AFP - Sunday, October 4
Indonesia's 'unlucky' president takes quake blame
JAKARTA (AFP) - – Some superstitious Indonesians are blaming a supposedly "unlucky" president -- and not shifting tectonic plates -- for the latest earthquake in this disaster-prone country.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, popularly known by his initials SBY, has long been burdened by murmurs that he carries with him the shadow of cosmic misfortune.
A string of disasters both natural and man-made since his election in 2004, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 across Asia, has seen quips that SBY stands for "Selalu Bencana Ya", roughly meaning "Always A Disaster".
The latest catastrophe, believed to have killed upwards of 1,100 people with another buried 4,000 under rubble, is viewed by many in this Muslim-majority country of 234 million as yet more proof that SBY's stars are crossed. Related article: Disaster leaves villages buried
"SBY, because of his birth date, will always attract disasters to this country, according to the Primbon (a Javanese almanac of mysticism)" Permadi, a veteran politician from the opposition Gerindra party and practising shaman, told AFP.
"Just look at the numbers of his birth date -- the ninth of the ninth, '49 -- that's unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen," he said.
If Yudhoyono stays president, "a much bigger disaster will strike Jakarta for sure," Permadi said, referring to the Indonesian capital.
"If SBY had a big heart, he would step down."
Not everyone believes this theory -- and many see SBY's birthday as enviably lucky -- but such talk of supernatural misfortune has deep resonance in Indonesia, where Islam and Christianity are for many merged with older traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.
The criticism has been long-standing enough that Yudhoyono lectured local government heads in the quake-hit region of West Sumatra two years ago that they should blame the region's volatile geology, and not him.
"Magma doesn't move because SBY has become president. It's malicious to link it to me being president," he was quoted as saying at the time.
Even the Jakarta Post, one of the top-selling English dailies, suggested a link between the disaster and the extravagance of politicians in a Sunday editorial entitled "The Gods Must Be Angry".
"Whether you subscribe to the theological or secular explanation, the 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 1,100 people came on the eve of the multi-billion-rupiah inauguration ball for newly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council in Jakarta," it said.
Political analyst Bima Arya Sugiarto said that while some, particularly opposition politicians, try to paint the president as a spiritual liability, there are benefits for him in Indonesians' gaze beyond the physical world.
Criticism of the often slow aid response, and the poor planning that allowed shoddy buildings to spring up in the first place, has been muted by fatalism and a widespread belief that the disaster is God's will, Sugiarto said.
"The mystical perspective or the religious perspective is more dominant than public criticism of government policies," he said.
Indonesian media have carried accounts of divine symbols in the aftermath of the quake, including a ring-shaped sun surrounded by a rainbow and God's name inscribed in Arabic calligraphy in the clouds.
In the devastated city of Padang, a commonly heard refrain has been that the quake is a test, or a punishment, ordained by God.
"I think the quake happened because many of the youths in Padang commit sins, especially during Ramadan," chicken-feed factory worker Yasrizat, 36, said near a mosque in the city.
"They've been engaging in sinful activities by the beach. I think God is punishing us with this quake."
Indonesia's 'unlucky' president takes quake blame
JAKARTA (AFP) - – Some superstitious Indonesians are blaming a supposedly "unlucky" president -- and not shifting tectonic plates -- for the latest earthquake in this disaster-prone country.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, popularly known by his initials SBY, has long been burdened by murmurs that he carries with him the shadow of cosmic misfortune.
A string of disasters both natural and man-made since his election in 2004, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 across Asia, has seen quips that SBY stands for "Selalu Bencana Ya", roughly meaning "Always A Disaster".
The latest catastrophe, believed to have killed upwards of 1,100 people with another buried 4,000 under rubble, is viewed by many in this Muslim-majority country of 234 million as yet more proof that SBY's stars are crossed. Related article: Disaster leaves villages buried
"SBY, because of his birth date, will always attract disasters to this country, according to the Primbon (a Javanese almanac of mysticism)" Permadi, a veteran politician from the opposition Gerindra party and practising shaman, told AFP.
"Just look at the numbers of his birth date -- the ninth of the ninth, '49 -- that's unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen," he said.
If Yudhoyono stays president, "a much bigger disaster will strike Jakarta for sure," Permadi said, referring to the Indonesian capital.
"If SBY had a big heart, he would step down."
Not everyone believes this theory -- and many see SBY's birthday as enviably lucky -- but such talk of supernatural misfortune has deep resonance in Indonesia, where Islam and Christianity are for many merged with older traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism.
The criticism has been long-standing enough that Yudhoyono lectured local government heads in the quake-hit region of West Sumatra two years ago that they should blame the region's volatile geology, and not him.
"Magma doesn't move because SBY has become president. It's malicious to link it to me being president," he was quoted as saying at the time.
Even the Jakarta Post, one of the top-selling English dailies, suggested a link between the disaster and the extravagance of politicians in a Sunday editorial entitled "The Gods Must Be Angry".
"Whether you subscribe to the theological or secular explanation, the 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 1,100 people came on the eve of the multi-billion-rupiah inauguration ball for newly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council in Jakarta," it said.
Political analyst Bima Arya Sugiarto said that while some, particularly opposition politicians, try to paint the president as a spiritual liability, there are benefits for him in Indonesians' gaze beyond the physical world.
Criticism of the often slow aid response, and the poor planning that allowed shoddy buildings to spring up in the first place, has been muted by fatalism and a widespread belief that the disaster is God's will, Sugiarto said.
"The mystical perspective or the religious perspective is more dominant than public criticism of government policies," he said.
Indonesian media have carried accounts of divine symbols in the aftermath of the quake, including a ring-shaped sun surrounded by a rainbow and God's name inscribed in Arabic calligraphy in the clouds.
In the devastated city of Padang, a commonly heard refrain has been that the quake is a test, or a punishment, ordained by God.
"I think the quake happened because many of the youths in Padang commit sins, especially during Ramadan," chicken-feed factory worker Yasrizat, 36, said near a mosque in the city.
"They've been engaging in sinful activities by the beach. I think God is punishing us with this quake."
