Dukun: Banyuwangi

In the dense, humid landscape of East Java, at the easternmost tip of the island, lies the regency of Banyuwangi. Known for its rugged beauty, the Ijen crater, and the unique Osing culture, the region carries another, darker epithet in the Indonesian imagination: the land of dukun (shamans) and black magic. The term "Dukun Banyuwangi" is not merely a descriptor of a profession; it is a loaded cultural archetype, evoking images of both profound healing and terrifying supernatural violence. The infamous series of ritual murders in the late 1990s, known as the Banyuwangi killings or Petenus (from pihak tertentu – "certain parties"), forever seared into national memory the image of the dukun as a potential executioner. To understand the Dukun Banyuwangi is to navigate a treacherous intersection of folk healing, spiritual power, social anxiety, and political scapegoating.

In conclusion, the Dukun Banyuwangi is a figure of profound ambivalence. To reduce him to a mere "witch doctor" is to misunderstand the rich, syncretic spiritual ecology of Java. Yet, to romanticize him as a harmless healer is to ignore the dark chapter of 1998. The true horror of the Banyuwangi dukun is not the existence of black magic, but the ease with which society and the state can twist an ancient system of belief into a justification for murder, a cover for political conspiracy, and a permanent stain on a cultural institution. The dukun remains a mirror held up to society, reflecting not only our hopes for healing but also our deepest anxieties about the invisible power that lurks in the shadows of the human heart. dukun banyuwangi

However, a deeper analysis of the "Dukun Banyuwangi" phenomenon reveals a far more disturbing political reality. Many investigators, journalists, and human rights activists have long argued that the "black magic" narrative was a convenient fiction. The victims of the Petenus killings were overwhelmingly low-level religious leaders and activists from the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, which had been critical of the Suharto regime. It is widely believed that the killings were carried out by military intelligence operatives (or their proxies posing as dukuns ) to destabilize and terrorize the political opposition. By framing the murders as the work of "savage" black magic dukuns , the military-intelligence apparatus could achieve two goals: eliminate political enemies and divert public attention into a realm of irrational fear, thereby discrediting any claim of a state-sponsored conspiracy. The dukun , in this context, became the perfect scapegoat—a pre-existing symbol of dark, irrational power onto which political violence could be projected. In the dense, humid landscape of East Java,