Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Who in Indonesia doesn't know the figure of tuyul? Tuyul is a famous spirit creature in Indonesia who is said to look like a child, has a bald head, and only wears a loincloth. He was kept by someone to steal money from house to house.

This creature in Javanese mythology apparently doesn't just steal money from house to house. Humanist, Suwardi Endraswara in The World of Javanese Ghosts (2004) said that apparently tuyul also steal goods and other valuable documents in order to increase the coffers of their employer's wealth.

However, have you ever wondered why tuyul only steal from house to house? Can Tuyul steal from a bank that holds a lot of money? Or at least commit theft of your e-money balance?

Until now, there have been no cases of banks losing money as a result of being stolen by spirits with the bodies of small children. If you search the internet, there are many answers to this question.

Some say that tuyul are afraid of metal because the money in the bank is kept in a safe. Apart from that, there are also those who say that at the bank there are “guards” in the form of other spirits that tuyul are afraid of.

These answers are only conjectures based on things that are not logical. However, regardless of the answer to this question, there must be a scientific reason behind the mystical story of tuyul. This is the reason that can break the existence of tuyul and the reason why tuyul does not steal money from banks or take someone's e-money balance.

To understand the explanation, we have to go back 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 turned out not to be like that.

According to Jan Luiten van Zanden and Daan Marks in Indonesian Economy 1800-2010 (2012), economic liberalization is considered to have given 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 are confused about where their wealth comes from

For your information, at that time the farmers lived as they were. According to Ong Hok Ham in Wahyu Yang Lost A Shaky Country (2019), they adhere to a subsistence system, namely farming just enough for their 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 other people's eyes.

However, they did not see the hard work of the nouveau riche. Moreover, they cannot prove the origin of their wealth if asked by farmers. As a result, farmers felt envy and jealousy towards traders because they could get that much wealth.

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. Therefore, when rich people fail to account for the origin of their wealth, farmers are jealous and accuse the money of theft.

A society steeped in mystical views makes farmers view that theft is a collaboration between rich people and supernatural and invisible creatures, one of which is the tuyul.

So, envious farmers always accused the nouveau riche of using illegitimate means to gain wealth. As a result of this accusation, Ong Hok Ham in his book entitled From Problem Priayi to Nyi Blorong (2002) stated that farmers made 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 hatred of farmers towards people who suddenly become rich does not only have an impact on personal relationships. Transactions of goods by rich people have also changed. 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.

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(mkh/mkh)