Sorcerer says...
Sorcerers, it is believed, can make you rich, win a tender or find the right match for you. Fifty women found their death in a makeshift grave after they offered themselves to be strangled by one immoral insane man and have their saliva drunk.
No more gruesome story can be told even among primitive people. During a period of almost 10 years, nobody reported a missing person to the police. And this makes us to think that a special ministry for women affairs has been created to prevent such macabre things from happening. Lip-service and backwardness in spite of 50 years of independence. The poor and the desperate do visit sorcerers. The well-to-do consult fortune tellers and the rich go overseas. The powerful listen to whispers from spiritual advisors or para normal as they are popularly in Indonesia.
After reading Kwik Kian Gie's analysis in the Kompas daily (May 12) asking why the IMF tends to be less transparent now in its dealing with Indonesia, I am tempted myself to look up one for help. The national press, on the other hand, should quickly consult the magician to decide what future role it wishes to play in the post-reforms era. To retain its critical sense and impartial judgment, it cannot continue to side with the demonstrators in its coverage and thrive under the umbrella of the power-holders. It should distance itself from the decision makers in legislative councils unless individually elected by the people. The dual function which in practice means hypocrisy rather than professional ardor, appear to come to an end soon.
The era of political chameleons coming to the surface to seek safety have recently increased remarkably. If you are in doubt and wish to spare your dollars, go to a Samaritan sorcerer nearby. Leave your ID or KTP but bring a kris or dagger, just in case.
My own crystal ball reveals the following scenario of reforms. From the historical perspectives, it makes no essential difference to most people if the President steps down now, after 10 months or another five-year term of office. Politically and economically, his achievements would not be rated higher or lower. It seems that he can now only go down particularly in the moral sense and after more students died in antigovernment demonstrations, notably for defending their political conviction. Tragically, House of Representatives (DPR) and People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members are still waiting for their instructions, as if the dead were criminals and state enemies.
The IMF rescue plan was not the most ideal one because essentially it is a new debt burden that must be repaid. Worse, pessimists fear the IMF money would go the same way to the same hands and people with the old, shaky and corrupt mentality.
The country's sorcerers know that although many banks and businesses have gone bankrupt, their owners remain rich. How can people pay for more kerosene while great subsidies to certain oil companies are retained? Any reform (economic, political or legal), has to root out the old mentality in the process, according to my sorcerer.
GANDHI SUKARDI
Jakarta