Palmist rewrites fate by sleight of hand
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): For some people, fame and fortune lies in their hands. Literally.
While many consider palmistry -- the practice of reading a person's character or future from the lines on the palms -- little more than a pseudoscience, others trust implicitly in its judgments.
They would even go to great lengths to change the lines in a bid to turn around misfortune.
Haptop Best claims to be able to reroute palm lines to ensure success, but his service comes at a hefty price.
"As long as the client is healthy and able to pay US$700, credit card or cash, I can make lucky lines and marks on his, or her, palms which, in return, could make life and career a big success," the 32-year-old palmist told The Jakarta Post in an interview recently.
Haptop, who rents an office on the sixth floor of the Gedung Rahardjo building on Jl. Roa Malaka Utara in North Jakarta, shuns the title of fortune-teller.
"I'm a scientist, expert and researcher of palmistry, and I'm the first and only one to invent the key to success, which is by changing the lines and marks on human palms."
There is no invasive surgery, no loss of blood. The process to "improve" lines for life, fate, health, fortune, heart, head and marriage takes only one hour per client, he said.
Afraid of ersatz imitators, Haptop balks at disclosing his method. He has even registered his method at the Office of Intellectual Property Rights, Patents and Trademarks.
His clients must faithfully follow set rules, what he describes as a prescription. "For example, they are prohibited from committing crimes and having too much sex."
Clients must also make a verbal oath not to divulge the routine.
He refuses to serve disabled and elderly people, or those with "bad" marks of asymmetrical eyebrows, noses and lips.
"I don't want to be blamed as the cause of their poor fate because people with those marks have the potential to do bad things," he said.
Ideal clients are of standard intellect and disciplined. The surface of their palms should not be too thick, which might be uneasy for Haptop to modify the lines.
Clients must also be able to communicate in Indonesian. "I don't understand English and do not allow my clients to bring anyone, including an interpreter, to the service room."
But he warned that clients would not become rich or famous in just a matter of weeks.
"It depends on the 'condition' of the clients, and better means sooner," he said. "Like planting coconut palm trees, my clients should also work hard to make their dreams come true."
Haptop boasts a remarkable success rate: 97 percent of his hundreds of clients allegedly noticed a turnaround in their fortunes. He was tight-lipped on their identities.
"I cannot tell you who and what they are because my clients are mostly famous figures, such as politicians and high-ranking officers," he said.
Failure of the others was due to their inability to follow his directives, he said.
Childhood
Haptop was born Tjian Tiong Djin to poor parents of Chinese descent in the North Sumatran capital of Medan. His early years were fraught with difficulty and unhappiness.
"My father had dozens of wives," he recalled. "At the age of four, I had to work at a biscuit factory to help my mother earn a living."
He dropped out of elementary school in the third grade because of his family's money problems.
Little Tjian then traveled to several cities in Java, including Jakarta and Bandung, working as a bus conductor, street vendor and casual laborer. Throughout his travels, he loved to examine people's hands and read books on palmistry.
His sister, who had just married, gave him a small tin of gold when he was 19. It took him just four months to spend all the gift.
Dismayed and guilty, he rushed to a nearby plantation and swallowed dozens of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt.
A worker found him, getting medical assistance which saved his life. But Tjian was disappointed when he regained consciousness. He prayed to God to take his soul soon.
"But, suddenly, I looked at my palms and had an idea to change the lines so I could have a better life," he said.
After modifying the lines on his palms, he felt motivated by an invisible power to work hard.
His life turned around. He opened a barbershop in Sabang on the northern tip of Sumatra with his sister as one of his staff.
He moved to Pontianak in West Kalimantan in 1990 and set up another barbershop under his new name: Haptop Best.
"I later knew that my original name, Tjian Tiong Djin, meant one trouble comes after another," he said.
After waiting for almost two years to prove the positive impact of changing his palm lines, Haptop set up his own palmistry practice.
"In the beginning I was afraid that people might think I was insane or intended to cheat them," he said.
He then registered his method. "I don't want anyone to copy my work, which I bought at a very expensive price: (almost) committing suicide!"
He vows to sue anyone, including former clients, who tries to copy his method.
Haptop said he rejected an offer from an American businessman to open up an office in the U.S. He also once refused to be interviewed by Japanese television network crew because it wanted to film his method.
The scientific community is not swayed on the alleged powers of palmistry.
"It sounds irrational. What (kind of invention) is that?" said John Siswanto Nimpoeno, a senior lecturer in psychology at several universities in Bandung, West Java.
Psychologist Utami Munandar from the University of Indonesia confessed to knowing little about palmistry, but described Haptop's claims as "sounding funny and illogical".
Haptop is unfazed by the naysayers. "I strongly believe in Allah the Almighty and everything that He has planned for us, but as humans we are ordered to do something to improve our life," he said.