Controversial Muslim Cleric Arrested for Scamming Patients
Indonesian Muslims pray during a mass prayer to celebrate Muhammad's birthday in Jakarta in January. Self-styled clerics like Guntur Bumi, arrested on Monday, have long taken advantage of the Muslim faithful's gullibility to fleece them of their money. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)
Jakarta. Police have arrested a celebrity cleric accused of fraud by dozens of former patients who claimed he fleeced them of hundreds of millions of rupiah by offering "spiritual healing" for their various ailments.
Guntur Bumi, a self-proclaimed ustad, or respected religious teacher, was arrested at his home in Bintaro, South Jakarta, early on Monday morning, after police named him a suspect last month in connection with one of the litany of reports filed against him.
In the report, the alleged victim said that during one of the healing sessions, Guntur had somehow made worms, cockroaches and rocks materialize, and that he had claimed it was purged from the patient's body.
He also declared the patient a victim of an evil spell, and charged the patient Rp 75 million, or $6,525, to cleanse their home as well, according to Sr. Comr. Rikwanto, a spokesman for the Jakarta Police.
Police were still questioning Guntur at the time of writing, as well as four of his assistants. "If there is enough evidence, [they] may be named suspects as well," Rikwanto said.
Police have received a total of 11 reports from former patients of Guntur, including a report representing 16 former patients.
Most of the reports allege fraud by the self-styled cleric, while a few accuse him of molestation — including one filed by a former patient who said that Guntur had groped her under pretense of examining her.
"When [she] protested, he whispered in her ear for her to be quiet," Ferry Juan, a lawyer for the former patient, said last month as quoted by Kapanlagi.com. "After the treatment he gave her an egg containing hair and maggots."
A former assistant of Guntur's, Yunita, said the cleric commonly prepared "strange items" in a storage room near his examination room to trick his patients into believing that he had supernatural powers.
"There is a special room that is used to store the items needed for the bogus treatment," Yunita said last month. "I saw many items he had prepared, such as maggots, cockroaches, chicken bones, fish bones…"
Guntur's alternative treatment practice came under the scrutiny of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, the country's highest Islamic authority, in March after former patients reported that he made them purchase cattle for alms, supposedly to help speed up their recovery. However, they questioned whether he really used the money they gave him to purchase the cattle and distribute them to those in need.
The MUI censured Guntur for the scam, but allowed him to continue with the rest of his practice after he said he had repented for the cattle fraud.
A separate police report has been filed against Guntur's wife, the former actress Puput Melati, although police have not yet named her a suspect.
"She has been reported for alleged money laundering," Rikwanto said.
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