Jakarta refuses 'dukun'

When Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, among those who took center stage was a team of  'bomoh' or shaman who offered rituals to locate the Boeing 777.

He was at KLIA with his team, doing 'things only they themselves could understand'. They made headlines worldwide for providing such an assistance - some liked it while not few made fund of them.

However, the plane is nowhere to be seen.

And now, AirAsia flight QZ8501 also received offers from some 'bomohs' who claimed could help locate the plane. But Jakarta declined their service.

JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities have turned down help from a group of “dukuns”, or shamans, in the hunt for the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501, reported Tempo magazine today (Dec 29).
The communications director of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency BASARNAS confirmed to Tempo that they had received the offer for help, but said they could not accept the offer as “it was not our standard”.

Mr Mukhti Maarif, a leader of shamans in Indonesia’s Belitung island, had earlier told Tempo that his group were merely waiting for an official invitation to start their “supernatural” search.
“There needs to be an official request to avoid skewed opinion of dukuns (shamans),” Mr Mukhti told Tempo. “Until this moment, we have yet to be involved. We are ready to help.”
Mr Mukhti claimed that a brief supernatural “monitoring” had already revealed a vague outline of the final resting place of QZ8501.
“The aircraft fell because there was mechanical failure. At this moment, the aircraft is in the ocean near the corals, in the eastern waters of Pulau Nangka,” Mr Mukhti was quoted as saying.
He added that his group was willing to work together with those equipped with advanced technology to determine the exact location.
“The district of Belitung, whether it is on land, in the sea or air, is filled with supernatural matters,” Mr Mukhti said.

Well, there are still people who believe and depend on 'bomoh' and 'dukun' to cure certain illness or for other purposes.

In some parts of Africa where I had been, shamans are popular among their respective tribes. However, it is well understood because being far from civilisation, their service is much in need.

And in some 'modern' nations including Malaysia, 'bomohs' service is even popular among politicians and businessmen. Anybody want to deny this?