Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Some people believe that Tuyul is a spirit who often steals money from house to house. However, strangely, there have been no cases of banks losing money as a result of being hacked by Tuyul.

So can Tuyul steal from a bank that holds a lot of money? Or at least commit theft of your e-money balance?

There is information all over the internet about the answer to this question. Some say tuyul are afraid of metal because the money in the bank is stored in a safe. There are also those who say that at the bank there are “guards” in the form of other spirits that the tuyul are afraid of.

These answers are only guesses about something that is indeed illogical. However, regardless of the answer to this question, one thing is certain: there is a scientific reason behind the mystical story of tuyul. This is the reason that can break the existence of tuyul and is also the reason why tuyul does not steal money from banks or take someone’s e-money balance.

The beginning of tuyul is associated with theft of money

To understand the explanation, we have to rewind time to 1870. At that time, the Netherlands inaugurated an open door policy or economic liberalization replacing the system of forced cultivation. At first glance, this change brings a breath of fresh air because it is considered capable of improving the welfare of society. However, in reality it is not.

According to Jan Luiten van Zanden and Daan Marks in Indonesian Economy 1800-2010 (2012), economic liberalization actually gave birth to a new colonial regime in which people’s plantations were taken over to be converted into large plantations and sugar factories. This situation then makes people’s lives worse, especially small farmers in Java who are increasingly falling into poverty. Because they no longer have control over plantation land.

On the other hand, there are also people who prosper from this system. They were traders, both native and Chinese, who in an instant became the new rich. The rapid increase in their wealth then caused astonishment for the farmers who were increasingly impoverished. Farmers were confused about where their wealth came from.

It is important to know that at that time the farmers lived as they were. According to Ong Hok Ham in Lost Revelations A Shaken Land (2019), they adhere to a subsistence system. This means farming just enough for your own consumption. If there is more agricultural produce, it will be given as tribute or sold.

As a result, they have the view that cultivating wealth is an open process. This means that each person must go through a clear process and effort that can be seen by the eyes of others.

The problem is, they don’t see the hard work of the new rich. Moreover, they cannot prove the origin of their wealth if asked by farmers. As a result, envy and jealousy arise in society.

Moreover, according to George Quinn in “An Excursion to Java’s Get Rich Quck Tree” (2009)”, farmers always think that the arrival of wealth must be accounted for. So when rich people fail to account for the origin of their wealth, farmers are jealous and accuse the money of theft.

Because they are steeped in mystical views, the farmers view the theft as thanks to the collaboration of rich people with supernatural and invisible beings. One of them is tuyul. Tuyul is a Javanese mythological figure who has been known for a long time. They take the form of spirits or ghosts with small, bald bodies that can be kept.

So, envious farmers always accused the nouveau riche of using illegitimate means to gain wealth. As a result of this accusation, wrote Ong Hok Ham in another book entitled From Problem Priyayi to Nyi Blorong (2002), makes successful traders and entrepreneurs lose their status in society.

They are considered “despicable” because they amass wealth from haram means, namely allying themselves with Satan. In fact, this all happened as a result of changes in Dutch colonial policy which caused businessmen to be hit by the windfall.

The farmers’ dislike of people who suddenly become rich does not only have an impact on personal relationships, but goes beyond that. As a result, there has been a change in goods transactions by rich people.

Rich people then tend to buy things that do not show their true wealth, such as gold or luxury goods. If they buy land or a house, they will be accused of keeping devils or tuyul by farmers.

These baseless accusations have increased the popularity of tuyul figures as mystical subjects in terms of wealth and continue to be popular to this day in Indonesia. Moreover, Indonesian people, who have lived agrarianally for years, are increasingly perpetuating the imagination and accusations of using tuyul.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(hsy/hsy)