An ill-fated treasure hunt
Of course, Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agiel Munawar could hardly have foreseen that the little adventure he started last week should have taken the turn it did. What began as an apparently well-intentioned, if irrational and impulsive, treasure hunt has grown into a scandal that could not only cost him his job, but the government of President Megawati Soekarnoputri its credibility as a rational-thinking and sensible government capable of leading the nation out of its current hardships.
The whole affair -- which could have been humorous if it were not so sad -- started with a psychic informing the minister that treasure of immense value lay buried underneath a stone monument that presently stands at the side of a river in Batutulis, Bogor. There was enough treasure, he was told, to pay off Indonesia's mountain of foreign debts. The Batutulis monument is a slab of stone bearing an inscription in ancient Palawa script proclaiming the eminence of Prabu Guru Dewata Prana, who in the mid-16th century was apparently crowned king of the Hindu kingdom of Pakuan Pajajaran under the title Sri Baduga Maharaja Ratu Haji. There is some mention of his greatness, but no mention at all of treasure.
The belief in hidden treasure and sanctified graves, however, is certainly not at all uncommon in Indonesia. Even in these modern days, somber old graves and graveyards believed to hold the remains of hallowed individuals of the past attract hordes of pilgrims on certain days of the week. The Batutulis site, being one of the oldest known legacies of prehistoric Sunda, West Java, has for many years been a rich source of imaginative tales of treasure hidden underneath the stone menhirs of the ancient Pajajaran kingdom. In this respect, Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agiel is certainly not the first Indonesian to be taken in by the smooth talk of soothsayers. In Said Agiel's case, however, there are a few points that need to be considered.
First, as a Cabinet minister -- and a good Muslim at that -- he is supposed to lead Indonesians out of their age-old tradition of myth and superstition and into the sane world of modernity and rationality. Second, the very fact that Said Agiel, as Minister of Religious Affairs, has seen nothing wrong in overstepping his authority and trespassing into the domain of another government department -- in this case the Ministry of Education and Culture, which oversees archaeology -- indicates a serious organizational defect within the government bureaucracy. Third, it certainly does not befit a Cabinet minister to barge in on an illegal excavation to personally oversee a small workforce of villagers digging an archaeological site in search of treasure, armed only with simple farmer's hoes.
As a consequence of all this, the archaeological authorities in charge of guarding and preserving prehistoric monuments are feeling slighted. The Sundanese people of West Java, who consider themselves heir to the cultural heritage of the ancient Pajajaran kingdom, feel insulted and have demanded an apology, threatening to take the minister to court for willfully destroying a protected historical site, an offense punishable by ten years in jail and/or a fine of Rp 100 million. As the uproar continues to resonate across the province, sarcastic comments and jokes are being told and retold about the incident and people are asking themselves why, if the search for treasure cannot be called off, more modern and scientific spotting methods were not used in the first place.
After everything is said and done, though, all this could merely be the latest and most blatant expression of the prevailing Indonesian get-rich-quickly mentality. Fortunately, there is one other lesson that can be drawn from this incident -- which is there is no such thing as a free lunch. It is fortunate that President Megawati has been quick to distance herself from this ill-fated treasure hunt by denying any involvement in the adventure. By so doing, at least she is signaling to the nation that blind superstition has no place in the running of her government.