Indonesian Car Owners Turn To Magic Auto Mechanics

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Thousands of so-called magic garages are lending a touch of wizardry to auto repairs in Indonesia - where many hold mystic beliefs and swear by the mechanics who cast spells on their cars.

Satisfied customers offer plenty of stories of comparatively low prices for good work done quickly and in the strictest of confidence.

But skeptics abound, and no scientific evidence supports the claims made by boosters of the booming trade.

"Ketok," or "knock," magic is credited to Turut, who opened an auto-body workshop in Blitar in 1956 after mild success as a farmer, goldsmith and carpenter. Like many Indonesians, he used only one name.

By the time Turut died at 74 in 1982, he was regarded as the Merlin of mechanics, who had trained many disciples.

Although Turut once denied his workmanship had supernatural support, his followers insist otherwise.

Apprentice magician-mechanics undergo rigid technical training as well as periodic fasting. They promise never to cheat their customers.

The first magic garages opened in Jakarta about 10 years ago and gained popularity despite, or perhaps because of, the oddball way business was done.

Repairs are performed behind closed doors in sheds behind high fences. Customers are barred from watching or even looking at the tools.

Where ordinary garages offer a cost estimate, magic garages set firm prices, which always include one or more of the number five - because that's the way Turut did it.

Ordinary tools are used for some work, said Heriyanto, who owns two shops in South Jakarta, with magic applied "only in certain conditions."

"We have to keep secret our equipment because it is our lives," said Heriyanto, who refused to have photos taken in his garage.

He said a damaged car that would need two weeks to repair in a conventional garage could be done by his specialists in a week at one-third the cost.

Actress Kiki Farmala swears by ketok magic. "It is longer and more expensive in the conventional workshops."

The magic mechanics keep in touch at social gatherings but have not yet formed a professional association, Heriyanto said.

There is no official count of the number of ketok magic establishments because most have too few assets to register as businesses under Indonesian law and do not need a license to operate.

Nakoela Sunarto, a professor of automotive technology at the University of Indonesia, rejects the idea of magic.

"There are both rational and irrational matters behind it, but as a scientist I cannot believe the irrational one," Sunarto said.