While thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jakarta on Wednesday, other parts of the capital, including the usually busy thoroughfare Jalan Jendral Sudirman appeared deserted. (JG Photo)
In a surprising development, the expected traffic gridlock and the avalanche of protesters filling the streets of downtown Jakarta failed to materialize on Wednesday, causing the capital’s rumor mills to spin with speculation that rain men had worked their magic.
As many as 40,000 people had been expected to attend the various rallies to mark International Anti-Corruption Day and almost half of the Jakarta Police’s 29,000 personnel were deployed to safeguard the rallies and the city.
While heavy rain fell along the planned rally routes, deterring many people from participating, at the National Monument (Monas) Square, where the protesters were due to gather, not a single drop fell.
Popular Internet social networking sites Twitter and Facebook were alive with comments and questions as to whether rain men were really hired to conjure up the heavy downpours that only ceased at around 3 p.m.
Basar, a rain man from Cibubur, East Jakarta, claimed to know the answer. He claimed that on Tuesday afternoon he was visited by a man who promised him Rp 1 million ($106) if he could make it rain in certain areas of the capital on Wednesday.
“The guest told me that it was for the greater good, that it was for our own security because he did not want anything to happen in Jakarta. With protesters heading downtown en masse, many things could happen,” Basar said, quoting the man whose identity he declined to reveal.
“For my ritual I had to pass along the streets where the rain was wanted this morning,” he said in a telephone interview. Leaving home after dawn, Basar said he covered the routes, stopping to pray at points along the way.
“There is no offering of flowers or incense in my business. I am a Muslim so I pray the way a Muslim does,” he said.
In Indonesia, where traditions remain deeply ingrained, the services of rain men are in high demand during the wet season with event organizers and production houses often calling on them to assure pleasant rain-free weather on important occasions.
Ek o, a rain main from Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, said he also heard that some people were hired to divert the rain.
“People often misunderstand us. We are not super beings with incredible powers to make rain, because we can’t. Our work only moves clouds to get it to rain in the places they want it to rain. Whether it rains or doesn’t rain is God’s will ,” he said, “we only pray for his help to move the clouds.”
The Geophysics, Climatology and Meteorology Agency’s weather prediction for the Greater Jakarta area was cloudy on Wednesday morning with mild rain in the afternoon. Agency spokesman Edison Gurning said, however, that “predictions can be slightly different from the reality.”
Senior politician and noted mystic Permadi said he personally did not believe rain men were behind the “success” in keeping protesters from some thoroughfares, but he did not dismiss the possibility that security forces might have sought their help to make their life easier.
“If I were asked to do so and I knew it was for the president or the government, I would charge more than Rp 1 million,” he said.
It might also have helped that the city police warned people against venturing onto the planned rally routes, while warnings from a number of parties, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono himself, suggested that the rallies may be used by unnamed figures to foment unrest.
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