MOHAMMAD PONARI was a typical kid in the impoverished East Java village of Balongsari. Then, quite literally, lightning struck.
The nine-year-old, who had been playing in the rain in his front yard, was hit by a thunderbolt. But to the astonishment of his friends, he was unharmed.
All the more bizarre, according to his village chief and family, was that when Ponari came to, he found a stone the size of an egg on his head, and became convinced he possessed special healing powers.
A boy next door afflicted by a fever was his first patient.
The stone was placed in a glass of water and the boy, Lintang, drank deeply. The fever vanished.
Then another neighbour approached him, a woman aged in her 30s who had suffered from a depressive condition for 15 years. She, too, was healed.
The miracles, big and small, kept coming, said Nila Retno, the local village chief.
"My arm was sprained. The water touched by stone was given to me and I applied the water to my sprained arm. Suddenly, I was OK again," she said.
The district police commissioner, Sutikno, a devout Muslim who will be making the pilgrimage to Mecca this year, recounted his experience.
"I was inside the house talking to the boy and his family. Together with me in the house was a boy of his age who hadn't spoken for five years," Sutikno said. "Ponari shook him. The boy reacted and they started fighting, like wrestling and pulling each others' hair … then, a few moments after the fighting, the boy started to talk."
What did he say? "He said 'I'm scared'." The tales of miraculous healing spread quickly. Within a week of the lightning strike, hundreds of local villagers were lining outside Ponari's modest home.
A week later, the ailing, the lame and the curious were coming from as far afield as Malaysia. Thousands queue each day in lines stretching for kilometres, carrying plastic bags of water ready to be transformed into an elixir by the magical stone.
Stampedes have erupted on at least three occasions, resulting in the deaths of three and injuries to dozens more.
The extraordinary scenes in Balongsari highlight the strong grip that mysticism retains over many Indonesians, and Javanese in particular.
While Islam is the most popular religion in Indonesia, it is infused with supernatural beliefs that have been part of Indonesian culture since pre-history, incorporating elements of animism, Buddhism and Hinduism - religions that have at one time or another dominated Java.
Commonly known as dukuns, these shamans and healers can be found in most villages and city shanty towns. Many double as Islamic clerics and offer services ranging from alternative medical treatments, to guidance in romantic affairs and fortune telling.
The dukun santets are dukuns who cast spells and practise black magic. In 1998, 200 supposed dukun santets were massacred in East Java in a mysterious series of killings that has never been solved.
Politicians frequently seek the guidance of dukuns - most famously the former dictator Soeharto. Magazines proliferate tracking the latest development in the paranormal world, packed with advertisements from dukuns spruiking their other-worldy abilities.
As for Ponari, he stopped administering his miracle cures this week after tending to tens of thousands of patients. The public disorder forced police to remove Ponari to an undisclosed location.
Even so, as much as 1 billion rupiah ($129,000) has been raised through a charity box outside his home. This, many adherents to mysticism believe, was poor form. Dukuns are not supposed to profit from their activities.
According to Retno, Ponari said he had been "scolded" by the stone for accepting envelopes crammed with cash.
And Ponari himself has now fallen ill, struck by bouts of fever and nausea. Exhaustion, most likely. Or perhaps a sign of displeasure from the spirit world.
Face book dan Narsisme Remaja.
Facebook adalah fenomena baru di kagat cyberspace. Penggunaanya meningkat setiap bulan, tercatat ada 175juta pemilik akun facebook di seluruh dunia. Diperkirakan 2 bulan kedepan mencapai 2000 juta orang. Bahkan diramalkan facebook akan mengalahkan popularitas google.
Para remaja juga senang ber-facebook ria. Mereka kecanduan facebook karena ia mengeluarkan banyak inovasi baru. Facebook bukan hanya tempat nongkrong tapi juga tempat bersosialisasi gaya baru. Pengguna facebook bisa bertemu teman lama, mengomentari foto, membuat blog, bahkan chatting dengan sesame anggota facebook yang sedang online. Remaja percaya bahwa melalui facebook, popularitasnya remaja bisa naik.
Padahal, banyak kasus terjadi karena demam facebook. Banyak tangan-tangan tidak bertanggung jawab membuat akun facebook palsu. Lebih parahnya mereka menampilkan foto-foto tidak pantas dilihat.
Tapi efek paling negative dari kecanduan facebook adalah naiknya kadar barsisme remaja, yang sedang mengalami masa peralihan dari anak-anak ke dewasa.Menurut penleitihan menujukan remaja yang kecanduan berfacebok akan merasa dirinya yang paling populer dan merasa paling update. Dan parahnya sering kali sifat narsis tersebut dibawa juga ke dunia nyata.
Istilah narsis berasal dari mitologi Yunani. Dikisahkan seorang pemuda bernama Narcissus jatuh cinta pada bayangannya sendiri, karena ia dikutuk oleh dewi yang cintanya ditolak.
Gangguan kepribadian dimana pengidapnya mencintai diri sendiri secara berlebihan, kemudia dikenal sebagai narcisstic personality disorder. Menurut Jeffrey nevdi dalam psikologi abnormal, penderita narcis memiliki rasa bangga atau keyakinan yang berlebihan terhadap diri sendiri dan kebutuhan yang ekstrim akan pemujaan.
Mereka membesar-besarkan prestasi dan berharap orang lain menghujani pujian. Pengidap narsistik bersifat self absorbed dan kurang memiliki empati terhadap orang lain.
Mitchell JJ dalam Natural Limination Youth mengatakan ada lima penyebab narsisme pada remaja. Yang pertama kecenderungan remaja mengharapkan perlakuan khusus. Hali ini terjadi karena sejak kecil penderita narsistik terlalu sering dipuji oleh keluarga dan lingkungan sekitar.
Penyebab lain adalah kurang empati dan sulit memberi kasih sayang. Faktor narsisme yang paling gawat adalah remaja belum punya control moral yang kuat dan kurangnya rasionalisme mereka. Padahal narsisme satu langkah menuju megalomania yakni penyakit psikologis yang diidap oleh Hitler..
Pengidap megalomania sangat tidak suka ditentang dan merasa dirinya paling benar. Orang tua sebaliknya mengontrol aktiftas online anak. Remaja boleh jejaring di facebook, asal bertujuan untuk menjalin silaturahmi dengan teman baru ataupun lama.
huuua.
gara-gara tugas bu is.
kelompokku harus wawancara jm9 malem.
padahal kan ma mamaq gg bleh kluar malem.
haha.
tp siip buad orang sakuku.com yang ramah.
makasih buad orang sakuku.
hehe.
