Be more careful in 1995: Paranormals

JAKARTA (JP): 1995 is a year where people should be more careful. Each individual should take more time to contemplate, be considerate and not blame others for their failures.

The message is conveyed by Putri Wong Kam Fu, a paranormal who is a granddaughter of the well-known late Wong Kam Fu. The latter not only held private consultations, but also published books and wrote columns in magazines and newspapers on astrology. In 1942 Wong was also head of an organization of Chinese journalists who resided in Indonesia.

Putri told The Jakarta Post by telephone from her residence in Batu in Malang, East Java, recently that there are many omens warning people to be prudent next year.

"I saw many people in Jakarta selling large inflatable mallets at traffic lights. If you don't buy it, the vendor sometimes hits your car with the mallet. It is one of the signs that people now tend to hit each other," Putri, who is also known as Hajjah Leoni Fatimah, said.

She added that even on human rights issues, the Indonesian abbreviation for human rights, HAM, will likely become hammer-like.

Volcanic eruptions, floods and other unpredictable disasters will continue to plague the country. "It could be in East Java or outside Java."

However next year, women's roles will continuously develop in all fields to confirm what has been said since the time of Prophet Muhammad, that women are pillars of the state, she said.

"Women will become more active in many fields. Men should be more tolerant and understanding towards them. Husbands whose wives are still developing should let their wives further their education. Women who have reached their full potential should not neglect their men," Putri explained.

Putri, who is often asked to give consultations or to pray at wedding ceremonies and new office or factory openings because of her fortune-telling abilities, said 1995, which is also the year of the Pig in Chinese horoscope will not be a difficult year for fortune seekers.

Chinese horoscope

"In terms of clothing and food, there will not be any difficulties. People often say an obese person is as fat as a pig because of an easy life, in the same vein life in the year of the Pig will be very prosperous."

Yet the year of the Pig will be also a year of `tests' for women and men's mentality.

"Therefore, don't let modernity ruin your life. Keep in mind that the aim of life is our `eternal house' after we die. Don't just build skyscrapers and forget your eternal house," the 43-year-old woman who is mother of six said.

She added that those born in the year of the Snake (according to the Chinese horoscope) should be more careful than others in 1995.

"Snake is the enemy of pig. Those born under the year of the Snake are recommended to be passive in every domain. Don't make any decision and don't plunge into a new business. And don't attend any funerals," she warned.

Meanwhile, parapsychologist Permadi revealed that next year's forecast is worse. The eruptions of Mount Merapi, for example, were revealed in the Serat Kolotido by the sage Ronggowarsito 275 years ago.

"Significant social upheavals, which will make this year seem trivial, are no longer preventable as we have not heeded repeated warnings from God," he said.

"Residents around Merapi have felt anger for a long time because of projects affecting them, like the golf course, but they have not been able to vent their feelings because of the government's security approach which brings fear there."

Nature absorbs this unvented energy and this contributed to the Merapi eruptions.

The parapsychologist, who always wears black, said that there is no need for the authorities to look for scapegoats behind the recent riots, such as the one in Bandung where thousands of roadside vendors, pedicab drivers and security forces fought because of the clampdown enforced by the Bandung municipal office on the informal sector, and in Jakarta where a brawl between students of the privately-owned Academy of Maritime Indonesia and Indonesian Christian University which led to the damage of the university's property.

He said the main dalang (puppet player) of the riots is the government itself. People now get angry too easily. Traders, for instance, because they are chased and abused every day by government officials.

Anything to be optimistic about in the near future?

After the transitional period of upheavals Indonesia will be a great country, which is in accordance with the prophecy of Joyoboyo (Serat Joyoboyo) 1,000 years ago that a Satrio Piningit, a hidden warrior, will lead Indonesia.(anr/als)

Horoscope -- Page 7