Health museum: Spooky, enlightening
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Mubaroch, an employee of Dr. Adhyatma Health Museum in Surabaya, struggled to unlock the door to the Cultural Health room, one of seven rooms in the museum.
He inserted every key, but to no avail. It was only after he recited bismillah (Muslim phrase said prior to the commencement of any activity) that the lock turned. "This is the most haunted in the museum. I am scared to enter it," Mubaroch told The Jakarta Post.
Indeed, the room itself is known as the sorcery room due to the claims made of some of its exhibits.
The atmosphere of the museum is certainly not pleasant. There are X-ray photographs displayed of so-called sorcery victims: dozens of small nails show up on a four-month-old baby's X-ray, while ball bearings and nails are observed on an adult's. Mubaroch claims the subjects were patients at the hospital.
Black magic paraphernalia from Banyuwangi, East Java, and Banten is, oddly enough, housed in the Community Health room. Small drums said to ward off sickness are on display, along with a variety of charms and amulets. Two jailangkung (doll used in a seance) named Nini Towong and Nini Towok are nestled among stocks.
Some people believe that such exhibits have a supernatural connection. The jailangkung dolls, for instance, are handled with care and mantra recited upon the removal of their clothes.
Mubaroch said a stock -- which was found in 1996 by a doctor working in Bojonegoro, East Java -- moved by itself and was sometimes heard crying.
Several photographs that show the rashes and lesions of people with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are also exhibited in this room. The photos were taken around 1938 and 1940. Based on the records of the Central Burgelijke Ziekenhuis (a Dutch-era hospital) in Surabaya, 30 percent of the city's population of 15,000 had syphilis at that time.
Also exhibited in the Reproduction room are an assortment of traditional postnatal devices, such as an umbilical cord cutter, an ancient milk bowl and Arabian herbs once used by women recovering from the birthing process, not to mention an array of birth control devices, including condoms.
The museum, located on Jl. Indrapura here, was officially opened on Sept. 14, 2004 by then minister of health Dr. Achmad Sujudi. It was named after Dr. Adhyatma, health minister from 1988 to 1993, for his efforts in enhancing community health in Indonesia.
The museum is the first of its kind in the country. In 1980, the government through the health ministry had planned to build it in Yogyakarta. The plan was aborted for unknown reasons, and, in 1990, the Surabaya's Health Services and Research and Development Center, which now manages the museum, proposed that the museum be established in Surabaya.
The museum is largely funded through visitors' donations as the government has provided limited funding for its upkeep.
Mubaroch said that due to this, the museum was often closed when there were no scheduled visits. "It's not surprising that the public is barely aware of its presence," he said.
Since it first opened its doors only about 100 people have visited the museum.
Mubaroch hopes the government will support the museum in the future so that the public can see its curious exhibits for themselves.