Tattoo removers zap the sinfulness from your skin

JAKARTA: Indonesian tattoo remover Sandi Widodo does a brisk business zapping sin from skin — at bargain-basement prices.

But there’s a catch for pious Muslims keen to shed body art at his Jakarta shop: They’ve got to recite 50 Koranic verses from memory and repent for their tattooed past.

That’s a small price to pay for Riki Irawan, who hopes that getting rid of three tribalstyle tattoos will bring him closer to God.

But he has another reason for ditching the ink — his fiancee’s devout parents won’t let him marry their daughter unless he is tattoo-free.

“The joy of having a tattoo is temporary,” the 31-year-old said.

“It only lasts for a few weeks and after that your life is ruined.”

Mr Irawan is not alone his regret judging by the volume of business at Mr Widodo’s clinic, which has a waiting list of over 1,000 people.

The stigma over tattoos has long faded in the West, with everyone from college kids to celebrities and athletes happy to display their body art in public.

But i n some Asian countries, tattoos are often associated with crime and loose morals.

Tattoos are also frowned upon in Islam, making it especially tough for wearers in the world’s largest Muslim majority country.

“It was uncomfortable to go into a mosque,” said Mr Widodo, who still has a fading tattoo on the side of his face.

“I tried to act normal but people were looking at me.”

Mr Widodo’s current profession is a long way from his former life as a successful tattoo artist in the Hindu-dominated resort island Bali, where local men frequently sport body art and there are few hang ups about the practice.

His tattoo-seeking clients asked for everything from relatives’ names to elaborate, centuries-old designs still worn by Indonesia’s indigenous people.

A traditional practice known as handtapping — artists gently tap a stick mounted with a needle on a subject’s skin — has even enjoyed a revival in recent years.

But for Widodo, finding religion marked a turning point and he turned his back on the business.

“Tattoos are associated with negative stuff like drugs and partying,” he said.

“So I decided to quit and sold my equipment.”

“Tattoos are not allowed in Islam because you’re not only hurting yourself, but it is altering God’s creation,” said Huzaemah Tahido, an official at top religious body the Indonesian Ulema Council.