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elieve it or not, many buildings in Jakarta do not have a fourth floor.

Among them is a skyscraper in Kuningan, South Jakarta, where Supono works as a security guard.

On his first day of work, he was confused when initially he could not find the fourth floor in the 25-story office building.

“A staffer asked me to come up to the fourth floor, but I couldn’t find a button with number four in the elevator,” Supono told The Jakarta Post Wednesday. “It turned out the number was replaced with 3A.”

The 23-year old did not understand why the building management did this, until a manager told him that many Chinese, Japanese and other East Asian people believed the number “4” would bring bad luck.

The building management also used the number 12A for its 13th floor because by Western custom “13” meant bad luck.

In Chinese the number “4” is pronounced like the word “se”, which can also mean death. As a result, many believe the number should be always be avoided.

For the Chinese, the number “9” signifies good luck, because when pronounced in Chinese dialects it can also mean longevity. Japanese people, however, believe that it can bring bad luck, because when pronounced in Japanese it sounds like “kyu”, from the word kurushii, which means misery.

In Jakarta, many owners of buildings, such as hotels and hospitals and even houses, also avoid certain numbers.

Elliana Ferlita, 39, also considers numbers more than just mathematical objects used for counting and measurements. She believes that certain numbers have special meanings that can affect her fortune, as one Feng Shui (ancient Chinese system of architecture) expert told her.

“He also warned that combination of numbers considered positive by some people might not always bring good luck,” she said.

“For example, the combination of the numbers ‘6464’ might be considered good for a cellphone number because it is easy to remember, but according to Feng Shui, it brings bad luck because it ends with ‘4’ and has a meaning of repeated misfortune,” she said.

A combination of numbers such as “1368” meant continuous abundance of wealth and good fortune in daily life, she said, adding that if the four numbers are added together, the sum result would be “18”, which when divided in two would equal to lucky “9”.

A firm believer in the superstitions of numerology, Elliana uses the combination of those numbers for the last digits of her cellphone number.

“I tried to change my car license plate number to that figure, but it would have cost me a lot, so I postponed my plan to do so,” she said. (rch)