Dahlan comes a cropper after good luck ritual

Up close: A sequence of photos shows a damaged Tucuxi electric sports car following an accident on Saturday near Magetan, East Java. The car, driven by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan, was totaled in the incident.

Just a few hours after going through a Javanese cleansing ritual called ruwatan believed to eliminate bad luck, a locally developed electric car the Tucuxi — driven by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan — rammed into the side of a mountain road during a test drive on Saturday.

Dahlan and his co-driver, auto mechanic Ricky Elson, emerged unscathed from the accident, which took place on Mount Lawu in East Java, but the Rp 1.5 billion (US$155,440) sports car, which is described as “Ferrari red”, was totaled in the incident, which took place at around 3 p.m.

A ministry statement said the car experienced brake failure when traveling down the mountain at speed.

The high-profile incident was the latest for Dahlan, a media tycoon who has turned into something of a celebrity, gaining media attention and public sympathy through his many stunts.

He charmed people by sleeping in a farmer’s hut in Yogyakarta and surprised motorists by forcing open a tollgate in Senayan, Jakarta, during rush hour to let them through for free, but he has repeatedly denied his moves are aimed at garnering support for a bid for the presidency in 2014.

On Saturday, Dahlan, who was driving the car from Surakarta, Central Java, to Magetan, veered into the mountainside when the brakes suddenly failed.

 “The car was just fine when going down a steep road in Sarangan. But after that the brakes didn’t seem to work properly. I repeatedly stepped on them but they didn’t respond. The same was also the case with the handbrake,” Dahlan told reporters in Takeran.

“If I hadn’t swerved into the slope, the car would have run faster and could have damaged other vehicles.”

The car did not come to a complete stop after hitting the mountainside but went on to hit a utility pole. It eventually came to a halt directly in front of another car.

Although Dahlan escaped unhurt, the car was a write-off, which forced the minister to continue the trip to his hometown in Takeran district, Magetan, located some 20 kilometers from the accident site, in another car.

A few hours before the accident, the car underwent the ruwatan ritual in Surakarta. Renowned puppeteer Ki Manteb Soedharsono led the ceremony, believed to dispel misfortune, suffering and disaster. “The ritual was intentionally performed before the test drive to Ma-getan with the aim of protecting the car,” said Dahlan, who had personally tested the car in Jakarta earlier, prior to the ritual.

In spite of the accident, Dahlan said he was still proud of the car and he said he was willing to lose his life for the success of the electric car program.

Before the test drive in Surakarta, the Tucuxi had undergone modifications at the Kupu Kupu Malam auto shop in Yogyakarta and was taken on a 50-kilometer test drive from Yogyakarta to Kaliurang. On Saturday, the car left Surakarta to make the 80-kilometer journey to Magetan before it would continue on to Surabaya, East Java.

The research and production of the car prototype was originally conducted by scientist Danet Sur-yatama before it was further modified in Yogyakarta, although reportedly without Danet’s authority. Danet claimed to be concerned that the modifications could lead to patent violations.

Dahlan declined to comment on Danet’s claims.