A little boy’s miracle-working throws light on the workings of the Indonesian state and the hunger for salvation amongst ordinary people
By M. Fajar
‘Dukun Cilik dari Jombang’, the Little Sorcerer from Jombang, is the boy’s nickname. Only nine years old, Ponari, born in Balongsari village, in the district of Jombang, East Java, is still at primary school, but he’s become famous in the past year.
It began with a lightning strike on December 12, 2008, says Ponari. In the middle of a hard rain, the lightning left behind a mysterious stone. According to Ponari and his followers, when he dunks the stone in water and the water is drunk by a sick person, it can heal the person’s illness. As the mass media coverage of his powers spread, so did Ponari’s popularity. First, it was just the people of Balongsari village who came to see him. Then, as word spread, large numbers of people, around 5000 per day, spilled out of Jombang and even travelled from the towns of Central Java to come and visit Ponari, each paying Rp.5,000 (US$ 0.5) to visit him.
Four people died, crushed by the crowds. For several months, every day the line would stretch hundreds of metres in front of Ponari’s house, as people waited for him to sink his stone into the glasses of water they brought with them. Those who could not wait in line scraped up soil from around his house and plastered it on their bodies, or collected water from his family’s well, hoping it would cure whatever ailed them.
Ponari and his stone not only attracted people, but also attracted a large amount of money. The money that circulated in Balongsari village as a result of the Ponari phenomenon was estimated to be as much as one billion rupiah (US$100,000) per day. Most of this money went to local businesses, including local merchants who sold food, water and accommodation for those who wanted to wait in the queue to see the child healer. There was even a soft drink named after him, Ponari Sweat, evidently borrowed from the popular Pocari Sweat drink.
For Ponari’s family, however, the story of Ponari’s success had a bitter side to it. Ponari’s life changed completely and his days became thoroughly consumed with healing, leaving no time for school or normal childhood activities, and leading to pressure from the National Commission for Child Protection. Ponari was even the centre of a quarrel between family members. In February 2009 the police shut down Ponari’s practice. His father, Khomsin, was beaten in a fight and hospitalised for trying to take Ponari away from the control of extended family members who wanted to reopen the practice.
A plethora of prophets
The Ponari phenomenon is not new. Before Ponari, there have been many miracle workers, alternative healers, and prophets who claimed to have magical powers to heal and bring good fortune. Lia Eden, for example, is a woman who proclaimed herself a prophet and tried to construct a new religion based on a blend of Islam and Christian doctrines. She was first known as Lia Aminuddin and declared herself as the heir of Muhammad, the last prophet in Islam. Her first public appearance was in 1998 when she claimed she was Imam Mahdi, a manifestation of the Islamic belief that a person will appear at the end of the world to spread peace and justice. She was jailed for two and a half years for blasphemy last June.
Another figure is Agus Solichin, a man who declared himself as a satrio piningit (saviour knight), a figure based on the legend of a person who will emerge to overcome goro-goro (great chaos). He first appeared in 2002 in Bekasi, West Java. He established a group with controversial teachings and rituals regarding sexual relations between husbands and wives. When protests occurred in 2009 about the rituals, the police shut down the house where Agus practiced.
The miracle workers and prophets all make two different but related claims. Firstly, they claim they can heal the sick of their mental and physical ailments. For instance, Agus Solichin forbade one of his followers to go to hospital and consume drugs from the doctor.
Instead, he convinced his follower to trust his healing methods. (In the end, the patient died because of lack of treatment.) Secondly, they all promise a doctrine of liberation and salvation. Lia Eden, for example, announced her house was a Kingdom of God. She preached that the end of days would arrive soon and those who wanted to survive must obey her teaching. When the prophets heal or ‘save’ people, their patients worship them in return.
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