildings, the statues in Bangsal Pengapit, and the meaning of the

palace’s symbol. For example, the supervisor explained the material through

the book entitled Mengenal Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat. He also

explained the material through videos from YouTube about Garebeg

Ceremony, Sekaten, and Pondongan Ceremony.

The second part is summarizing the material. On the seventh day of

job training, the supervisor asked me to make the summaries of the material

that he had taught a week before. The summaries were in Indonesian language

and English language. The supervisor checked the summaries and tell me when

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the things were wrong and gave the right explanation so that I mastered the

material and ready to do guiding activity.

For example, in my summaries I mentioned that there are four parts of

the palace, they are Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran, Keben, Horse-drawn

Carriage Museum, and Tamansari Water Palace. My supervisor told me that

the term of Keben was not understandable for tourists, so that I had to replace

the term of Keben with Main Palace. The other example was I wrote on my

summaries that the father of the ninth Sultan died in 1939. My supervisor asked

me to replace the word died into passed away because the word passed away

was more polite to describe about the king.

I studied the material about the palace and made the summaries about

the short history of the palace, the function of each building, the statues in

Bangsal Pengapit, and the meaning of the palace’s symbol, Garebeg

Ceremony, Sekaten, and Pondongan Ceremony to understand the local culture,

because understanding the local culture is the responsibilities of a tour guide

(Mudhi’uddin:2013).

The last part of the preparation is practicing to guide. The supervisor

asked me to guide him into a tour. I acted like a tour guide and he acted like the

tourist. This time he assessed me whether I was good enough or not to guide

the real tourist. If I forgot the material during my presentation, he gave me the

complete explanation.

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b. Guiding Process

There are 3 parts of guiding process, they are greeting the tourists,

introducing, explaining the short history of Yogyakarta, the relief, the statue,

and the function of the building, and suggesting the tourists to visit the other

part of the palace. The following sub chapter will discuss the guiding process

along with the explanation.

1) Greeting the Tourists

Greeting is a part of welcoming so that the tourists feel that they

are welcomed during their visit. Moreover the tour guide welcomes them

with a smile and friendly way to represent that Javanese people are

friendly.

I greeted the tourists and welcomed them to the palace by using the

material of Greeting that the writer had learnt during her study on a

speaking class. The example of the greeting was I said “Good Morning,

Sir. Welcome to Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace, especially to

Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran” to foreign tourists. For domestic

tourists, I greet them “Bapak Ibu sekalian saya ucapkan selamat datang di

Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, lebih tepatnya di Bangsal Sitihinggil

dan Pagelaran”.

2) Introducing

Intoducing is an important part during the guiding process because

the tourists need to know our identity. Official tour guides often show their

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guide license so that the tourists believe and trust that the tour guide had a

license and has the capability of doing their job.

I introduced myself as the tour guide and mentioned that I would

take the tourists for a tour during their visit. I said “My name is Esti.

Today I will be your tour guide and I will take you into a tour in Bangsal

Sitihinggil and Pagelaran” to foreign tourists and I said “Perkenalkan

nama saya Esti, hari ini saya akan menjadi pemandu bapak ibu sekalian

selama kunjungan anda di Bangsal Sitihinggil dan Pagelaran” to

domestic tourists.

The tour guide in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran showed their

identity card and guide license while they introduced theirself because tour

guide have to use an identity card issued by the government of the

authorities in performing their duties (Mudhi’uddin : 2013). I only

introduced myself without showed my guiding license because I was a job

training student who did not have the guiding license.

3) Explaining Short History of Yogyakarta

I explained the short history of Yogyakarta. The year when the

palace was built, the man who built the palace, and the short history of the

palace using the material of Explaining that I had learnt during her study

on speaking class. I explained them because they need to know the short

history before explaining the building of the palace.

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4) Explaining the Statues in Bangsal Pengapit

Nowadays the hall is being used as museum of traditional clothes. I

explained the function of the traditional clothes in the past and the function

of it nowadays. I also explained who wear the traditional clothes.

5) Explaining the Function of Bangsal Pacikeran

I lead them to Bangsal Pacikeran and I explained the function of

the building in the past, and the function of it nowadays. I also suggested

the tourists take a picture with the statues of a sultan’s servant.

6) Explaining the Function of Tarub Agung

After my explanation on Bangsal Pacikeran, I lead them upstairs

into Tarub Agung. In this building I explained the function of Tarub

Agung in the past and the function of it nowadays. I also suggested the

tourists take pictures there because its having good background that is the

symbol of the palace.

7) Explaining the Function of Bangsal Manguntur Tangkil

From Tarub Agung, we continued to Bangsal Manguntur Tangki,l I

explained the function of Bangsal Manguntur Tangkil in the past and the

function of it nowadays. I pointed out the dais of the sultan in this building

because the tourists could only see the dais from the border that was

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allowed. Moreover the dais was only an imitation, the real dais was made

from gold.

8) Explaining the Function of Balebang

After visited Bangsal Manguntur Tangkil,I lead them to Balebang.

In this building I explained the function of Balebang in the past, then took

the tourists inside to enjoy a film about traditional ceremony in the palace.

I also explained about the film to them since there was no subtitle in the

film so that the tourist still understood about the film even without the

subtitle.

The duration of the film was about two hours, but I only took the

tourists to watch the film for five until ten minutes so that the tourists were

not boring.

9) Explaining the Function of Bangsal Angun Angun

In this building, I explained the function of the building in the past

and directly continued to the next building because the building was empty

and was not used anymore.

10) Suggesting the Tourists to Visit Other Tourist Attractions

At the end of the presentation, I suggested the tourists to visit other

tourist attraction such as, main palace, horse-drawn carriage museum and

Tamansari. I said “Setelah ini silahkan dilanjutkan ke Keraton belakang

bu, ke Museum Kereta Kraton sama Tamansari juga bisa” to domestic

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tourists. I said “You can continue to visit the main palace, Horse-drawn

Carriage Museum, and Tamansari water palace” to foreign tourists.

c. Closing

There are two parts of the closing, they are evaluation and

examination. The following sub chapter will discuss the activity after the

guiding process.

1) Evaluation

After guiding activity for about 30 to 45 minutes, I came back to

sit in information section with the supervisor to discuss the difficulties

during guiding activity. The example is

Supervisor : “Bagaimana apakah ada kesulitan?”

I : “Ada pertanyaan yang saya tidak tahu jawabannya Pak”

Then we started to discuss my difficulties of answering the

questions and gave me the solutions, so that I could handle the same

question tomorrow.

2) Examination

On the last day of the job training I followed the examination

from the supervisor. The examination was answering questions about the

history of the palace in Indonesian and English language. The result of the

examination was to determine the score on the certificate that was given

by the palace after the job training.

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During the guiding process, I found several problems and proposed

solutions to handle the problem. The following sub chapter will discuss the

problems and solutions during the job training.

D. The Problems and Solutions During The Job Training in

Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Palace

I found the problems during my job training in the palace for a month and

have proposed the solutions. There are several problems, the first is my

problems during the guiding activity, the second is the Tepas Keprajuritan’s

problems in managing their tour guide, and the last is the problems of the tourist

during their visit to the palace. They can be seen in following explanation.

a. The Problems

1) My Problems

During the job training as a tour guide in the palace, I faced

several problems and had to propose solutions to solve the problems.

They are

1. Handling The Tourist Who Could Not Speak English

The tourists who visited the palace came from all over the

world. It means that not all tourists spoke English as their native

language. Some of them spoke English as their second language, but

there were tourists that could not spoke English at all.

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The example was tourists from Korea and Japan. There were

Japanese man who came to me in information section and spoke

Japanese language. I could not answer him since I did not

understand Japanese language. The other example was the tourists

from Korea. There was one family visited the palace and came to

the information section. I had the difficulties to communicate with

them since I did not understand Korean language.

The solution was telling the senior guide to handle them.

Most of the senior guide in the palace can speak English, but there

were only a few who could speak in many languages such as

French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. So I asked my supervisor

who mastered the Japanese language to handle him. As stated by my

supervisor on the first day of my job training I had to call him

whenever I could not handle the tourists who could not speak

english.

2. Pronuncing Javanese Terms

Tour guide had to be able to pronounce every term related

to the tourist attractions to make the tourists understand the

explanation of the tour guide. This became the difficulties for me

to pronounce the term related to the palace because many of the

terms is Javanese language that can not be translated into english.

The example of the problem can be seen in following paragraph.

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There was a tourist from the Czech Republic who asked the

title of the prince in Yogyakarta. The tourist could not understand

the title because the title of the king is in Javanese language that is

Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwana, he asked me to pronounce it again

and he repeated after me, after that he asked me to explain the

meaning of that title in English.

The solution was repeating the title of the king as clear as

possible and explaining the tittle as clear as possible to make him

understand the meaning of the title.

3. Answering the Tourists Questions

During the guiding activity, the tourists asked several

questions. I should answer the questions as well as possible in

order to make the tourist satisfy during their tour of the palace.

Usually the questions those that were not explained by the

supervisor during the training. Here are the questions

1. Where is Ngabean parking area?

2. Where is the shop of Bakpia 99?

3. Where can I find Gudeg?

4. Is the palace used as the location of the film making of Pendiri

Muhammadiyah?

5. Where is the place where the sultan gave the announcement on

television last week?

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6. Is every soldier in the palace mastering Merpati Putih?

7. This is Islamic kingdom, but why the queen does not wear a

veil?

The question number 1 to 3 were asked at the end of the

explanation when the tourists wanted to continue their trip after

visiting the palace. I had the difficulties to answer the question

because I did not live in Yogyakarta. I only stayed in the city

during my job training so that I did not know where the location of

Ngabean parking area, shop of Bakpia 99, Gudeg restaurant and

the Bird Market was.

The questions number 4 to 7 were asked during the

explanation. I could not answer them because I did not know if the

soldier mastered Merpati Putih martial art or not and why the

queen did not wear a veil.

The solution was answering the question as well as I could.

Sometimes I asked the senior tour guide about the question so that

I could handle the same question the next day. I asked my

supervisor to handle the question number 1 to 3 at the end of my

presentation. While the question number 4 to 7, I told the tourists

that I did not know anything about it. I told them, “Wah maaf

mbak kalau itu saya kurang tahu”. I handled the question number 7

by answering the question as best as I could. I told him that the

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queen did not wear a veil because in Indonesia a female Moeslem

decided herself that she wanted to wear a veil or not. As stated by

my supervisor, the tourist were asked difficult question and I had to

answer them as well as I could, so I answered them as well as I

could.

2) Tepas Keprajuritan’s Problem

In managing the palace as a tour attraction, Tepas Keprajuritan

faced several problems. The following sub chapter will explain the

problems that was faced by Tepas Keprajuritan in relation with their

tour guides.

1. Tour Guide Did Not Really Guide The Tourists

The important role of tour guide is guiding the tourist. But

the tour guides in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran often just sat

or took a walk around the palace without did the guiding activity.

This became the problem because not all of the tourists got the

explanation from the tour guide.

The solution was to allow the unofficial guide did a

guiding activity in Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran. There are

about 15 unofficial guides at the entrance of the palace near the

ticketing locket. They offered guiding service to the tourists who

bought the ticket recently. According to KRT Kusumonegoro, the

palace let them did the guiding activity to help the official guide

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handle the tourists. Moreover, they were the local citizen of the

location near the palace so that they understand the local culture

and history. (Interview with KRT Kusumonegoro, 5 December

2015)

2. Tour Guide Did Guiding Activity Outside The Palace Area

The duty of the tour guide in the palace is guiding the

tourists in the palace area. But they often did the guiding

activities outside the palace.

There was a tour guide who offered the tourist to see the

process of making batik near the palace. This became the

problem because there would be less tour guides who handle the

tourists in the palace area, especially when the tour guides did

guiding the tourists outside the palace during their work hours.

The solution of the problem was giving explanation to

them and emphasizing that their duty was guiding the tourist in

the palace area. They were also not allowed to guide the tourist

outside the palace during their work hours. As stated by KRT

Kusumonegoro that the tour guides need to be explained and

emphasized about their duty. (Interview with KRT

Kusumonegoro, December 5 2015)

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3) The Tourist’s Problems

The tourists had several problems during their journey. The

following explanation is the problems faced by tourist during their

visits to Bangsal Sitihinggil and Pagelaran.

1. The Difficulties in Understanding Javanese Culture

The tourists who visit the palace come from all over the

world. They came from different cultures so that visiting the

palace with Javanese culture may cause the difficulties in

understanding the culture.

The examples are the couple of Malaysian and Chinese

tourist wondering about the existence of the Rooster in the

palace. They were wondering why there are several roosters in

the palace. Another example was there a tourist from Ceko who

did not understand the term of khitanan ceremony, one of the

ceremonies in the palace.

The solution was to ask the term of khitanan and the

existence of the rooster to the tour guide, so that the tour guide

gave the explanation why Javanese people did that ceremony to

make the tourist understand.

The tourists might ask several question during their

visit, as stated by my supervisor, during guiding activity the

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tourists may ask what they do not understand about the history

and culture to the tour guide.

2. The Difficulties in Finding Certain Tour Attractions

During tourism activity, the tourist visited another area

that is different from where they usually live. They may do not

know certain area where they want to visit.

During my job training, there were several tourists who

had difficulties to find the locatios of several tourist attractions,

address, and amenity in Yogyakarta. There were tourist who has

the difficulties to find the location of Main Palace, Tamansari

Water Palace, Lempuyangan Train Station, Bird Market,

Ngabean Parking Area, Bakpia 99 Shop, and Gudeg Restaurant.

The solution is asked the information that they need to

the information section near the entrance of the palace. The

palace has provided the information section to help the tourists

who need any information during their visit.

3. The Difficulties in Hearing What the Tour Guide Had Said

Misheard becomes the difficulties in a conversation

between 2 people with the different nationality. The tour guide

may have learnt english language, but their ability of speaking

english is less compared to the tourists. The lack of english

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speaking ability can be seen in the pronunciation that make the

tourists misheard about what the tour guide say.

There were a couple of tourists who asked how much

they should pay for the service of tour guide. I answered them,

“As you wish” because there was no official price for the service

of tour guide, but the term misheard as “a tourist”.

The solution was finding another word which

represents “as you wish”, that was “up to you”.

After discussing about the roles of tour guide along with its problems

and solutions, the writer draws several conclusions which will be discussed the

next chapter.