¹ Surawijaya, Bunga and Muryadi, Wahyu, “Kiai-kiai dengan Kekuatan Plus”, Tempo 22,3 (1992): 43–48Google Scholar, 63–66; “Saya Berbuat Jahat Saja Terus”, DëTIK 17,43 (1994): 22–23Google Scholar; “‘Orang Pintar’ untuk Orang Terkenal”, Editor 5,46 (1992): 66–69Google Scholar; “Orang Kita Munafik, Malu-malu Tapi Mau”, Surya 6,314 (1992): 2Google Scholar. See also Vlasblom, D., “Indonesië: ziener wekt woede moslims en regering op”, NRC Handelsblad 25,167 (1995): 4Google Scholar.

² Hanna, W.A., “The Magical-Mystical Syndrome in the Indonesian Mentality. Part I: Signs and Seers. Part II: Ka'Rachim and Other Initiates”, American Universities Field Staff Report Service, Southeast Asia Series 15, 5 & 6 (1967)Google Scholar.

³ The name of the university is a pseudonym as are those place names that would have been too revealing. The university's structure, administration and progress, as well as its problems are quite similar to other universities of this size, such as, for example, the one described by Dr. Siswohartono, Jadikan, “Studi Tentang Kultur Organisasi Universitas Harapan Negara” (Ph.D. diss., Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Malang, Program Pasca Sarjana, 1992)Google Scholar. Informants at the university under discussion included both senior and junior faculty members mostly in their 30s and 40s, although some senior ones were in their 50s. The problem of rumours about sorcery was brought to my attention during a casual conversation which I then followed up with a formal interview, later expanded to eight persons (seven men and one woman) who were intensively interviewed on the university and its operation. This information was then checked in conversations with many others, both in the university and in the surrounding community, some of whom confirmed the data while others scoffed at it, labeling it old fashioned and un-Islamic. Further checks were made with persons at other universities in East, Central, and West Java, which confirmed my findings and showed this not to be an isolated phenomenon.

⁴ Weber, M., “Science as a Vocation”, in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, ed. Gerth, H.H. and Mills, C. Wright (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1947), pp. 139–47Google Scholar.

⁵ Cf. Mackie, J.A.C. and Zain, Djumilah, “East Java: Balanced Growth and Diversification”, in Unity and Diversity: Regional Economic Development in Indonesia since 1970, ed. Hill, H. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 307–329Google Scholar.

⁶ Hartveld, A., “Socio-Economic Profile of East Java”, in Steps toward Growth: Rural Industrialization and Socioeconomic Growth in East Java, ed. Holzner, B. (Leiden: DSWO Press, Leiden University, 1985), pp. 23–42Google Scholar.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Mackie and Zain, “East Java”, p. 316.

⁹ The exchange rate for the rupiah when this data was gathered was about 2000 per US dollar. Since then government salaries have risen some. In January 1993 the daily newspaper Kompas reported that the lowest two grades of civil servants would receive a pay rise of 18 per cent and that the pay for the next two grades would rise 12 per cent on the average. Cf. “Kenaikan Itu Tak Bisa Ditunda”, Tempo 22,46 (1993): 78–80Google Scholar.

¹⁰ “Korps Pegawai Kelas Dua”, Tempo 22,49 (1993): 14–22Google Scholar.

¹¹ Cf. Jordaan, R., “Folk Medicine in Madura (Indonesia)” (Ph.D. diss., Leiden, Rijksuniversiteit, 1985), pp. 105–106Google Scholar.

¹² “Apa Bupati dan Camat itu Takut Disantet?”, Fakta 170, 15 (Aug. 1990): 28–29Google Scholar.

¹³ Jaspan, M.A., “Tolerance and Rejection of Cultural Impediments to Economic Growth: the South Sumatran Case”, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 7 (Jun. 1967): 38–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁴ Compare Jadikan Siswohartono, “Studi Tentang Kultur”, p. 247.

¹⁵ Bailey, F.G., Stratagems and Spoils. A Social Anthropology of Politics (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1969)Google Scholar; Bossevain, J., Friends of Friends. Networks, Manipulators and Coalitions (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974)Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Compare Jadikan Siswohartono, “Studi Tentang Kultur”.

¹⁷ Ibid., p. 254.

¹⁸ Cf. Clark, D.H. and Oey-Gardiner, M., “How Indonesian Lecturers have Adjusted to Civil Service Compensation”, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 27,3 (1991): 129–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁹ “30 Mahasiswa Unej Terlibat KKN Fiktif”, Surya 7,128 (1993): 9Google Scholar.

²⁰ This situation is quite similar to that found in India: “Many informants contended that various leaders … were motivated by lust for power and/or greed.… But, as might be expected, all the agents denied greed as a motivation for their political activities. Yet there were frequent stories in the newspapers, and rumors ran rampant in The University, that attest to a lack of ethics by various agents regarding the use of University funds and means of acquiring money.… [Activities aimed at enhancing one's financial status are not uncommon in Indian universities generally.… Positions of power in The University provide numerous ways and opportunities to stash away a future nest egg.” Kurtz, D.V., Contradictions and Conflict: A Dialectical Political Anthropology of a University in Western India (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), p. 70Google Scholar.

²¹ Bossevain, Friends of Friends, pp. 85, 192.

²² Anderson, B., “The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture”, in Culture and Politics in Indonesia, ed. Holt, C. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), pp. 1–69Google Scholar.

²³ Geertz, C., Negara. The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 106Google Scholar; Parsons, T. (ed.), Max Weber: The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (New York: The Free Press, 1964), pp. 64–65Google Scholar, 328.

²⁴ Bowen, J.R., “Return to Sender: A Muslim Discourse of Sorcery in a Relatively Egalitarian Society, the Gayo of Northern Sumatra”, in Understanding Witchcraft and Sorcery in Southeast Asia, ed. Watson, C.W. and Ellen, R. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993), pp. 179–90Google Scholar.

²⁵ This would seem to answer the question raised by Wikan concerning why, if the Balinese believe that “the hour of death is fated and preordained by God”, people still fear black magic. If, in fact, that which is determined by God can be altered by appeals to His power, such efforts are certainly something to be feared [Wikan, U., Managing Turbulent Hearts. A Balinese Formula for Living (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), pp. 164–65Google Scholar].

²⁶ Cf. Geertz, C., The Religion of Java (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1960)Google Scholar.

²⁷ Cf. Budiyono, , Tradisi Nyadar bagi Masyarakat Penggirpapas di Madura. Seri Kertas Kerja No. 23 (Jember: Bidang Kajian Madura, Universitas Jember, 1992)Google Scholar.

²⁸ Eska, Bamar, Sihir, Santet dan Tenung. (Ditinjau dari Agama Islam dan Kristen) (Surabaya: Bintang RemajaGoogle Scholar, n.d.).

²⁹ Watson calls the word dukun a “catch-all term for healer, sorcerer, magician”. In Java it is a generic term for indigenous healers while one category of them is associated with malign magic. These “sorcerer” dukun, Nitibaskara reports, are thought to use evil spirits. Because of their skills in dealing with the supernatural world of spirits and ancestors, both in finding cures and in performing magic, I add the gloss shaman to the above ones, although some (cf. Peletz) would disagree, preferring to restrict shaman to the pawang, another category of local practitioner, learned in the ways of the forest [C.W. Watson, “Perceptions from Within: Malign Magic in Indonesian Literature”, in Understanding Witchcraft, ed. Watson and Ellen, p. 194; R. Nitibaskara, “Observations on the Practice of Sorcery in Java”, in Understanding Witchcraft, pp. 125–26; M.G. Peletz, “Knowledge, Power, and Personal Misfortune in a Malay Context”, in Understanding Witchcraft, p. 152].

³⁰ Cf. Rato, Dominikus, Buju' dan Asta: Persepsi Masyarakat Madura Sumenep Terhadap Kuburan Keramat. Seri Kertas Kerja No. 18 (Jember: Bidang Kajian Madura, Universitas Jember, 1992)Google Scholar. Berkah is usually used in the sense of blessing, a gift from God. However, Lewis writes of barakah among the Somali as a “miracle-working energy which brings life and blessing”, making it rather akin to the cosmic power (kesakten) discussed by Anderson. See “The Idea”; Lewis, I.M., “The Anthropologist's Encounter with the Supernatural”, in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, ed. Lehmann, A.C. and Myers, J.E. (Mountain View: Mayfield, 1989), pp. 24–25Google Scholar.

³¹ Cf. Woodward, M.R., Islam in Java. Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989), pp. 53–54Google Scholar.

³² R. Ellen, “Introduction”, in Understanding Witchcraft, ed. Watson and Ellen, pp. 8–9.

³³ Parsons, Max Weber, p. 65.

³⁴ Scott, J.C., “Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast Asia”, American Political Science Review 66 (1972): 91–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁵ Parsons, Max Weber, p. 65.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Bamar Eska, Sihir, p. 102.

³⁸ Evans-Pritchard, E.E., Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972 (1937)], pp. 21, 387Google Scholar.

³⁹ Douglas, M., Purity and Danger. An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970), p. 105Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Marwick, M.G., “The Social Context of Cewa Witch Beliefs”, Africa 22,2 (1952): 120CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴¹ Hammond-Tooke, W.D., “Urbanization and the Interpretation of Misfortune: A Quantitative Analysis”, Africa 40,1 (1970): 25CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴² C.W. Watson and R. Ellen (eds.), Understanding Witchcraft.

⁴³ Cf. DëTIK, “Saya Berbuat Jahat”, pp. 22–23.

⁴⁴ U. Wikan, Managing, p. 246.

⁴⁵ Hanna, “The Magical-Mystical Syndrome”, Pt. I, p. 5.

⁴⁶ “Orang Kita”, p. 2.

⁴⁷ Koentjaraningrat, , “Javanese Magic, Sorcery and Numerology”, Masyarakat Indonesia 6,1 (1979): 37–52Google Scholar; Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”, pp. 161–94.

⁴⁸ Cf. Maijer, L. Th., De Javaan als doekoen. Een ethnographische bijdrage (Weltevreden: G. Kolff, 1918)Google Scholar.

⁴⁹ Koentjaraningrat, “Javanese Magic”, p. 50.

⁵⁰ Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”, pp. 162–63.

⁵¹ Chinta, “Dukun Santet Lenyapkan 13 Nyawa”, Liberty 40,1792 (1993).

⁵² Bamar Eska, Sihir, p. 133.

⁵³ Geertz, The Religion of Java; Koentjaraningrat, “Javanese Magic"; Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”; Nitibaskara, “Observations”.

⁵⁴ Accounts of sorcerers and sorcery from the wider Southeast Asian context exist as well, notably those by Winstedt, Lieban, and Watson and Ellen. Much of the data in these is quite similar to that found in Java [Winstedt, R., The Malay Magician being Shaman, Saiva and Sufi (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951)Google Scholar; Lieban, R.W., Cebuano Sorcery, Malign Magic in the Philippines (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977)Google Scholar; Watson and Ellen, Understanding Witchcraft].

⁵⁵ Fury uses santet as the most general category and subdivides this into tenung or teluh, the magic used to kill, guna-guna or pelet (love magic) and gendam, used to cheat or rob someone [Fury, , “Santet. Kriminalitas Dunia Gaib”, Liberty 39, 1766 (1992): 15Google Scholar; cf. SJs, SS and Fury, , “Cinta, Seks dan Guna-guna”, Liberty 39,1774 (1992): 15Google Scholar]. Koentjaraningrat and Geertz give slightly different categories, probably reflecting variant local usages (Koentjaraningrat, “Javanese Magic”, pp. 45, 49; Geertz, The Religion of Java, pp. 107–108; see also Wikan, Managing Turbulent Hearts, pp. 86–87, 299–302n. 20–32). The most elaborate classification of magic from Banyuwangi is made by Kusnadi, who divides magical practices into four categories: black, yellow, red, and white. A victim of black magic, he writes, loses life and property, while red magic makes the victim insane without killing him or her. Yellow magic makes people feel good toward us and white magic is used to undo the effects of the red and black varieties [Kusnadi, , “Santet dalam Pandangan Orang Osing”, Surya 7, 290 (1993):10Google Scholar]. It should not be assumed that these various categories can easily be reduced to a binary opposition of black and white magic. As Mizayaki points out, this clear distinction does not exist in Javanese, although it does occur in Indonesian where, I suspect, it was introduced via contact with the west. Magic may be used for good or evil, but the powers involved, like the kesakten discussed by Anderson, are in principle amoral; “the knowledge and the technique … can be ‘black’ or ‘white’ according to their purpose” [Miyazaki, Koji, “The King and the People. The Conceptual Structure of a Javanese Kingdom” (Ph.D. diss., Leiden, Rijksuniversiteit, 1988), p. 97Google Scholar; cf. Nitibaskara, “Observations”, p. 123; Anderson, “The Idea of Power”].

⁵⁶ Other famous centres in the area are Sumenep on Madura, Bali (cf. Wikan, Managing), Puger on the south coast of East Java, and Blitar.

⁵⁷ Cf. Wikan, Managing Turbulent Hearts, p. 258.

⁵⁸ Cf. Koentjaraningrat, “Javanese Magic”, p. 45; Fury, “Santet”, p. 15.

⁵⁹ Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 95. Reports of suspected sorcerers being killed or injured regularly appear in the news. Between Aug. 1990 and Feb. 1993 I noted more than 30 such items.

⁶⁰ Bamar Eska, Sihir, pp. 139–48, 167–68, 177–78; cf. Douglas, M., “Witchcraft and Leprosy: Two Strategies of Exclusion”, Man 26,4 (1991): 723–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶¹ Syukur, Hasan and Lubis, Marlis, “Kanibal dari Karanganyar?”, Tempo 21,1 (1991): 88Google Scholar.

⁶² Cederroth, S., “Javanese and Sasak Folk Beliefs. The Changing Role of Diviners in Two Indonesian Villages”, in Agrarian Society in History. Essays in Honor of Magnus Morner, ed. Lundahl, M. and Svensson, T. (London: Routledge, 1990), p. 170Google Scholar. Inversions are an almost defining and moreover very old characteristic of sorcery on Java. Poerbatjaraka reports on the tale Calon-Arang, set in the time of King Erlangga (928–1049) in which the witch Calwanarang, in order to achieve her worldly goals, reads backwards a book that is otherwise a “guide to the excellent path. It was extraordinarily good, leading to perfection; a complete, perfect doctrine.…” These words could today be used to describe the Koran. Calwanarang, however, literally inverts it, transforming its power to evil. She and her acolytes are furthermore described as conducting nude ritual dances in a graveyard, with unkempt hair, making obscene gestures and offering raw meat and blood, including that of humans, all antithetical to civilized Javanese behavior, though often ascribed to sorcerers today [Poerbatjaraka, , “De Calon-Arang”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Landen Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 82 (1926): 150–59Google Scholar]; cf. Chinta, “Dukun Santet”, p. 21.

⁶³ Woodward, Islam in Java, pp. 228, 232–33.

⁶⁴ Bamar Eska, Sihir, Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 95.

⁶⁵ Jordaan notes that among the Madurese, “Illnesses that are thought to be caused by supernatural agents are often those which occur suddenly and for no apparent reason, like fits and loss of consciousness. In other instances it concerns illnesses marked by grave and dramatic symptoms, such as coughing blood, abdominal swellings, paralysis. Failure in finding immediate symptomatic relief from herbal and/or modern medicines will strengthen the suspicion of a supernatural cause” (Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”, p. 223).

⁶⁶ According to a member of the law faculty, the Biro Bantuan Hukum is part of the law college and handles large sums of money paid by successful clients. The head of the BBH is chosen by the dean, in which the old politics play a role as well.

⁶⁷ Bamar Eska, Sihir, pp. 107–109, 247.

⁶⁸ Geertz, The Religion of Java, p. 110.

⁶⁹ Cf. Peletz, “Knowledge, Power”, p. 150.

⁷⁰ Wikan, U., “Illness from Fright or Soul Loss: A North Balinese Culture-Bound Syndrome?”, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 13,1 (1989): 32CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

⁷¹ Amari, , “Kungkum di Kawah Gunung Demi Manusia”, Liberty 37,1730 (1990): 4Google Scholar.

⁷² Fakta, “Apa Bupati”, p. 28; “Takut Disantet, Pegawai Pemda Tolak Jadi Kades Lapataman”, Surya 6,104 (1992): 9Google Scholar.

⁷³ Amari, “Kungkum”, p. 4.

⁷⁴ Dominikus Rato, Buju'; Herm, Eir and SJs, “Memburu Pangkat Lewat Tirakat”, Liberty 39,1775 (1992): 14–19Google Scholar.

⁷⁵ Semar, , Ayiek, , Herman, and Fury, , “Membayar Janji dengan ‘Nadar’”, Liberty 40,1782 (1992): 38Google Scholar.

⁷⁶ Bamar Eska, Sihir.

⁷⁷ Cf. Bunga Surawijaya and Wahyu Muryadi, “Kiai-kiai”.

⁷⁸ Ibid., p. 46.

⁷⁹ Cf. Geertz, The Religion of Java.

⁸⁰ Note that the informant contrasted abangan with Madurese, who are locally known to be rather steadfast in their professed belief in Islam, making a perhaps unintended statement about the Javanese and their adherence to the tenets of the religion.

⁸¹ L. Golomb, “The Relativity of Magical Malevolence in Urban Thailand”, in Understanding Witchcraft, p. 34.

⁸² Nitibaskara, “Observations”, p. 127.

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ Cf. Syarifuddin, Ayiek, “Misteri Orang Jawa”, Liberty 37,1715 (1989): 55Google Scholar.

⁸⁵ Cf. DëTIK, “Saya Berbuat Jahat”, p. 23.

⁸⁶ Fury, “Santet”, p. 16; Jordaan speculates that it may be the bitterness of the papaya leaf that wards off sorcery. Elsewhere he points out that among the Madurese “bitter blood” gives one immunity from disease (Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”, pp. 202, 314). Serai or sereh is also known as Andropogon Nardus, L. and Andropogon citratus. The Javanese believe that this plant hardly ever blooms on Java and someone who finds a blooming serai may expect a great amount of luck [Ochse, J.J., Indische groenten (Batavia: Departement Landbouw, Nijverheid en Handel, 1931), p. 300Google Scholar]. While no direct connection can be made, it is interesting that lemon grass is thought to ward off sorcery because in Aceh the jeruk purut (lime, Citrus hystrix) is thought to have the power to keep evil spirits away [Alfian, Ibrahim, Perang di Jalan Allah: Aceh 1873–1912 (Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan, 1987), p. 49Google Scholar].

⁸⁷ Cf. Hanna, “Magical, Mystical”, pt. 1, p. 5.

⁸⁸ Ibid., p. 7.

⁸⁹ Fury, “Santet”, p. 16.

⁹⁰ See photograph in Jordaan, “Folk Medicine”, pp. 146–47. Similar shirts are used in Thailand. Cf. Rajadhon, P. A., “Thai Charms and Amulets”, Journal of the Siam Society 52,2 (1964): 171–97Google Scholar.

⁹¹ Endang, Ir., “Rompi Ontokusumo Untuk Memagari Diri”, Liberty 39,1774 (1992): 66–67Google Scholar.

⁹² SS, Eir and SJs, “Asma' dan jimat pelindung diri”, Liberty 39,1776 (1992): 44Google Scholar.

⁹³ “Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him. Unto Him belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that intercedeth with Him save by His leave? He knoweth that which is in front of them and that which is behind them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will. His throne includeth the heavens and the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous” [Pickthall, M.M., The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (New York, Mentor, n.d.), p. 57Google Scholar]. An Indonesian translation of the Koran comments that the kursi in this verse is interpreted by some of the commentators to mean God's knowledge (ilmu) while others interpret it as His power or might (kekuasaan) [Al Qur'an dan Terjemahannya (Jakarta: Departemen Agama Republik Indonesia, n.d.), p. 63Google Scholar, n. 161].

⁹⁴ Geertz, The Religion of Java, pp. 106–107.

⁹⁵ Bailey, Stratagems and Spoils, p. 59.

⁹⁶ Bossevain, Friends of Friends, p. 8.

⁹⁷ Wikan, Managing Turbulent Hearts, p. 83; Bowen, “Return to Sender”, p. 187.

⁹⁸ Beattie, J., Other Cultures (New York: Free Press, 1964), p. 280Google Scholar.

⁹⁹ Lieban, Cebuano Sorcery, p. 117.