Local candidates turn to black magic

Iman Dwianto Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

It was 9.30 p.m when campaign workers for the Alisjahbana/ Wahyudin Husein ticket kicked off their meeting in the garden of Alisjahbana's house.

In the large back garden, full of birds in cages and beautiful flowers, the group of campaign workers started discussing various strategies to win the Surabaya mayoral election, slated to be held on June 27. Suddenly, a strong wind blew through the garden, rattling the bird cages. The frightened birds started squawking raucously.

"What on earth was that?" Alisjahbana was quoted as saying by Budiharto Tasmo, the head of the campaign team, who attended the meeting a few weeks ago. The wind, which had turned cold, then blew all the election workers' papers away.

Suddenly, a loud sound was heard.

Those at the meeting saw a black object hit a painting hanging right behind the chair where Alisjahbana was sitting. Some of those at the meeting rushed up to the painting to see what had happened, and to find out what the black object was. "We found nothing. It was weird," said Budiharto Tasmo.

That's the way Budiharto tells the story, and he firmly believes that it was all part of a black magic campaign of terror targeted at Alisjahbana.

"Believe it or not, but we experienced this," said Budiharto.

Surabaya deputy mayoral candidate Arif Affandi, who says he does not believe in black magic, makes similar claims. Without any reason, according to Arif, his skin suddenly came out in fiendishly itchy red spots. He went his doctor but the doctor was unable to help him. "The doctor said that he didn't know what was wrong with me," Arif said.

Arif then went to a Chinese traditional healer. "The healer gave me traditional medicines and other non-medical therapy. Thank God, my problem disappeared," he said.

Arif said the spots were inexplicable. "But, whether this is the result of black magic, I really don't know," he said.

While Arif says he does not believe in black magic, many people believe that what they experienced was, in fact, the work of sorcerers. This should come as no surprise as belief in black magic is firmly embedded in local culture in Indonesia, including Surabaya. Tales of sorcerers sending sharp objects or illnesses against their victims as part of an effort to prevent the victims from becoming rich or winning office are legion. Rumors of black magic and malign supernatural skullduggery used to be commonplace during elections of subdistrict heads, and now have spread to the election of mayors and regents. "Black magic in politics is natural. All animistic cultures in the world, including Indonesia's, have believed in black magic since the dawn of history and these beliefs still exist today," said Joko Adi, an anthropologist from Airlangga University in Surabaya.

According to Joko, some people, especially educated ones, might not believe that black magic existed. "But, how do you explain an ailment that can't be cured or how sharp objects like nails and knives come to be in people's stomachs, which then lead to their deaths?" said Joko.

The fear of black magic is deeply embedded in the minds of many Indonesians and this has led to the popularity of paranormals, including among candidates seeking public office, Joko said. But, he added, it should be noted that not all candidates running for public office believed in black magic.

Arif admitted that many paranormals had offered their services to him in order to protect him from sorcerers. "But, I ignored them as I do not believe in black magic," said Arif, a senior journalist.