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.