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n what could be seen as a promotional line, a man claiming to be “Ki Barong” — Ki is Javanese and usually refers to a man possessing power — wrote on his Facebook wall that he “is the mightiest of all dukun santet [black magic shamans]. Everything can be done at a distance. Success is guaranteed.”

Ki Barong said in his post that he could cast deadly santet spells, so baneful that no victims could be cured by any means.

In Indonesia, where more half of the citizens are now connected to the internet, it is not difficult to find santet shamans like Ki Barong, who has been using the new information technology to offer what he claims to be the powers of the supernatural.

Facebook accounts or blogs offering promises to deliver santet spells that could abruptly plunge a specified target into a life of squalor or make him or her struggle in a job, are some of what you would find if you type “dukun santet” into a search engine.

However, people like Ki Borong may no longer be able to make online ads for their businesses, which may soon be declared illegal.

A House of Representatives team tasked with deliberating the Criminal Code (KUHP) bill on Thursday wants to scrap the original KUHP article that makes it illegal to sell, offer, or distribute items that reportedly have “dark” powers, or to teach black magic, and to replace the article with one that criminalizes anyone who declares or promises “they possess the ability to perform black magic that can cause sickness, death, physical and mental sickness”.

The amended article would carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and Rp 300 million (US$22,480) in fines upon conviction.

The lawmakers thought shamans should get a heavier punishment since the current KUHP stipulates that people selling, offering or distributing black magic items and those who teach black magic could only be jailed for three months and ordered to pay a Rp 450,000 fine.

While many would easily jeer at the law, the lawmakers said their decision could be rationally justified.

“This is not a crime based on a report. It is the law enforcement officers who will hunt down the people who declare that they are santet shaman, either in a written or a verbal way,” Teuku Taufiqulhadi, a member of the team, told The Jakarta Post.

Taufiqulhadi, a Nasdem Party lawmaker, said the agreed provisions were aimed at preventing violent witch hunts and ensuring public order. He cited a number of cases in which people took the law into their own hands by attacking people who declared they practiced black magic or were accused of using santet on others.

For many Western countries, violent witch hunts are a thing of the past, with many only remembering the deadly Salem witch trials in North America in the late 17th century.

In Indonesia, the killing by a mob of a man or woman accused of practicing black magic is not part of any distant history.

In March this year, Sulu Island Police in North Maluku arrested dozens of people from Buya village for allegedly abusing and killing a 70-year-old woman over witchcraft allegations. A mob attacked the victim and dismembered her body with machetes.

In between 1998 and 1999, a mass murder disguised as a hunt for santet shamans happened around Banyuwangi, East Java. Analysts, however, suggested that this hunt was politically motivated. More than 100 people were killed.

As the advertisement by Ki Borong shows, many people seem to believe in black magic.

“Santet is commonly used by people who lose political battles, business deals, or even in their love life, in order to retaliate,” University of Indonesia anthropologist Amich Alhumami told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

It was generally perceived by members of the public that santet had caused several incurable sicknesses, Alhumami added. “This often leads to violence, which is more excessive than what is bear by the alleged victim of santet.”

A criminal law expert from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, Fatahillah Akbar, however, said law enforcement institutions would find it hard to monitor advertisements offering santet in the public.

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