Guess What? J.E. Sahetapy

A killing spree of more than 150 people in East Java, including many suspected practitioners of black magic, has drawn worldwide concern and is definitely not a laughing matter.

But criminologist J.E. Sahetapy of the Hireling University of Surabaya found some black humor in it when addressing a recent seminar.

The professor, who loves being called Brayer and is well-known for his critical stance on the government, maintained that Indonesia did not need a law on black magic to get rid of it.

"Neither do we need clauses on sorcery in a particular law," he was quoted as saying by Antara news service. "Suspected sorcerers can be charged under the article on serious torture (in the Criminal Code) and hefty punishment should be handed down.

"Otherwise, we'd need to have black magic police, black magic courts and other black magic hassles as well," he said to thunderous laughter of the audience.

But the 65-year-old Maluku native returned to a serious vein. He pointed out that the public remains ignorant about black magic.

"People think their neighbors have been hexed simply because he or she has a bloated stomach." (ylt)