JAKARTA - INDONESIAN police have cracked down on a Jakarta-based cult that promotes orgies as the main ritual for worshipping God, claiming such acts serve to respect and re-enact the creation of Adam and Eve…
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Cult leader Agus Imam Solichin of the Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono sect is accused of ‘sexually indecent acts’ and ‘insult to religion’. He is said to have taught followers to have group sex to ‘worship God’. – PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Agus Imam Solichin, leader of the 40-member Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono sect, turned himself in last Friday, a few days after police launched a raid on his sect’s headquarters in the Kebagusan area in south Jakarta. Believed to be in his 40s, Agus, whose middle and last names translate as leader of the faithful, is said to have taught his followers - mostly married couples - to have sex in a group in one room while he stood watching, Indonesia’s
Kompas.com news reported, citing a former follower, Mr A. Kusmana, 58. ‘It was like being hypnotised into joining’ the sect, Mr Kusmana said. ‘My conscience and common sense at that time seemed to not function.’
The Jakarta police also received a report from another former follower named Kartiningsih who confessed to having been made to have sex with the sect leader Agus while her husband and other followers watched. She quit the sect after that.
Indonesia’s Warta Kota newspaper reported that sect followers also changed partners among themselves. ‘We are still investigating and will still need to talk to more people to build the case,’ Jakarta police spokesman Zulkarnaen told The Straits Times by telephone yesterday. ‘It’s not too easy as there’re not many of the followers who are willing to come forward and confess due to embarrassment.’ While evidence and witness accounts are still being collected, police are accusing Agus of ‘sexually indecent acts’ and ‘insult to religion’. These could send him to jail for as long as nine years if he is convicted, Mr Zulkarnaen said.
Under Indonesian law, police usually accuse a person of an offence before the prosecution lays formal charges against him. Agus started his sect in 2002, when his teachings were very much in line with those of Islam - as followers were told to perform Muslim prayers five times a day and fast for a month to celebrate Ramadan, according to
Detik.com news portal.
A year later, it is believed that Agus told his followers to stop performing these acts and said he could free all their sins should there be any consequence to following his orders. Indonesia has seen a number of cases involving controversial sects that have caused unease among the public and at times sparked protests. The authorities have also arrested and sent leaders of such movements to jail.
Last December, the police arrested Lia Aminuddin alias Lia Eden after she put out an edict annulling all religions. She has been accused by police of committing blasphemy.
