Local candidates turn to black magic

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.