Sorcery, corruption, and the dangers of democracy in Indonesia

Abstract

Magic is the continuation of politics by other means. This, at least, has been the case in North Maluku since the political reshuffle that followed the fall of Suharto and the implementation of decentralization in Indonesia. The strategies pursued by the regional elite to obtain lucrative positions in the new landscape opened up by regional autonomy are thus seen to be thwarted by sorcery from political rivals. Following the life and death of Muhammad, a North Malukan political entrepreneur, I show how sorcery plays an integral part in the new politics of democratization in Indonesia. Political sorcery thrives, I argue, in a complex moral economy that mixes local ideas of sociality, political practices of patrimonialism, and global discourses of democracy. Sorcery and corruption are part of the same political imagination, because both speak ambivalently to the problems of power in times of change. Rather than being anathema to democracy, as the new global discourse on transparency would have it, the occult politics of corruption and sorcery are among the means through which a contested form of democracy is conceptualized and implemented in Indonesia.

A Very Modern Ghost: Postcolonialism and the Politics of Enchantment

“…Moreover, ghosts and ghost stories are deeply embedded in the cultural politics of postcolonial modernities. From attempts to reconceptualise freedom and postcolonial nationality through the figure of the spectre (Cheah, 2004), to explorations of the role of sorcery in democracy in Indonesia (Bubandt, 2006), accounts of industrial ghosts in factual and fictional accounts of Malaysian components factories (Ong, 1987;Chua, 1998), invocations of spectres in studies of overseas Filipino migration (Rafael, 1997) and stories of ghosts and spirit possessions from Papua New Guinea to India (for example, Wardlow, 2002;Uchiyamada, 1999) ghosts, it seems, are everywhere in scholarly discourse. It is striking, therefore, that spectres, spirits and the stories told about them appear largely absent from many recent debates about enchantment and modernity (cf.…”

Redefining The Term of Dukun

“…Research conducted by Siegel (Siegel, 2001) regarding the political intrigues of Soeharto-era Indonesia, as well as by Herriman regarding rumors of "ninjas" (Herriman, 2010) and the killings of guru ngaji and kyai suspected of being dukun santét (Herriman, 2006) have shown this. The dukun have a powerful presence in politics, as found by Bubandt (Bubandt, 2006) in his examination of the correlation between sorcery and corruption in the derailing of democracy building in Indonesia. Witchcraft, or santet, as part of magical activities are an extension of politics, and in the political imagination of some people santet/witchcraft and corruption are linked.…”

Introduction: Ethno‐Graphing “Divine Intervention”

“…They help allocate the responsibility for an action, or a dictum, on a level that is supposed to be beyond human challenge. The accusations of witchcraft/sorcellerie (Geschiere 1997: 199-214) or sorcery (Burbant 2006) in contemporary extra-European contexts locate agency outside the system, a state that caters for secrecy and produces inequality. Such "occult economies" (Comaroff and Comaroff 1999) are continuations of politics with other means; they coexist with "normal" political life, both "as political reality and as a source of political embarrassment".…”