Customs ban people from Bora's hot springs area

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Donggala

The Higi Bora Customary Council has prohibited people from entering the hot springs area in Bora village, Sigi Biromaru district in Donggala, about 16 kilometers southeast of the Central Sulawesi capital, Palu.

The ban is called ombo in local customary law.

Following the magnitude 6.2 earthquake that rocked the province on Jan. 24, the activity of the original hot spring in the area had intensified and 13 new hot springs had emerged.

Besides Bora, new hot spring water sources have also appeared in Bobo village, Palolo district, Donggala, about 25 km southeast of Palu.

The Higi Bora Customary Council would impose a penalty in the form of requiring a water buffalo or cow to be sacrificed against those breaking the regulation.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), no one has violated the customary law," said head of the council, Abidin Dg Masiri.

The council has erected a fence and assigned two caretakers to prevent people from reaching the spot. Visitors can only view the spectacle from 50 meters away.

The council and the Bora village administration are also collecting an admission fee of Rp 1,000 (11 U.S. cents) from each visitor.

A caretaker assigned to guard the place, Umar, 34, said that as many as 125 people visited the hot springs daily.

He said that most of them came just to see whether or not water in the spring was boiling and giving off steam. They could apparently feel the heat and the smell of sulfur generated by the hot springs from 50 meters away.

Chairman of the Palu chapter of the Alkhairaat Islamic Society, Saggaf Aljufrie, who also heads the Central Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), urged local residents not to be overwhelmed by the quake or by the presence of the hot springs.

He also encouraged residents to constantly pray to God so as to be protected from tragedies bestowed by God upon humankind.

The charismatic cleric also urged the agencies to immediately look into the hot springs and publicize the results to the public.