I forget u bules are really kentang lovers. I once met this dutch guy who could eat a sandwich with nothing but kentang. Also rice with kentang. Everything must be kentang-kentang-kentang...

mbah marijan itu loh.. nekad banget

Villagers in Merapi slopes ignore warnings.

"There is nothing to worry about here," said Warkijo, a 55-year-old farmer who like many in his village deep within a government-ordered evacuation zone has refused to leave. "The scientists may be concerned, but in my heart I know it is safe."

the article

they are true Indonesian..I can't believe they would stay

Yeah, they might be gambling with their life by putting their life in their own hand.

yeah...
don't you think it's so stupid to stay in dangerous place?
oh please..do something!

Hey amigo, not every decision in life is logical la.. :

Mt. Merapi is one of the trinity in Yogyanese spiritualism.
The axis is like this --- Mt. Merapi ---> Yogyakarta Palace ---> The Southern Seas
each has their function and guardian- Southern Seas is the domain of Nyai Loro Kidul- The Queen of South Seas, the Palace is Sultan's abode, and Merapi is the realm of Kyai Sapujagat. Once in a while the spirit inhabitants of Merapi, would march down the mountain towards the seas passing the city of Yogya along Progo river in a big commotion with their spirit horses and whatnot- this phenomenon is called "Lampor". My friend who once studied at UGM once heard such noises at around 2AM from his kos-kosan, he could hear this big batallion of people with horses and unusual noises, he found it very eery and strange- his roommate woken to the sounds told him not to even venture outside, so he stayed put. Did he actually hear Lampor that evening? I don't know.

hahaha..you're right,,
but it's about life!! they have to make logic decision!

Many traditional people are still more bound to superstition rather than logic, unfortunately.

i soooooooooooooooo agree with you,,
though we have to believe in God,, we still must do something about our lives right?!

^Yeah, you're right, but that's probably because we're lucky enough to get modern education.

yeah...we're lucky

they actually can have that chance too, but many of them refuse modern education..unfortunately!

Ooh, that's just too bad isn't it, but then like they say "you can bring a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink the water", or somethin' similar to that.

aha..you're so right!
that's why indonesia becomes like this now,,,
that's such a shallow thought.

Erh..., about supertition and traditional supernatural belief.
It's not that bad.....
We can be more apreciative to this local indigenius.
Kearifan lokal dalam memandang alam.

Sometimes we can finds wisdom in these traditional beliefs.

What I admire about the people living near dangerous volcano is:
They are brave people.
They take it easy and try to get along living with the danger as their neighbor.
They have acquire ancient believe...., that nature bring life, as well as death too.
So danger of volcano doesn't scare them.
Although we modern people might say it's dangerous, and might get terrified with nature's force of disaster, most traditional people still be thankful, rejoice, and keep their 'sacred' respect to the nature.

We Indonesian since dawn of history are living within the ring of fire.
Below the shadow of volcano, in the face of rolling ocean waves (sometimes tidal wave of tsunami).
Considering our land "active" tectonic plates and fierce volcano. It's unavoidable Indonesians will have to deal with this stuff sooner or later. All we can do is be prepared.

I think it's totally fine for them to stay there, they believe and they know the behaviour of the Merapi for a long time. It is often said that indigenous people know more about their environment than modern people (eg. tropical rainforest, desert, volcano etc.)

There is no cataclysmic eruption after all. The lesson: LISTEN TO THE DUKUN. They know Merapi better than the vulcanologists.

hail to the Dukun!