Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Mr Abdurrahman Wahid's supporters have one vital weapon up their sleeves – a semi-mystical resistance to bullets, machetes and swords - which is provoking equal measures of fear and scepticism across Indonesia.

Historians said that while the claims of the suicide squad troops might appear fantastic, magic and Islam have a long history in this part of Java. In fact, the development of these "mystical" skills went hand-in-hand with spreading Islam in East Java. They were an early form of promoting the then new religion in Java.

And while the politicians and modernist Muslims embarrassed by these primitive displays of village tricks heaped scorn on their claims of invincibility, rural Muslims, and even some non-Muslims attested that some of their mystical resistance is real.

Witnesses at the training camps for Mr Abdurrahman's suicide squad report that the suicide troops had the mystical powers endowed in a quick ceremony conducted by a Muslim teacher, or kiyai. The kiyai gives a group of the initiates some blessed water to drink, asks them to recite a Muslim prayer affirming that Prophet Muhammad is God's messenger and then tests their skills.

One photojournalist, sceptical of this "magic", was initiated by a kiyai, who then attempted to chop his arms and stomach with a machete. "I don't really believe it, but it didn't cut even though it was strong enough to cut my skin. I was a bit surprised because I could feel it was sharp and heavy," said Mr Dita Alangkara.

However, he was far less convinced by a display of immunity to bullets. A suicide squad member was shot by an air rifle, but the reason that the bullet bounced off his leg was that the fire-power of the air rifle is much weaker than a normal gun, he said.

Other photojournalists said they saw men resisting stabs by bamboo spears. "After the blessing, someone took a bamboo spike and tried to stab one of the troops. But the spike didn't injure him," said Mr Ibrahim, a photographer at a training camp outside Surabaya.

Commentators who have witnessed the displays said that the kiyais' "magic" is not unlike a lot of the mental concentration abilities of Hindu mystics with their body-piercing rituals and ability to withstand pain. It probably developed when Hindu religion took hold in Java, they said.

These "magical" powers, which modern Muslims dismiss as a form of black magic, were in fact used as a way of promoting Islam to the then Hindu masses in East Java, said commentators such as Mr Zainuddin Fanaie, a political science lecturer from a Muslim university.

"The magic became more popular when Islam entered Indonesia, because the original Muslims used the supernatural aspects of Hinduism and transferred it to Islam," he said. He said those with these special abilities were enlisted to become Muslim leaders, and were probably among Java's first kiyais.