By: Abdul Rosyidi
As we know, sexual violence is caused by an imbalance of power relations. In a patriarchal culture nowadays, where inequality exists, women are the ones who are weakened. They are often victims of oppressive power/knowledge systems. The sharper the inequality gap, the greater the potential for sexual violence to occur. The abyss deepens when religious and magical aspects become contributing factors.
This article will try to look deeper into the occurrence of sexual violence that utilizes healing cults in the name of God, religion, or supernatural powers. We start with the story of a case that is currently tumultuous, namely sexual violence in the healing cults that occurred in an Arab-African country.
After spending more than a year, BBC journalist Hanan Razek reports on her coverage of healing cults that exploit female sexuality in Sudan and Morocco. The report was published in writing and in a video documentary on the BBC News website and YouTube platform.
During their reporting, Razek and her colleagues found testimony from 85 women who directed accusations at 65 “spiritual healers” in Morocco and Sudan of harassment, rape, and the demand for sex in exchange for or claiming it was part of their healing rituals.[1]
Razek’s report is interesting because she revealed an incident of sexual violence in which the perpetrator admitted that he did it in order to cure his victims from non-medical illnesses. This disease is said to originate from the interference of evil spirits known as “jinn”.[2]
The people called the healers “raqi”. They are considered as religious figures who use the name of religion and holy books to perform healing, although in practice they often commit sexual violence. One of the women who came to “raqi” mentioned in the report, was depressed before finally coming to him. The woman was then treated by intercourse. The “raqi” told her that her depression was caused by the favor of the jinn and that in order to get rid of him, she had to have sex with him. When the woman finally became pregnant, the “raqi” said that she was impregnated by a jinn.[3]
The previous year, in May 2022 to be precise, a shocking case was also revealed in which a man claiming to be a “spiritual healer” was arrested on suspicion of sexual violence against hundreds of women in Tunisia. The male court stated that he had persuaded hundreds of women to have sex with promises of healing from spiritual burdens.[4] Not only happened in Arab lands, similar events also occurred in various parts of the world. Simon Maybin and Josephine Casserly, BBC journalists, in 2020 exposed sexual violence in the practice of traditional healing by shamans in Peru, around the Amazon. [5]
Netflix in March 2023 also showed a film about sexual violence that occurred within a religious sect in South Korea. Jung Myung Seok, the leader of a sect called Jesus Morning Star (JMS) preaches his followers that sexual intercourse is the forgiveness of sins. He also often invites female followers to have sex with him with the promise of becoming “God’s Bride”.[6]
Of course the public in Indonesia still remembers the sexual violence committed by Bechi from Jombang. He claims to have linuwih and can cure all kinds of diseases. Bechi then recruited female students as health volunteers and then sexually assaulted them.[7]
Supernatural abilities are said to be transferred by Bechi to the volunteer students. However, they must go through a recruitment and selection process first. During the selection process, the female students were told to take off all of their clothes. Then Bechi raped his victim. If there are female students who refuse to undress, Bechi said that to gain knowledge one must first abandon logic.[8]
Not only that, the actions of obscene shamans, who claim to have supernatural powers, are also scattered everywhere. Victims who confessed and their cases eventually appeared on various news channels. We cannot imagine how many actual cases these cults have resulted in.
To mention one of them, a shaman in Pidie, Aceh with the initials BT was arrested by the military in April 2023. He raped his patients 84 times.[9] Another shaman, Ilham, from Enrekang, South Sulawesi, sexually assaulted patients he wanted to treat. Ilham said that the female patient who came to him was followed by a supernatural being sent by her ex-boyfriend.[10] Another shaman in Lampung sexually abused a woman with the excuse of expelling the jinn inside out the woman’s body. Initially, the family who saw the woman being possessed called on someone who was known as a shaman. It was then that the perpetrator asked to be left alone with the patient and sexual violence ensued.[11]
Shamans and Supporting Community
The news above do not represent many cases reported in the media and of course the number is far less compared to many cases beneath the surface. But at least it can give an idea that cults related to healing, religious teachings, and magic are still a global phenomenon.
Various cultures still perpetuate the cult of certain individuals who are considered to have supernatural powers. People with this ability are believed to have certain powers as a gift and they carry a sacred duty to guide and cleanse society. These holy, powerful healers thrive to fill the niches of our culture and religion. Globally the symptoms of these people are associated with beliefs about magic and the occult.
Researchers estimate that at least 1 billion people worldwide believe in witchcraft or the occult. They said those who were more religious tended to believe that some humans had magical powers. In addition, researches also show that people in countries with weak institutions, low levels of social trust, a greater emphasis on cohesion, and a greater bias towards people in “groups” are also more likely to believe in sorcery.[12]
Other researchers mention that ethnographically, occult knowledge has a functional role in society, in which it maintains a stable social order in a society that is shaken, whether by disasters, hunger, poverty, colonialism, injustice, oppression, and so on. The community’s enormous belief in occult science is related to the weakness of community institutions (and of course the state) in providing certainty and guarantees for the life or well-being of its members. In other words, belief in the occult provides society with coping mechanisms in the face of adversity.[13]
In the case of Arab-African countries such as Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries, the misfortune was even more severe because they were living in the middle of a war. Endless conflict of course creates many uncertainties in life. In our country, the potential for misfortune to occur is more poverty, ignorance (which is very severe due to colonialism), and the high probability of natural disasters.
The similarity of religion that is embraced by the majority of our people and Arab countries brings a number of similarities in concepts and mystical elements of healing cults. Several terms such as the mention of evil spirits as jinns, then healing using Qur’anic verses, provide clues to understanding the human mind about the occult. Although too cliche, the social position of “raqi” in Sudan and Morocco is perhaps similar to that of “kyai” and “spiritual guru”. They are not only people who work as healers, but people who have a fairly high social position and are recognized for their competence in religious rituals in the community.
Boris Gershman said that policy and institutional interventions to fight witchcraft and shamanic practices should think about the consequences of drastic cultural changes. Policies that were once practiced by the Colonial government that were afraid of witchcraft were potentially ineffective because they were only based on a fear of magic. Direct attempts to eradicate belief in the occult through legislation or curriculum changes are likely to backfire.[14]
According to him, the best way is to make policies that aim to reduce the prevalence of belief in the occult. Gershman believes magic will be minimal in communities where its foundations make the belief less relevant. That is, where the state and its institutions are able to maintain order and a social safety net to protect society from adverse shocks.[15]
Unfinished Works
Returning to the problem above, people visit shamans, of course, not without reason. Generally they have a very weak position, both individually and communally. Imagine if we suffer from illness and then cannot reach access to health services either because of problems of education, economy, distance, or quality of services. Especially if I suffer from mental health or a psychiatric disorder, meanwhile to try to recover from it there is nothing most likely other than visiting the shamans.
Strengthening institutions might restrain patients to visit shamans. They’ll probably go to a psychiatrist and get their depression checked. Maybe doctors would diagnose patients with paralysis instead of calling them possessed. However, there is still a risk of sexual violence happening again if patronage and feudalism permeate all public service personnel in our country. It is not impossible that the perpetrators of sexual violence who used to be shamans will in the future be these doctors.
One more thing, the problem of institutionalization in our country has a big problem in absorbing knowledge from local culture so that it becomes the foundation for building our society and country. Who is responsible for the non-development of past culture which results in the dissonance of that period with our modern life today? I think there are still a lot of good treasures of local wisdom, occult science, and magical practices out there, which are not witchcraft, but don’t get enough attention to be properly studied and formulated by our modern living system.
So, sexual violence that occurs because of a cult has its own complexities. To overcome it, of course, it is necessary to understand this complexity besides seeing the interrelationship of all the factors related to it. Such as the fact that sexual violence against women who seek treatment from “spiritual healers” is closely related to the weakness of women’s power/knowledge in the midst of a patriarchal culture. Women are the most vulnerable to depression because they have to bear the expectations and demands of society towards them.
When they experience mental pressure and depression, most of them do not have the knowledge, economic, or political resources to access services and heal themselves. When the only service that can be reached is a shaman who is not far away, then that becomes the most rational choice. Not to mention if the shaman in question is a religious figure in the village. When visiting the shaman, a patient will have a great deal of dependence. Their interactions with “paranormal” keep a very sharp imbalance of power/knowledge relations. Not to mention, as healers, shamans hold the key to healing, health, and the lives of their patients.
Finally, taking legal action against obscene “spiritual healers” is indeed important, but what is more important is to erode the people’s trust and dependence on the cult of shamans, spiritualists, clerics, or whatever they are called. Namely those who use supernatural things to subdue others. The way to do this is, of course, by increasing the affordability of access and the quality of health services for women and vulnerable people who have limited resources.***
This article was translated by Napol Riel.
[1] Hanan Razek, Investigating the ‘spiritual healers’ sexually abusing women, access from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65264921
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20220511033529-127-795254/tiduri-ratusan-wanita-dukun-cabul-ditangkap-di-tunisia.
[5] https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/majalah-51151077.
[6] https://narasi.tv/read/narasi-daily/profil-jung-myung-seok-pendeta-sekte-korea-selatan-yang-lakukan-kekerasan-seksual-pada-pengikutnya
[7] Abdul Rosyidi, Bechi, Kultus, dan Kekerasan Seksual, access from https://umahramah.org/bechi-kultus-dan-kekerasan-seksual/
[8] Ibid.
[9] https://www.detik.com/sumut/hukum-dan-kriminal/d-6668996/84-kali-perkosa-pasien-dukun-cabul-di-aceh-dihukum-150-bulan-bui.
[10] https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/12/30/11522421/dukun-perkosa-seorang-wanita-sebut-korbannya-diikuti-makhluk-gaib-kiriman.
[11] https://regional.kompas.com/read/2019/12/04/18144301/dukun-kampung-ditangkap-cabuli-remaja-yang-sedang-kerasukan.
[12] Tia Ghose, 4 in 10 people worldwide believe in witches, access from https://www.livescience.com/four-in-ten-people-worldwide-believe-in-witches.
[13] Boris Gershman, Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis. PLoS ONE 17(11): e0276872. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276872
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.