The sun will no longer shine

YOGYAKARTA: Members of a Javanese mystical cult on Mount Merapi who believe the sun will soon stop shining have illegally hoarded kerosene and salt, police said.

Members of Garuda Pancasila Mawahyu Buana in Gondoarum village have taken the prophecy that 1998 is the "year of darkness" literally.

They believed the "darkness" was so imminent it was necessary to hoard 50 drums of kerosene to make light when the days of darkened doom eventually come.

The perceived darkness would be such a natural calamity the electricity system the government installed would not be able to cope, Antara reported.

Their worry that mother nature was upset by human misdeeds and would no longer be as generous prompted them to hoard a ton of salt to mix with fertilizer for their snakefruit plants.

Last year's drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon wrought havoc on their snakefruit, one of the most important cash crops in Sleman regency.

Yogyakarta police detectives chief, Lt. Col. Erwin TPL Tobing said here Wednesday that the authorities did not arrest anyone because the cult members promised to sell the goods to the public.

But he said the authorities were investigating the legality of the cult, which they know was founded by a prominent Yogyakarta figure they refused to name. (pan)