In 1998, Banyuwangi was known for black magic after the murders of several sorcerers (dukun). Today, the East Java city wants to rebrand itself as a '€œcyber city'€ and a destination for foreign tourists.

'€œThe Banyuwangi of the past is quite different from its present situation,'€ said Dwi Hadi Yulianto, who works as a tour guide in the province'€™s easternmost metropolis.

According to the 36-year-old, Banyuwangi was a ghost town when discussions of ilmu hitam (black magic) and when several ulemas were murdered on suspicion of sorcery. Tourists and transit passengers were subjected to identity checks and an evening curfew was imposed due to widespread violence.

'€œAt the time I was studying in Mataram [West Nusa Tenggara]. For security reasons, I had to stay there instead of returning home to see my parents. My relatives and friends told me of the tense and eerie conditions of Banyuwangi around that year,'€ Dwi said.

He was referring to santet, or using black magic to harm someone from a distance. The House of Representatives once debated a bill to ban santet because the practice resulted '€” directly or indirectly '€” in a host of homicides.

About town: One attraction Banyuwangi offers is a ride in a horse-drawn wagon. A trip around the city can be had for as little as Rp 20,000 (US$2).
Hasnan Singodimayan, an expert in the culture of Banyuwangi, said that santet had been around for a long time in Banyuwangi. However, he noted that the magic practiced by members of the local community was not always black, identifying several other types. '€œYellow magic usually serves as a method for winning the love of a member of the opposite sex after you'€™re jilted. Among the people of Banyuwangi, this magic is well known by the name of jaran goyang or sabuk mangir.'€

Hasnan said that anybody under the influence of jaran goyang would become infatuated with the person behind the spell.

'€White magic is normally applied by traders to advance their business,'€ Hasnan said. It could also be used by dancers to make their performances more enchanting for spectators.

Magic is so familiar locally that restaurant owner Pamorsih Tuhu Mitayan offers dishesnamed '€œsego santet'€ (santet rice) and '€œsego pelet'€ (seduction rice).

'€œDon'€™t be afraid to savor the dishes, they'€™re free from magic. Santet rice goes with hot fried chicken, tricolor relishes, cassava leaves and rice chips, while pelet rice has broiled chicken with coconut-milk sauce and a relish to match,'€ Pamorsih said.

Banyuwangi has its other charms. Andi Nur Hikmah, a tour and travel entrepreneur from Yogyakarta, for example, said that he had been frequently amazed by the night scenes visible around the city when travelling by delman, a traditional horse cart.

Bewitching: A woman performs in Banyuwangi. Some gandrung dancers are said to use '€œwhite witchcraft'€ to mesmerize their audience.
'€œGoing by delman around Banyuwangi is just like a sightseeing trip on Jl. Malioboro in Yogyakarta. The fare is also lower in Banyuwangi '€” only Rp 20,000 (US$2) for the whole city,'€ he said.

Andi said that Banyuwangi was now no longer notorious for sorcerery, making it a worthy place for further development into a tourist destination rivaling Bali or Yogyakarta. '€œBanyuwangi has a beautiful and clean beach, whereas Bali'€™s Kuta Beach is now getting dirty '€” besides G-Land, one of the best surf breaks for world-class surfers.'€

G-Land is on Plengkung Beach, which is said to have the second best waves in the world after Hawaii in the US. G-Land is derived from '€œgreen land'€, due to the shape of Grajakan Bay, which resembles the letter '€œg'€ and its location in a tropical forest zone.

Apart from the beach and surf break, Banyuwangi offers a natural tourist zone in Alas Purwo National Park and a volcanio tourist area in Kawah Ijen crater, which have both been frequented by Japanese and French visitors.

In Alas Purwo, the East Java provincial administration and the Indonesian Safari Garden are conducting a program to cross breeding banteng or Javan bulls (Bos Javanicus) with Balinese cows in an initiative to develop beef sufficiency in Indonesia.

'€œBanyuwangi has reordered its previously untidy city corners into attractive city parks planted with flowers. It reminds me of Bandung in West Java, which decades ago was known as the city of flowers but today it has become as muddled up as Jakarta,'€ said Andi.

In a first, the city was given a presidential Adipura Award in 2013 for urban cleanliness and good environment management. Tourists can also surf online using free Wi-Fi at city parks and Heroes'€™ Cemetery, both of which are frequently packed with are always packed by Internet users.

Jam session: Members of Banyuwangi'€™s Osing community perform traditional lesung music.
A food seller at Sri Tanjung City Park in Banyuwangi, Firman Hadi Prayitno, 20, said before the renovation of the park two years earlier, his income from selling iced coconut was only Rp 800,000 per month. Now it was up almost 60 percent.

'€œThis city park is crowded by visitors. They feel comfortable while drinking and eating, they can access the internet for free and there'€™s no rubbish heaping up. This is different from its pre-renovation circumstances,'€ Firman noted.

Assisted by his 17-year-old wife, Manda Novitasari, Firman provides his own garbage can and cleans the place where he sells his drinks. The waste is sorted by garbage men and transported to the city dump for further processing into fertilizer or handicrafts.

'€œA lot of young people here have decided to return to Banyuwangi to start businesses. They need no longer work in Bali or Jakarta,'€ Firman said. He also says he has used the free Internet access to devise more drinks recipes for his stall.

Banyuwangi also recently introduced its digital library. According to According to Riyanti Ananta, the head of the Banyuwangi Library, Archives and Documentation Office, the library will help residents and visitorsfind online books on local content, tourism and other reference writings.

'€œWith the increasing knowledge gained by the people of Banyuwangi from online reading, local citizens are expected to abandon santet and transform themselves into an information society,'€ Riyanti said.

'€” Photos by JP/Indra Harsaputra