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The story of the kampong began in the 19th century after the then
Yogyakarta sultan granted a palace official a vast tract of land, which was
later named Kampong Prawirotaman. The kampung was named after Prawirotomo, a unit
of soldiers led by the palace official. The official had three sons -- the late
Werdoyoprawiro, Suroprawiro, and Mangunprawiro -- who all pursued the batik
business. As the tourist industry grew quickly in the late 1960s, the brothers
abandoned the batik business and put their money into hotels.
Since then, the sons of the three brothers have run over 60 percent of the
total hotels in the Prawirotaman tourist complex. At least 17 of some 30 hotels
in Prawirotaman belong to children of the three brothers. The oldest hotel in
the complex, Airlangga Guest House for example, is owned by Werdoyoprawiro's
son, Sugiyanto. Six other hotels in the area belong to Werdoyoprawiro's other
sons and daughters, namely: Wisma Gajah, Rose Guest House, Kirana Guest House, Galunggung
Guest House (already sold), and Agung Guest House.
The sons and daughters of Suroprawiro, meanwhile, own seven other hotels.
They are Prambanan Guest House (now owned by a foreign investor), Sumaryo Guest
House, Duta Guest House, Didi Hotel, Metro Guest House, and Palupi Guest House.
Three hotels -- Prayogo Guest House, Parikesit Guest House, and Perwitasari
Guest House -- are owned by Mangunprawiro's children although they also run
several other hotels outside the complex. ""My father was the first
to build a hotel in Prawirotaman. He worked for a travel agency and then built
the hotel in the kampong. He was in the tourist industry even when my
grandfather was still running a batik factory,"" said Sugiyanto's
son, Wisnu Santoso, who has helped his mother run Airlangga Guest House since
the death of his father in 1997.
In the 1960s,
Prawirotaman was one of few batik producing centers in Yogyakarta as well as
its neighboring kampong, Tirtodipuran. Until the 1970s, business was good for
many batik producers in Prawirotaman.
The 1980s and 1990s
was a glorious era for the former batik producers who had sifted their business
interests to the tourist industry. The economic crisis which hit the country in
1997 was the beginning of the decline in the country's tourist industry which
has also affected Prawirotaman.
After almost 10 years
of a slump in the business, will those former batik producers shift back to
batik just as their fathers shifted from batik to the hotel business?
""In the
last few years, my mother has run an antique furniture shop,"" said
Wisnu, adding that the family will decide in July whether they will continue
with the hotel business.
