[Kabar-indonesia] Dateline Transcript: Java's Gods Must Be Crazy

[Joyo at aol.com]

Dateline: Australian weekly int'l current affairs program
broadcast on TV & radio on July 26, 2006 
-Transcript [available Aug. 5, 2006]-
    
Java's Gods must be Crazy   

While the Middle East burns, to our north Indonesia
has been suffering more than its fair share of natural
disasters, as distinct from the man-made kind. Last
week's tsunami in Java was the latest, but before that
there was the dreadful Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, the
earthquake in Jogjakarta and other floods and
landslides around the archipelago. And for some in
Indonesia, these events are interpreted as having
mystical rather than scientific origins. On a visit to
Jogjakarta after the May earthquake, Bronwyn Adcock
found that, in fact, mysticism runs deep in the
predominantly Islamic nation.

REPORTER: Bronwyn Adcock

Looking at the devastation here in Jogjakarta, it's
little surprise that many are asking how and why such
a tragedy could occur. Nearly 6,000 are dead and
thousands more homeless. Science says this happened
because Indonesia lies near unstable tectonic plates,
but for many Javanese, mystical explanations abound.

REPORTER: This is the kitchen?

HARRY SURATAL: Kitchen, yeah.

Harry Suratal lost four relatives in the earthquake,
and his home is no longer habitable. He sees this
earthquake as part of a disturbing pattern.

HARRY SURATAL (Translation): An earthquake of this
magnitude has never happened before. In the past,
indeed, we've had many disasters, but never on this
scale. Well, it seems that it started in 2003. Or
maybe 2004/2005. That was when many disasters started
to happen.

Harry is Muslim, but also a believer in Javanese
mysticism. He thinks the string of recent natural
disasters, including the Boxing Day tsunami, could be
because the current Indonesian president doesn't have
something called wahyu.

HARRY SURATAL (Translation): Wahyu is a kind of
approval that we Javanese believe to be an anointment
from the gods. Possessing wahyu means that if a region
or a nation is led by someone who doesn't have it,
then no matter how smart they may be, nature and the
nation will not be at peace.

Like many in Jogjakarta, Harry and his family now live
and sleep outside because they're worried about
another earthquake. And they're not the only ones in
Java connecting natural disasters to mystical beliefs.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): A week before the
disaster, there were many witnesses who heard me say
"In a week's time it will rain tears and blood in
Yogya."

Gembong Danuningrat is a well-known mystic - or
paranormal in Jogjakarta - who says he predicted the
earthquake.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): Mystically, this
disaster happened because my people in Java have
forgotten their tradition, their old way of life. They
have forgotten their Javanese spiritual tradition. For
example, certain rituals have been abandoned.

Gembong says that rituals are needed to prevent
further disaster in Jogjakarta, in particular, to stop
the danger posed by Mount Merapi, an active volcano to
the north of the city. Choosing a day when the
official danger level has been dropped from extreme to
moderate, I head up the volcano with Gembong, the
paranormal.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT: This is Merapi! Look - Merapi.

Cloud and smoke stop a clear view of Merapi's peak - a
volcano that is feared, but also revered.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): The soul of the
Javanese is just like the Mount Merapi who has this
endless enthusiasm - he is active and has enthusiasms
and spirit but it is buried deep down.

At his retreat on the side of the volcano, Gempong and
his students are preparing to conduct an important
ceremony. He believes he can placate the volcano
through prayer and ritual as he's done in the past.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): We could not stop
the eruption, but I did mitigate the impact. So my
prediction about Mt Merapi - a week ago it erupted
violently, yes? As I had foretold to many "Merapi will
erupt in two days". It did, violently, but there were
no casualties, because we prayed for the wind to
change direction.

Javanese mysticism is based on traditions that predate
Islam and Hinduism when people worshipped the spirits
of the natural world. While Islam is now the dominant
religion in Java, many have never given up the
traditions of animism. Javanese mysticism sits
comfortably alongside many people's Islamic beliefs.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): We ask for safety
so that any natural disasters - earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions - do not befall our community.

After praying to Allah, Gempong puts energy into food
that will be offered up to Mount Merapi. After the
ritual, Gempong demonstrates the powerful energy he
says he and his followers can create. Suddenly,
Gembong hears some worrying news via a safety radio.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): Mount Merapi
erupted once again - a great eruption.

REPORTER: What's happening? Let's go. Let's go. Yeah?

Any plans to deliver the blessed food up to Merapi are
abandoned, as we all race down the mountain.

REPORTER: Yeah, it's getting hot. Let's hope the car
doesn't break down. What's happening? What's
happening?

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): Evacuation, they
are all fleeing. It is a great eruption and there is
an evacuation, people are fleeing.

REPORTER: Even though we're heading down the hill now
the air temperature is still rising pretty rapidly and
there is a fine dust that's starting to come down.
Hundreds of villagers are fleeing into evacuation
centres. The biggest danger comes from the clouds of
poisonous gas belching from the volcano. Out of the
danger zone we stop for a closer look at Merapi. This
is one of the biggest eruptions this year. We later
learn that two people were killed. Gempong the
paranormal says this won't be the last of Merapi's
eruptions.

Back in Jogjakarta, I meet Rustanto. Despite living in
the middle of the earthquake zone, his home was
virtually untouched by the disaster.

RUSTANTO (Translation): It was a special blessing from
God that we were saved.

Rustanto is Christian, and also a deep believer in
mysticism. He and his family strictly observe ancient
Javanese traditions, such as religious days and
rituals.

RUSTANTO (Translation): For a while, we forgot your
teachings so that we were drowned in darkness struck
by this devastating earthquake.

Like Gempong and many others, he believes this tragedy
occurred because too many Javanese have forgotten
these traditions.

RUSTANTO (Translation): A lesson that people today
have abandoned their traditional culture, the culture
introduced by our ancestors, which had sublime
objectives. People today have abandoned it.

But like many in Java, Rustanto also places blame at
the feet of their leaders. The Royal Palace here in
Jogjakarta is seen as the heart of Javanese culture,
and also the centre of spiritual power. The current
Sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, is meant to be the guardian
of these powers, but word on the street is that he's
neglecting Javanese culture, and focusing too much on
modernity. He recently built a department store over
an ancestral site. Rustanto believes the highly
revered Goddess of the South Seas is angry with the
Sultan.

RUSTANTO (Translation): Yes, its certain the Goddess
of the South Sea is furious. Because the latest one,
the current one, I'm not saying the 10th Sultan but
the current one has been neglectful. Neglectful as I
said yesterday of his lowly subjects, his
long-suffering subjects. In short, when people no
longer care, it means they are negligent.

The Sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, rejects the charge that
he's been negligent.

SULTAN HAMENGKUBUWONO X (Translation): Although I am
the Patron of Culture, this so called culture is not
static. Culture keeps developing with the changing
times and with the coming of each new generation. I
refuse to think the way they did 100 years ago because
I live in the present. I am also looking towards the
future and modernisation.

The Sultan is well aware that some hold him
responsible for the earthquake.

SULTAN HAMENGKUBUWONO X (Translation): But for me
there is no correlation and is tendentious if there
are claims that this earthquake happened due to
cultural neglect linked to the construction of
Ambarrukmo plaza. For me, that is impossible.

While the Sultan bristles at suggestions that he's
somehow to blame for all of this, it's par for the
course in Indonesia where mysticism is frequently used
to attack political figures.

GEMBONG DANUNINGRAT (Translation): Well in Java,
whenever something happens, such as political change,
or transfer of leadership, they are all instigated by
natural phenomena. Destruction, earthquakes, floods,
plagues and diseases.

Even in the nation's capital, Jakarta, such arguments
have currency. The string of natural disasters is
being used against Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, or 'SBY'. Permadi is a member of
parliament, and the one-time spiritual adviser to
former president Megawati Sukarnoputri.

PERMADI (Translation): since SBY has become president
there has been disaster after disaster, sickness after
sickness. They have all occurred in fact, were SBY has
the desire to see, he will notice all natural elements
are reacting. First, the element of Wind…In Indonesia
the wind has been whirling. There are storms,
typhoons, hurricanes, cyclones and so on. Next Fire -
there have been fires throughout Indonesia -
factories, forests, homes, markets, malls. Fires are
burning everywhere. Earth - earthquakes, landslides
are occurring everywhere. And then Water - floods,
tsunamis are also occurring everywhere. But SBY isn't
aware of these things. Maybe his heart knows.

Permadi is a political rival of the President, so it's
perhaps not surprising that he's attacking him.
Purwadi Hum is an expert in Javanese mysticism. He's
written dozens of books on the subject. A believer
himself, he says superficial mysticism is used to
score political points.

PURWADI HUM (Translation): Exploiting suffering,
disasters, tragedies…All has been exploited as a tool
to assign blame, but actually this is beyond
manageability of the government.

These days Purwadi is spending time away from his
books, helping villagers rebuild from the earthquake.
He says that ancient forecasts did predict that these
years would be dark and turbulent ones for Indonesia.

PURWADI HUM (Translation): So a fateful prophecy or
prediction about something can be remedied. Disasters
can be anticipated, destruction can be prevented even
if it has been prophesied. So the Javanese summarise
this philosophy. And all these Javanese predictions
can be summed up with, so people must remember, and be
reminded, to be alert.

While the Javanese are being asked to be alert, the
same could also be asked of their government. Last
week a tsunami killed another 500 in Java, sweeping
past safety buoys that failed to alert people to what
was coming. In the absence of sound official advice,
many anxious Javanese will no doubt continue to look
towards their mystics.

Reporter / Camera: BRONWYN ADCOCK
Editor: DAVID POTTS
Subtitling: STEPHEN DHARMANTO
Local Fixer: MOCHAMMAD FARIED CAHYONO
Researcher: MELANIE MORRISON
Producer: AMOS COHEN 

------------------------------------------
Joyo Indonesia News Service
------------------------------------------