Unlike his peers who fend off corruption charges and sex scandals, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesian president has been accused of being a jinx. The 60 year old leader has been blamed for a number of natural disasters that have plagued Indonesia in recent years.

Folks believed that the president, whose birthday fell on 9th September 1949, had double nines ruling events of his life and those around him.

And since local superstitions marked the number 9 as an unlucky number, folks have linked almost all disasters during his term to his inauspicious birth chart rulings.

Thus, disasters associated with his unlucky charm include the most recent earthquake as well as the tsunami of 2004.

The concept of the president being a jinx is so prevalent amongst certain factions of Indonesian society that locals have started calling him “Selalu Bencana Ya” which translates as “Always A Disaster”.

This idea of associating Yudhoyono to bad luck is also quite popular amongst the opposition party.

In fact, Permadi, a member of the opposition party who was a shaman in his spare time, has been quite vocal about this link.

“Just look at the numbers of his birth date – the ninth of the ninth, ‘49 – that’s unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen,” he said.

On the other hand, Yudhoyono himself doesn’t seem to cater to such beliefs.

“Magma doesn’t move because SBY has become president. It’s malicious to link it to me being president,” was his response to one such jinxing claim.

(Link)

By shinigami on 25-10-2009