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.