The lesson of Batutulis

The lesson of Batutulis

Just a little more than a week after our minister of religious
affairs, Said Agil Al Munawar, made a humble public apology for
his high-handed, if well-intentioned, dig for nonexistent
treasure at the Batutulis archaeological site in Bogor, the whole
embarrassing affair appears to have quietly fizzled out. The
minister assured the public that there would be no more digging
at the ancient site, which thousands of people in West Java hold
sacred. What now remains to be seen is whether the country's
judiciary will seriously take up the case in a court of justice,
as several groups and individuals who regard themselves as
representatives of the Sundanese community of West Java have
demanded. Given the judiciary's record of partiality in favor of
those who are in power, the general feeling is that it will not.

Thus, the whole affair of Said Agil's dubious treasure hunt
seems to be conveniently over and buried at this point. Forget
about the buried treasure big enough to pay off Indonesia's
US$130 billion foreign debt. Forget also about the identity of
the "wise man" whose name Said Agil so chivalrously refused to
disclose but who nevertheless should be held responsible for
putting in motion the whole affair in the first place.

Nevertheless, a few compelling questions have remained
unanswered. For example, was President Megawati Soekarnoputri
telling the truth when she said that she had nothing to do with
the affair? Obviously, it would be highly damaging not only for
her own reputation but for that of her entire Cabinet to be
involved in such an embarrassing affair.

In spite of her denial, though, and her reported anger at
being implicated in the affair, many Indonesians believe she was
not, or not entirely, being truthful. For how would a simple
Cabinet minister dare to take such a drastic step by overstepping
his authority and start excavating a protected archaeological
site in violation of the law? For the sake of official decorum,
however, this is a question that will probably never be answered
satisfactorily.

But it would do well to recall that other heads of government
before Megawati have been easily duped by charlatans in the past.
During the heyday of the Sukarno era, a plain woman wearing dark
eyeglasses, who called herself Markonah and professed to be a
local luminary in one of the country's provinces, was feted by
officials from the president down to provincial governors. She
was not found out until well after she had completed her little
adventure.

And top personalities of the Soeharto era, including foreign
minister Adam Malik and first lady Tien Soeharto, were fooled by
a woman, who called herself Cut Zahara Fonna, into believing that
she was pregnant with a "miracle baby" who could recite verses
from the Koran from inside its mother's womb. As it turned out,
the woman was carrying a compact tape recorder hidden in the
folds of the sash she wore to support her "pregnancy". In this
case, the deception was exposed only due to the insistence of the
down-to-earth, Western-educated police chief Hugeng Iman Santoso
on a thorough medical examination of the woman's "pregnancy".

All this goes to show once again that it is important to have
properly authorized government agencies take the necessary steps,
or perform the necessary examinations, to prevent embarrassing
cases such as those mentioned from occurring. It was this kind of
caution that prevented the "miracle baby" hoax from causing
further embarrassment to our government leaders.

As anyone who has spent some time in Indonesia will certainly
know that this country is a fertile breeding ground for myth and
superstition. As far as this predilection is of an innocent
nature and affects ordinary citizens only, it is not very likely
to do too much harm to anyone. Clearly, however, much more
serious damage could be inflicted if groups or personalities in
positions of power are affected. In this case it would be well
worth the effort for the authorities to forestall embarrassment,
or worse, by exercising the appropriate caution and performing
the necessary technical or scientific tests before any action is
taken.