Jadi, sejak SBY diangkat jadi President sudah berapa kali bencana terjadi di Indonesia?
________________________________ From: sunny <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009 6:32:57 Subject: [inti-net] Superstitious Indonesians Aim Quake Blame At 'Unlucky' President http://thejakartagl obe.com/home/ superstitious- indonesians- aim-quake- blame-at- unlucky-presiden t/333464 October 04, 2009 Aubrey Belford President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visiting a hospital in Padang in the aftermath of Wednesday's earthquake. (Reuters Photo) Superstitious Indonesians Aim Quake Blame At 'Unlucky' President While the rest of the world blames shifting tectonic plates for the Padang earthquake, some more superstitious Indonesians feel that explanation is not enough, and they are blaming President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has been branded an "unlucky" president. Yudhoyono has long been burdened by murmurs and chatter that he carries with him the shadow of cosmic misfortune. A string of disasters both natural and man-made since his election in 2004, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 across Asia, has seen quips that SBY stands for "Selalu Bencana Ya," roughly meaning "Always a Disaster". The latest catastrophe, believed to have killed well over 1,000 people, is viewed by many of the country's 234 million as yet more proof that his stars are crossed. "SBY, because of his birth date, will always attract disasters to this country, according to the Primbon [a Javanese almanac of mysticism]," said Permadi, a veteran politician from the opposition Gerindra party and a practising shaman. "Just look at the numbers of his birth date - the ninth of the ninth, '49 - that's unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen," he said. If he stays president, "a much bigger disaster will strike Jakarta for sure," Permadi said. "If SBY had a big heart, he would step down." Unsurprisingly, perhaps, not everyone believes this theory - and many see SBY's birthday as enviably lucky - but such talk of supernatural misfortune has deep resonance here, with Islam and Christianity rubbing shoulders with older traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and animism. The criticism has been longstanding enough that Yudhoyono lectured local government heads in the quake-hit region of West Sumatra two years ago that they should blame the region's volatile geology, and not him. "Magma doesn't move because SBY has become president. It's malicious to link it to me being president," he was quoted as saying at the time. One Jakarta daily suggested a link between the disaster and the extravagance of politicians in a Sunday editorial entitled "The Gods Must Be Angry." "Whether you subscribe to the theological or secular explanation, the 7.6-magnitude quake ... came on the eve of the multibillion- rupiah inauguration ball for newly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council in Jakarta," it said. Political analyst Bima Arya Sugiarto said that while some, particularly opposition politicians, try to paint the president as a spiritual liability, there are benefits for him in Indonesians' gaze beyond the physical world. Criticism of the often slow aid response, and the poor planning that allowed shoddy buildings to spring up in the first place, has been muted by fatalism and a widespread belief that the disaster is God's will, Sugiarto said. "The mystical perspective or the religious perspective is more dominant than public criticism of government policies," he said. Several media outlets have carried accounts of divine symbols in the aftermath of the quake, including a ring-shaped sun surrounded by a rainbow and God's name inscribed in Arabic calligraphy in the clouds. In the devastated city of Padang, a common refrain has been that the quake is a test, or a punishment, from God. "I think the quake happened because many of the youths in Padang commit sins, especially during Ramadan," chicken-feed factory worker Yasrizat, 36, said near a mosque in the city. "They've been engaging in sinful activities by the beach. I think God is punishing us with this quake." Agence France-Presse [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] New Email addresses available on Yahoo! Get the Email name you've always wanted on the new @ymail and @rocketmail. Hurry before someone else does! http://mail.promotions.yahoo.com/newdomains/aa/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
