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Indonesian rain shaman at MotoGP is latest lightning rod for religious pluralism debate as critics slam ‘heathen outrage’ of ritual
- Ritual performed by woman of the Kejawen faith was described as a moral crisis for the country, while others called it a victory for Indonesian heritage
- Controversy highlights age old tensions between orthodox Muslims and minority faiths of indigenous beliefs in Indonesia
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A diminutive female figure carrying joss sticks and a singing bowl became a viral sensation at Indonesia’s MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday. She was not out for an ordinary afternoon stroll around the Mandalika Street Circuit in Lombok, but instead was requesting that the sky hold the rain. Most of the international reaction to the ritual of 39-year-old rain shaman, Rara Istianti Wulandari was that of bemusement.
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Wulandari, a practitioner of Kejawen, an indigenous Javanese belief system with roots predating Islam, told the Indonesian newspaper, Kompas, that she started her practice as a rain shaman or pawang hujan at the age of nine.
Her new-found celebrity, however, sparked a lightning rod of controversy in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Abu Fatihul Islam, representing the ultraorthodox Islamic Geographic Institute, lambasted her presence as a “state-sanctioned heathen outrage”.
“The use of shamans, offerings and other idolatrous practices [at an international event like the Grand Prix] is proof that we as a country are experiencing a moral and intellectual crisis,” he alleged.
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