The cult leader Dimas Kanjeng Taat Pribadi has been named as suspect in the case of the murder of his two disciples. This case attracted public attention because Dimas Kanjeng, the mastermind behind the murder, was considered as spiritual leader who has magical power to multiply money up to billions of rupiah. His mystical power wrapped by religious appearance was able to fascinate thousands of people from various parts of Indonesia to come to his padepokan.
The emergence of Dimas Kanjeng as a powerful spiritual figure is a social phenomenon that is interesting to be investigated. Why are so many people in modern era who uphold rationality of thinking still believed in people who have supernatural power?
In the Indonesian history, Dimas Kanjeng phenomenon was not something new. Sartono Kartodirjo, in his classic work Ratu Adil (1984), has written about the emergence of people who have a religious-magical power in rural Java in the colonial period that were considered able to bring changes to prosperity and peace. In the Javanese or even religious tradition, there was a belief about the appearance of the figure of Imam Mahdi, ratu adil or a messiah who is destined to lead people out of the dark age to the new age. The messiah figure that became the savior in the colonial period generally depicted having a magical power, such as the power of invulnerability (ilmu kebal), but at the same time also wearing religious symbols, such as robes and turban. In many cases, ratu adil considered themselves receiving a revelation from heaven or often used the title of traditional king to reinforce their legitimacy. With a variety of these attributes it was no wonder a lot of people believed in the power of messiah in ushering society to prosperity.
When comparing ratu adil phenomenon in the colonial period with the present era, there is a significant difference. The ratu adil phenomenon in the colonial era was basically a radical political movement which opposed political-economic system formed by colonialism. While the phenomenon of ratu adil in the reformarsi era mostly was not movement based on political consciousness but driven by the desire of the leaders who claimed to be a prophet or saint to collect material with various religious modus.
However, aside from that, the discourse that was carried by them is actually similar. Basically they were able to lure a lot of followers because they offered the completion of social, economic and moral problems in the society by miraculous and shortcut ways (Wibowo, 2015). Dimas Kanjeng offered a magic formula for his followers to become rich by a supernatural way of doubling money. In Karawang, the leader of Padepokan Syekh Sangga Bintang Pratama, Abdul Mujim, who claimed as prophet offered a shortcut to go to paradise by paying only two million rupiah.
Many people who were keen to try shortcut offered by Dimas Kanjeng still showed the relevant of Mochtar Lubis’s critic in 1977 regarding to the negative characters of the Indonesian society. In Manusia Indonesia (1977), Lubis said that the Indonesian people generally believe superstition and myth and do not want to work hard to achieve something. Lubis mentioned that even the modern Indonesian people, who have a higher education and intersect with scientific matters, still believe superstition and make a talisman or maintain sacred object. Lubis’s criticism is still relevant when linked to the fact that not a few followers of Dimas Kanjeng who have a higher education background but still believe in mystical things.
In addition, Lubis stated that modern Indonesian people do not like reach something by working hard gradually, unless forced. Anthropologist Koentjaraningrat (1974) referred this phenomenon as “mental penerabas” (breakthrough mentality). The symptoms were a lot of people wanted to be a millionaire instantly, or would like to soon to be promoted without working hard. On the other hand, although they did not want to working hard, they tended to have a lavishly live to support their high consumption and show off their luxury lifestyle in social environment. High consumerism in the society, the desire to become rich instantly without working hard and the belief in superstition and myth are the driving of many people flocked to the padepokan of Dimas Kanjeng.
Although different in the setting time, the ratu adil phenomenon shows that the roots of the main problem is caused by structural condition of political-economic that encouraged the emergence of social frustration. When in the colonial era social frustration emerged as caused by the injustice created by the colonial system, social frustration that arose in today society shaped by the capitalist economic system. Capitalism encourages a consumptive lifestyle and to satisfy a consumptive desire not least people who are seeking an instant way, such as corruption and believing to shaman.
Until whenever the emergence of people who have mystical power will continue to appeal public attention as long as the political-economic problems in the society remain unresolved. Therefore, the first thing necessary is the government should be able to create prosperity and welfare distribution in the economic field. Second, it is no less important if people develop a critical attitude in looking the peculiar phenomenon in the society.
On History and Memory 