Mama Lauren. (JG Photo/Sylviana Hamdani)
As real life starts to kick back in after all the New Year’s festivities, many of us are starting to wonder what 2010 has in store for us. Likely we already know we won’t be keeping our resolutions beyond a few days, and we don’t need a psychic to tell us that in Indonesia there will be earthquakes, in Jakarta there will be flooding and in politics there will be scandal.
But will we really see an earthquake split Java in two, more bombings in the capital after June and rising marital strife and drug use? And looking further ahead, is the world really going to be washed clean in 2012 like the Mayan calendar predicts?
There’s really no telling, but three out of the four psychics we talked to had rather bleak outlooks for the coming year.
And the fourth one? He says everything with be fine, so if we get to pick and choose our predictions, let’s go with him.
Mama Lauren
Mama Lauren had dire predictions for the year ahead. “A big earthquake will happen, either in Bandung or Sukabumi [both in West Java], and the impact will destroy many high-rise buildings in Jakarta,” she said.
She also foresaw a major crack developing between Central and East Java, causing water to rise up and divide the two provinces.
More generally, she said there would be natural disasters in almost every other part of the country as well, from the western coast of Sumatra right across to West Papua.
Born in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Mama Lauren first came to the country with her Indonesian husband, Natakusuma, in 1952. Today, she is one of the best-known seers in Indonesia, with regular appearances on television and in newspapers and magazines.
She also runs a psychic service from her home, charging Rp 200,000 per visit, including for the time it took for the Jakarta Globe to interview her.
From her leafy residence in East Jakarta, Mama Lauren predicted plenty more drama for 2010.
“The whole world is in a mess,” she said.
Terrorism will keep a low profile in the capital until June when bombings will start again, she said.
She added that property businesses were going to suffer because of her predicted earthquake.
It’s not a good year for the government either. “I see a lot of fights among the politicians,” she said. “SBY [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] will have a lot of headaches.”
Investors should be wary as well. “The stock market is going to tremble, one day it’s OK, another day it’s gone.” She advised investors to buy gold: “You won’t get much profit, but it’s safe.”
Bleak economic prospects, marital problems and infidelity across the nation will cause widespread despair, she said. “Suicide will become a trend, like in Japan.”
The year ahead will also bring a new epidemic. “I see a kind of swine flu. This illness will happen because people eat the wrong food.”
Two senior female celebrities and one male celebrity will pass away this year, she said. But she didn’t say who.
“One of them is in the hospital now and is very critical,” she said on Dec. 24.
At the end of the interview, Mama Lauren said being a seer was a mixed blessing. “It’s not easy, you know. It’s not easy to talk. And it’s not easy to keep quiet. I don’t say everything that I see. But for what’s necessary and can help the people, I will speak up.”
Ki Joko Bodo
“It [2010] will be a difficult time for all of us,” Ki Joko Bodo said. Based on the ancient Javanese calendar, 2010 is known as “wuku watu gunung,” or “rocky mountain time.”
“It’ll be tough, like climbing a rocky mountain,” he explained.
“The political situation will become heated, but the politicians will be fighting for their own stomachs, not the people,” he said, adding that this year many political scandals would be uncovered.
“This will lead to some regulatory changes. However, these changes will only benefit the political elite,” he said.
Ki Joko is a prominent figure in Indonesian paranormal circles. With his long, unkempt hair, thick mustache and glaring eyes, Ki Joko — who also holds an economics degree from Cokroaminoto University in Yogyakarta — commands respect. His advice is sought by political officials, celebrities and socialites.
Interviewed at his sprawling estate in Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, Ki Joko spoke about the future.
As well as political scandal he predicted a worsening of economic conditions.
“There are a lot of malls [in Jakarta], but they are only full on weekends,” he said. “It signifies that the buying power has diminished, as people are actually earning less than what they need to survive.”
Floods, landslides and earthquakes will also hit the country, he said: “There will be a big flood in Jakarta in February, [and] I see a lot of landslides happening in the mountains and an earthquake in West Papua.”
Like Mama Lauren, he also saw a rise in marital problems.
“There is a tendency that the person that you sleep with will stab you in the back,” Ki Joko said.
As a result of the problems, the year ahead will see a lot of people suffer from stress and stomach ulcers. “Especially office workers,” he said. “And more people will use drugs next year.”
In this era of stress and depression, entertainment will be the one lucrative businesses in 2010, he said, “because people need that.”
According to Ki Joko, terrorist bombings will halt in the capital for a while, although he gave no prediction when or if they would restart. “The terrorists are still planning and gathering their power,” he said, echoing what many analysts are saying. “It will take a while before they can strike again.”
Meike Rose
Meike Rose, the love adviser for “Take Me Out Indonesia,” a reality TV show on Indosiar, offers predictions on more than people’s love lives. Using tea leaves and Tarot cards, the seer said she could also tell us what is going to pass in 2010.
“Justice keeps turning up in my cards,” she said in a telephone interview. According to Meike, that signifies karma will prevail in 2010.
“If you’ve done good things in the past, you will be well rewarded,” she said. “But if you haven’t, you’ll face the consequences this year.”
Karma will apply to everyone, according to the seer, with more scandals — probably political or economic — coming to light in 2010. “All things hidden will be revealed,” she said.
Meike foresaw that natural disasters would continue to occur until people began to take care of the planet.
She said in Indonesia, geological faults will continue to shift and rupture in 2010, causing major earthquakes, floods and landslides.
“Indonesia will again be hit by a tsunami,” she said. “But there’s no need to panic. Let’s just pray.”
Meike said God “wants to teach us something with these disasters.”
“Disasters happen because we no longer have respect for nature. We take from nature without giving anything back in return. It disrupts the balance,” she said.
“Unless we all start to care [for nature], the disasters will continue and culminate in 2012, as the Mayans have predicted.”
Meike said that in 2012, “The world as we know now will be purged clean [by catastrophic natural disasters] and a new era will begin.”
Edward de Fretes
At Warung Kubis, his small cafe in Blok A, South Jakarta, Edward de Freteshe dealt French Lenormand divination cards facedown on the table with a swift, practiced motion. The first card he turned over showed the sun shining over a desert.
“It is the best of all cards,” Edward said. “All will be well with Indonesia in 2010.”
But first, some things will have to be gotten out of the way.
“In the beginning of this year, a high government official, a woman, will be asked to step down,” Edward said.
He wouldn’t say who, but we wonder if maybe he was talking about Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, currently at the center of the Bank Century scandal?
He turned over another card. “There will also be a change of presidents. SBY may be forced to step down or he may step down by himself because of an illness,” he said.
But not to worry. “By the time he steps down, most of the problems in this country will have been resolved. He has done what he was appointed to do. The rest will be easier for us.”
Edward left a successful job as a creative director at an advertising company eight years ago to follow his calling as a psychic. He said he believed he was called to give people positive encouragement about the future.
These days, he reads Lenormand cards for Indonesian celebrities and high-ranking officials by appointment.
Not all his predictions for the year ahead in Indonesia were as rosy as the beginning of the reading suggested. Edward said he saw several “plagues” hitting rural areas. “Most probably caused by unhealthy living standards,” he said.
But besides that people can rest easy. “I don’t see anything bad or shocking in my cards. This year [2009] has been tough for us. And as a result more people are praying now. So, next year [2010] will mostly be smooth,” Edward said.
Edward also predicted the tourism industry would be on the rise in 2010.
“Indonesia will be world-renowned for tourism,” he said. “There will be new Indonesian tourist destinations that are going to be more famous in the world than Bali.
“So don’t worry. Everything will be fine in 2010,” he said. “You’ve got to be sure of yourself in facing the future.”
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