Jombang, NU Online
Despite the temporary closure by security authorities of a controversial "healing" practice, hundreds of people with a gamut of health problems are still flocking daily to the residence of child "healer" Ponari in Jombang.
Ponari, with his so-called "miracle stone" several times stole the time over the weekend to receive his patients under the watch of police personnel deployed at Balongsari village, Megaluh district, in the regency.<>
Jombang legislative council speaker Abdul Halim Iskandar, visiting Ponari's home, asked police not to use force but to treat the visitors wisely and humanely because they were seeking alternative treatments to cure their ailments.
"The most important thing is the police must ensure security and prevent visitors from rushing into Ponari's house, except those really seeking health advice, because they come here in the belief that they will get better," he said.
"We see the facts, the government should listen to the people's aspiration for cheap medicine, and it's the government's obligation to provide affordable medicine to low-income people."
Jombang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tomsi Tohir said his office could not bar people from visiting Ponari, but the number of visitors would be restricted to prevent any more fatalities in their rush to Ponari's house.
He admitted Ponari's relatives only distributed a certain number of visiting cards each day, and police personnel were turning away visitors without such cards and asking them to go back home.
"Ponari receives and serves only cardholders, whose numbers are limited for security reasons," he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
Children's rights activists and local ulema say the emergence in early January of Ponari as an alleged child healer in the regency had not only raised increasing public controversy and claimed lives, but also led to right abuses, and called on the practice to be trod out.
Noted children's rights campaigner Seto Mulyadi and National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) secretary-general Ariest Merdeka Sirait said the government should take measures to stop villagers exploiting the boy.
They said that despite the poverty in the village, security and education authorities should prevent local villagers from exploiting him for the commercial advantages it drew in the form of thousands of queuing visitors who came to the village daily.
Ponari, a 9-year-old third-grader at a state elementary school in Kedungsari village, has not been to school since mid-January, after thousands of sick people thronged almost every day to his home. The school frequently asked Ponari's father Kasim to bring his son back to school, but each time he tried to do so, he met a strong resistance from villagers and visitors.
Villagers have milked the phenomenon by setting up food and beverage kiosks and parking lots, with the whole three-ring circus generating a reported Rp 1 billion a day.
Balongsari village head Nila Cahyani denied the right abuse allegations, but said her village had cashed in on the hype.
Villages in the Megaluh district were flooded with thousands of sick people from other regencies and provinces when rumors of Ponari's alleged powers - that he could heal all diseases with a miraculous stone he found near his home - were spread by word of mouth over the past month. (dar)
Despite the temporary closure by security authorities of a controversial "healing" practice, hundreds of people with a gamut of health problems are still flocking daily to the residence of child "healer" Ponari in Jombang.
Ponari, with his so-called "miracle stone" several times stole the time over the weekend to receive his patients under the watch of police personnel deployed at Balongsari village, Megaluh district, in the regency.<>
Jombang legislative council speaker Abdul Halim Iskandar, visiting Ponari's home, asked police not to use force but to treat the visitors wisely and humanely because they were seeking alternative treatments to cure their ailments.
"The most important thing is the police must ensure security and prevent visitors from rushing into Ponari's house, except those really seeking health advice, because they come here in the belief that they will get better," he said.
"We see the facts, the government should listen to the people's aspiration for cheap medicine, and it's the government's obligation to provide affordable medicine to low-income people."
Jombang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tomsi Tohir said his office could not bar people from visiting Ponari, but the number of visitors would be restricted to prevent any more fatalities in their rush to Ponari's house.
He admitted Ponari's relatives only distributed a certain number of visiting cards each day, and police personnel were turning away visitors without such cards and asking them to go back home.
"Ponari receives and serves only cardholders, whose numbers are limited for security reasons," he was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying.
Children's rights activists and local ulema say the emergence in early January of Ponari as an alleged child healer in the regency had not only raised increasing public controversy and claimed lives, but also led to right abuses, and called on the practice to be trod out.
Noted children's rights campaigner Seto Mulyadi and National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) secretary-general Ariest Merdeka Sirait said the government should take measures to stop villagers exploiting the boy.
They said that despite the poverty in the village, security and education authorities should prevent local villagers from exploiting him for the commercial advantages it drew in the form of thousands of queuing visitors who came to the village daily.
Ponari, a 9-year-old third-grader at a state elementary school in Kedungsari village, has not been to school since mid-January, after thousands of sick people thronged almost every day to his home. The school frequently asked Ponari's father Kasim to bring his son back to school, but each time he tried to do so, he met a strong resistance from villagers and visitors.
Villagers have milked the phenomenon by setting up food and beverage kiosks and parking lots, with the whole three-ring circus generating a reported Rp 1 billion a day.
Balongsari village head Nila Cahyani denied the right abuse allegations, but said her village had cashed in on the hype.
Villages in the Megaluh district were flooded with thousands of sick people from other regencies and provinces when rumors of Ponari's alleged powers - that he could heal all diseases with a miraculous stone he found near his home - were spread by word of mouth over the past month. (dar)
