Ponari & His Magic Healing Stone

Feb 26th, 2009, in IM Posts, by Lairedion

View the original article here.

249 Comments on “Ponari & His Magic Healing Stone”

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DumadiSatrio Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 1:57 am
I was in Semarang once, and I was having tea with some guys during their work break.

In the front yard there was a goat tied up, so I inquired about the goat.
To which, I was informed that the goat had AIDS.
I wondered out loud, how did the goat get AIDS?
They said that there was a magic man who had taken the AIDS out of a sick man, and put it in the goat…..

While I do hope the the gentleman does not go out and donate blood any time soon, sometimes I cant help but wonder.
I’ve had my mind blown a few times, by things I cant explain.
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 8:51 am
DumadiSatrio.. Only in Indonesia! LoL!

Yet there is growing criticism of the Balongsari circus. Especially Muslim organizations condemn what is happening there

Well of course it’s gotta’ be un-Islamic! anything the religious bigots in the MUI don’t like is stamped as un-Islamic, they are probably pissed off because they didn’t think of this nice little earner.
Never mind a committee from the local chapter of the MUI will visit “Yellow Stone Park” to collect their brown envelopes along with the local filth, AKA Mr Plod! RT, RW old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all the other parasites, Oh! Yes they won’t let money like this slip through their fingers, and after the ritual of the “brown envelope” all will be forgiven.
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 9:00 am
BTW.. Was this kid struck by lightening or is he just moonstruck? or he could be an ALIEN!!
Mike Oxblack Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 9:40 am
He’s got the shinin’!!
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Or he’s got the “shoo in”!!!
David Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 11:52 am
He might be watching too much television, there are an awful lot of ‘anak ajaib’ sinetron, stories about kids with magical powers, current popular one is Ronaldowati and his magic football or magic kick or something, which the kids around my way are just nuts about, even two year olds try to kick a ball while saying the Ronaldowati ‘mantra’ or whatever it is…
Marlo Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
“Yet there is growing criticism of the Balongsari circus. Especially Muslim organizations condemn what is happening there. It is superstition and therefore sinful but also dangerous.”

Isn’t it funny to hear the head of a religious council condemning superstitions…
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Talking about weird goings on, it reminds me of the story of the impregnation of a cow by some old village idiot.

Villagers from Julah in Tejakula, Buleleng, towed a pregnant cow behind a boat into open sea as part of a local traditional ritual.
The cow, which is five months pregnant, was thrown out to the sea about 3 kilometres from land Monday. The villagers believe the animal was impregnated by a village elder.
During the ritual the man, who was caught red-handed having sexual intercourse with the cow two months ago, joined the boat trip in order to throw his clothes into the sea to symbolize him discarding his sins.
Julah customary village head Ketut Sidemen said the ritual, called gamya gamana, or freak weeding, and had been conducted there for generations. The decision to perform the ritual was made a local residents meeting.
In line with customary regulations, the perpetrator, identified only as PS, 70, was sanctioned to fund the expensive ceremony, which aimed to cleanse him of any bad
David Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Schmerly, yes, cow sex.
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
@ Patung.. Sorry I hadn’t read that.
Mike Oxblack Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Isn’t it funny to hear the head of a religious council condemning superstitions…

Yes, I don’t see why we should listen to him just because he’s got an imaginary friend. At least you get clowns driving small cars with the doors falling off down at the circus. What are the Muslims offering? Just a lot of dull praying as far as I can see.
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Marlo..

Isn’t it funny to hear the head of a religious council condemning superstitions…

Yea especially as they make a living off superstition.
Miss Daisy Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
tsk..kept reading the name of the boy wrong..it looks a lot like a poona…i’ll stop here.

To be fair, this thing doesnt only happen here i think. Superstition is pretty universal, no?
Mike Oxblack Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Indeed. Superstition runs rife over the planet in many guises (organized religion being the most dominant manifestation). Open any newspaper in the world and you’ll find an astrology column. But where’s the astronomy column?
Miss Daisy Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Mike,
too complicated, where’s the fun in that
TheWrathOfGrapes Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
But where’s the astronomy column?

Ya, Mike – give me astronomy any time. I prefer to study heavenly bodies…
schmerly Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Patung

even two year olds try to kick a ball while saying the Ronaldowati ‘mantra’ or whatever it is…

I can just imagine the little tykes, what a laugh.
joao Says:
February 26th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
They want Ponari to continue because they earn big money: they sell food, they rent out parking spaces, sleeping places and sell water in which Ponari has immersed his stone. This poor peasant village is making a daily turnover of one billion rupiah (70,000 euros).

Another compelling proof that here in Indonesia you always can make tons of money out of anything, especially the totally absurd ones. Given enough time, it’s even possible for them to build a theme park (Ponariland ?) in Balongsari. Aggressive investors wanted.
David Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Lairedion, you’ve got a pretty good ‘hit rate’ with these posts of yours, this one got linked from forteantimes.com, a weird news site, and there have been over 1,000 visits to this page from there alone. Plus I noticed in my RSS stats this post got an unusual number of click thru’s to the page. Damn you…
schmerly Says:
February 27th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Patung.. perhaps it gets a lot of hits because people want to pick up some tips on starting their own scams!
Lairedion Says:
February 28th, 2009 at 2:14 am
Patung,

The same story also appeared in other Dutch sites but this was the most complete. I’m glad my posts attract more visitors to your site…

Patung.. perhaps it gets a lot of hits because people want to pick up some tips on starting their own scams!

No way, dude. It’s solely because of the quality of my posts…
diego Says:
February 28th, 2009 at 2:25 am
Which one has a better efficacy: “zam-zam water” (saudi arabia) or “ponari water” (java)? Maybe Mr. AAB can give us an analysis on that.
schmerly Says:
February 28th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Lairedion

No way, dude. It’s solely because of the quality of my posts…

Was that said tongue in cheek??
Lairedion Says:
February 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
schmerly,

Take a wild guess…
Burung Koel Says:
March 1st, 2009 at 10:16 am
Interestingly, when the Jakarta Post ran an editorial about Ponari last Wednesday, commenting on mass gullibility regarding these sorts of magical healing techniques, their magazine section had a huge article on the benefits of so-called ‘flower therapy’.
Barry Prima Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:53 am
I’ve had my mind blown a few times, by things I can’t explain.

Too right dude I know a Muslim intellectual doctor with aids who was completely cured by Islamic healing methods.. it took five years though, he was banned by his teacher from going to any dukuns during that time!!
The case also reminds of an island I lived on where a boy of similar age got great healing powers and like ponari people flocked from everywhere to be healed. And you know what that funny thing is they were all healed.
There’s a catch…
My neighbour and one of my closest compatriots in Indo also had a son and daughters who went to this healer. ..after several years they all became seriously ill again, and were much worse off than before,the son became blind and the daughter died very mysteriously on the eve of her wedding… I can’t verify other stories but according to him lots of other people who went to the same healer also suffered similar disasters and a return of their illness.
That’s the reason why Santri muslims and others are so against this kind of thing, as experience shows that this power comes with a catch…a Muslim should really rely only on Allah, but as in the case of my doctor friend that requires patience, a lot of patience that people don’t have.

Indeed. Superstition runs rife over the planet in many guises (organized religion being the most dominant manifestation).

To assume your criteria or definition of reality is better than other peoples, makes you as bigoted as the religious fundamentalist who thinks his view of the world is the only correct one,….he is however properly closer than you are as at least he accepts himself as a bigot without apology, whears you rationalist are deluded into some kind of idea that you are truly objective….the traditional javanese live in much different world of cause and effect that you do in your cosy suburban home..

Anything the religious bigots in the MUI

And what are you but a bigot too to make such a sweeping generalisation, Its easy to cast stones on others when you don’t have anything to believe in and no moral values to uphold. Anyone who has tried to live righteous will tell you it’s hard or impossible not become hypocritical at some time, it’s the trying that counts.
Burung Koel Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:32 am
To assume your criteria or definition of reality is better than other peoples, makes you as bigoted as the religious fundamentalist who thinks his view of the world is the only correct one,

@ Barry Prima

An interesting trend in recent years has been the use of postmodernist claptrap by religious groups. The argument ad reductio postmoderno goes something like “all views are equally valid, so therefore your view is no better than mine”.

Unfortunately for the purveyors of this argument, there is this thing called the scientific method. Based on experimentation and evidence, it remains humanity’s best defence against superstition and unreason. Religious ‘miracles’, the ‘Power of Allah’, ‘healing stones’, ‘flower therapy’ or whatever are constantly subjected to scientific scrutiny and found not to measure up. You may attack a rationalist on a personal level, but if you want to attack rationality itself, then you will need not just name calling or better arguments, but actual proof. There are objective views, and there is truth. It’s called science, and it’s wonderfully self-correcting, especially if you have evidence.

By the way, I seem to recall that sceptical or rationalist groups have considerable prizemoney at stake for anyone who can demonstrate that these ‘alternative’ things work, or that miracles occur, and that they aren’t just scams to separate the ignorant from their money. Don’t argue with me, Barry – if you think you’re right, take the examples you have mentioned and go and earn some cash.
PrimaryDrive Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 am
Nevertheless … walking through a cemetary still scares me. And I have no intention to proving or disaproving in person that scary pocongs don’t exist.
Burung Koel Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@Primary Drive

It’s not the pocongs, it’s the kind of people hanging around a cemetery in the middle of the night that you should be afraid of!
ET Says:
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I know a Muslim intellectual doctor

Which one?

a Muslim should really rely only on Allah, but as in the case of my doctor friend that requires patience, a lot of patience that people don’t have.

How much patience?