Gendeng Pamungkas, the doctor of death
Gendeng Pamungkas, the doctor of death
By Johannes Simbolon
JAKARTA (JP): The man hands me his business card.
One side reads "Ki Gendeng Pamungkas, Damned Hell Ltd., Death
Street No. 810, Afterlife Green Complex, Phone: ...". At the top,
there is the picture of a red monster sticking out its tongue.
The other side reads "Give information on white and black
magic, how to live and die soundly, do good and bad things, sell
and buy corpse shrouds, new and used coffins, plots for tombs,
satans, genies, tuyul (bold, thieving ghost), and others ."
There is no smile on his face to suggest that the "death" card
is only a joke.
Death is fearsome and painful for most normal people. But, for
this man, who has publicly declared himself a black magician,
death means business, money, a game and a certain satisfaction.
"I've killed hundreds of people with black magic," he
confesses without the slightest sign of remorse.
The man, who looks younger than his real age of 48, enjoys his
fried rice and orange juice while talking during the interview at
a five-star hotel in Central Jakarta.
Ki Gendeng Pamungkas! It's a name many Indonesians have become
very familiar with over the past few years. It's the name of the
country's most popular soothsayer. The only one who, without fear
and guilt, sets up a billboard in front of his house saying he
accepts orders to kill people.
"My clients must first pay Rp 2.5 million (US$1,083) for one
hour of consultancy. There is no refund for an abortive deal, but
when a deal is reached, they must pay another Rp 50 million at
minimum for the killing of one person," he says.
Gendeng's real name is NMH Irsan Massardi. The nickname
Gendeng Pamungkas -- gendeng means crazy, pamungkas terminator --
was given to him by soothsayers specializing in black magic he
gathered in a convention of black magicians in Augustus 1988 in
Lampung.
Since the convention, there have been numerous stories of his
bad deeds and foul thinking in many newspapers. The reports
provoke both anger and fear in many.
Many Indonesians who still believe in black magic despite
their modern education and adherence to a certain religion look
at Gendeng in fear and bewilderment and wonder why the law
enforcers still allow such a dangerous man to live freely.
The infuriated moralists and religious people curse him as the
devil's advocate, a disciple of Satan, and believe a place in
hell has been reserved for him.
Some hope he will die soon, others pray this bad man will soon
repent.
Reasonable
Such anger is perhaps reasonable. Pamungkas has jeopardized
the social, moral and religious codes in an unprecedented way.
What is bad for all, is good for him, and vice versa. What is
forbidden by religious and moral codes becomes a pleasant job for
him.
There are many people who practice black magic in this
country, but only few of them have publicly and proudly revealed
the fact. There are a lot of killers in this country, but only
few of them have openly and boisterously admitted to their deed.
Pamungkas is among the few.
"It's very pleasant to kill people," says the father of five
children, cynically chuckling.
By his own account, Pamungkas started "killing" people when he
was a junior high school pupil. His father then fell sick, and a
magician said it was because of black magic. His father happened
to have quarreled with a neighbor. The little Irsan took a one-
week course on black magic with a man in Pelabuhan Ratu, West
Java. He then tried his skill on the neighbor. It worked. The
neighbor died several hours after Irsan read his mantra.
"Ever since, I wanted to learn more," he recalls.
He traveled throughout the country to learn from the best
black magicians, went to Belgium to learn hypnotism, joined the
Yakuza mafia in Japan for four years, even went as far Nigeria
and Haiti to learn voodoo.
"In Haiti, I killed an underage Haitian girl and slept with
her embalmed dead body for 40 days as required by my teacher, a
Haitian of Nigerian origin, before taking part in a satan-
worshiping ceremony and being baptized a voodooist," he says.
He accepted a red band, a voodoo membership token, a duplicate
of which adorns his left wrist.
His extensive travels have not only led him to many kinds of
sorceries, but also enabled him to learn many languages.
"I speak French, English, German, Mandarin, and Japanese," he
says.
His eyes seem to penetrate my soul. His bright gaze may betray
his cold bloodedness, his acute mind or his flair for
eccentricity and extravagance.
After decades of studying sorcery, Pamungkas has forsaken
pins, broken glass, razors, nails, etc., which are reportedly
commonly used by traditional sorcerers. He now only uses what he
calls telepsychokinetic, or mental power, to drive the victims
into committing "suicide".
"If the victim loves beer, I drive him to drink so much that
he will fall sick and die," he explains.
Laymen, he says, can't detect any trace of black magic in his
victims. Most of the causes of the deaths have medical
explanations such as heart attacks, strokes, high cholesterol,
road accidents, etc.
Indonesian law can't punish sorcerers who openly declare their
criminal acts because there is yet to be a scientific way of
proving the causal link between the sorcerers' mantra and certain
deaths. The cause-effect link is much more obscure in Gendeng
case, because he uses neither mantra nor any medium but mental
power.
Some experts have proposed that the new criminal code, which
is being drafted at the House of Representatives, includes a
chapter which enables law enforcers to arrest anyone who declares
himself a black magician and who declares he has committed a
murder through black magic.
But, according to Tubagus Ronny Nitibaskara, a criminologist
from the University of Indonesia, the proposal has been turned
down.
Killing orders
That is why men like Gendeng still walk free.
By his account, he receives around 15 "killing" orders a month
and his clients consist of rich people, businessmen and
corruptors. No wonder, he looks very rich, moves from one five-
star hotel to another to sleep, crisscrosses the city in his
luxury car in the company of a dozen bodyguards.
It is interesting to see how the employees of the five-star
hotel where the interview was held vied to greet him, shake his
hands and ask why he hadn't paid a visit for a long time.
"I am richer than any corruptor and criminal in this country.
I have deposited most of my money in overseas banks," he says.
Gendeng has several petrol stations, shrimp farms, and hotels
in Indonesia.
He conceals the names of his clients. "I have only revealed it
to a famous American scriptwriter who is now here to write a
script about me. The script will be made into a film in the U.S."
People may perceive him as a savage, a devil's advocate, etc.,
yet Pamungkas has sympathy for low-class people.
None of his black magic victims are of the group, but rich
people, corruptors and businessmen. And the only thing that rends
his heart is to see prostitutes and street traders chased around
by government officials.
"All prostitutes in this country surely know Gendeng
Pamungkas. I often buy them underwear and condoms," he says.
For the coming year, upon the urging of many people, including
Tubagus Ronny Baskara, a witchcraft expert from the University of
Indonesia, Gendeng has decided to stop practicing sorcery, except
to help the poor.
"I'll make some kind of a 'House of Representatives on the
street'. If there are low-class people coming to me to complain
about oppressive officials, I'll bewitch the officials free of
charge," he says
He has also pledged to bewitch anyone who tries to trouble
Megawati, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
As of two years ago, he has also read the Koran and bible, but
the benefit of reading them is, he says, still vague for him at
present.
"I believe there is God. It is Him who determines people's
fates, including mine as a sorcerer. I don't know what He wants
me to become in the future," he says.
What does God have in store for him ? There's only one sure
answer: death. Because everyone, including Gendeng, must die.