Pages

Tuesday 13 March 2018

The Malay Hantu and Bomoh Live On



A Kadir Jasin

In the name of God, the merciful and the compassionate

IN the January 19, 1992 debut column I wrote about the then Prime Minister, (Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamenting about the penchant of a section of the Malaysian mass media for highlighting mass hysteria in schools and factories.

Those were the better days
That was 26 years ago. Dr Mahathir is no longer the Prime Minister and I am no longer the Group Editor-in-Chief of the New Straits Times Press (NSTP). I resigned in 2001 and Dr Mahathir retired in 2003.

[Anonymous comments will not be published. Please use real or pseudonym. Thank you.] 

The media landscape has changed. Then the mainstream media ruled supreme. Newspaper circulation was on the rise and the NSTP group could afford to reward the staff with six to seven months bonus. Today the online media is the king and the newspapers are fighting for survival.

The Malays too have changed. Today they are less concerned about the ghosts, devils and demons. Urbanisation, electric lights and modern housing have lessened their fear of ghosts.

In the Malay minds, the hantu and the jembalang live in the dark corners and up in the attics of the creaky wooden houses by the belukar or the swamps.

Swamps are especially spooky as they are thought to be the abode of the dreaded bloodthirsty vampire called langsuyar.

Langsuyar is said to be the revenant of a woman who died during pregnancy or childbirth. It feeds on blood of newborns, preferring boys over girls.

As such it was customary that when a baby was born, the thorny mengkuang (pandanus) was place under the stilted house directly below where the mother and infant slept to keep the langsuyar at bay.

Fearful that its exposed entrails would get caught in the mengkuang thorns, the langsuyar would keep away.

The real reason was to discourage the ducks and chickens from messing up the puddle created by the bath water of the mother and the infant, and to thwart peeping toms.

In those days, Malays would rather believe in myth than listening to scientific explanation.

When I was in the English primary school back in the 1960’s, there was a story in our Malayan Readers series book that explains the langsuyar phenomena. It was believed to be the combustion of the marsh gas.

Now that most Malays live in sturdy brick houses in brightly lit housing estates, they are less fearful of hantu believing that their brick and mortar houses are less hospitable to the pontianak and hantu raya.

If at all, nowadays ghosts came into their living rooms only through the Malay dramas on television and the re-runs of Hollywood’s Ghoshbusters.

Occasionally the fashionably-dressed flying ghosts would join the screamfest via the opera-type Chinese movies.

See the difference? The Malay ghosts are either unclothed or shabbily dressed. The Chinese ghosts are dressed in flowing fine Chinese silk.

For the younger Malays, the hantu exists only in bedtime stories and in ghost house exhibitions. Ghosts have gone commercial.

But there are still a sizeable number of Malays, especially those in high places, who are totally committed to the unseen world where the hantu, bomoh, kiai, mystics, tarot card readers and soothsayers rule supreme.

I have been told that these people would crisscross the Malay Archipelago in their sleek private jets in search of mythical kiai and bomoh to help them fulfil their ambitions, ward off their adversaries and keep their spouses loyal.

I would not make any judgement. Suffice to say that if you are Muslim, anything verging on sihir (blackmagic) is haram (forbidden) and believing in the power of the hantu is syirik (idolatry or polytheism).

In some Muslim countries the crime of sihir is punishable by death. So if Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang of PAS succeeds in implementing a full blown Hudud, those Muslims who dabble in sihir could risk being stoned to death.

Wallahuaklam.

8 comments :

  1. AsSalam Datuk ...

    Quote :
    " So if Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang of PAS succeeds in implementing full blown Hudud, those muslim who dabble in sihir could risk being stoned to deadth "

    Fully agree with you Datuk ...
    Let's pray that it does happen .

    You see ... we have many skeleton flying around from Turn M closet nowdays...
    It's a pain in the ass ( no no ...not from DSAI doing ).
    We got to settle it once and for all.

    What a better way than putting Turn M to the stone .

    BTW ... we now know there was a Langsuyar in Turn M cabinet .
    She kept the skeleton in checked in the cabinet .

    Now that she is out ... she did a good job in locating the Aquinimity.

    How about we hire this Langsuyar to locate MH 370 plane .

    Brilliant ehhh ...

    Waghih.

    ReplyDelete


  2. Hahaha waghih. You are hilarious, aren't you?
    If you really want to unearth anyone dabbling in the occults and black arts, look no further than the present occupants of Seri Perdana and their lackeys. Now that GE14 is just around the corner, the kiais, bomohs and shamans are doing a roaring business just trying to keep those kleptocratic idiots and morons in office and hang on to power.







    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not another Mona16 March 2018 at 15:07

      Another Waghih, excellent riposte!

      These bomohs, shamans, and such hanky panky called black magic ? And this practice in some extreme cases demand for human sacrifices. Remember the Mona Fandy (spelling rite?) case and she was executed for murder eventually.

      Delete
  3. Datuk,
    Tun has never shied from giving us the benefit of his advice when asked.
    In yesterday evening's Q&A session at KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall,
    he took several questions on the problems and demise of Maika and was clear and honest in his answers. Brilliant Tun M.

    ReplyDelete
  4. One of things that struck me when I was young is that each community has its own version of ghosts. Though we live in a mixed community why is it that a chinese ghost rarely appears to a malay. And vice versa. Even though there are many indians among us, I have to admit I no idea what an indian ghost actually looks like.

    Muslims are not allowed to practice sihir. But that doesn't mean it doesn't work. The quran says it works. Its quite intriguing to find out how it works, what are the principles behind them. I am sure datuk has a lot to share about that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Salam Datuk,

    Only the weak and/ or lazy would seek paranormal help. And this somehow fits our race perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Even Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, dabbled as bomoh as the election approaches.

    Try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz0hmz_wiJk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AsSalam Datuk ...

      Den setuju bebonar dongan sdra Jumbeaux ngato only the weak and / lazy seek paranormal help .

      Paling jelas Si Boboi lah ..gumo Shaman zaman moden ni Cambridge Analytica untuk sunglap data2 (bermillion oghang ) dari facebook untuk manipulasi PRU 13 .

      Iolah ini kes Bapak borit Anak rintik .
      Bapak sunglap wang BNM ...
      Anak sunglap data peribadi Facebook ...

      Ini ko nak dijadikan pemimpin negaro kito ...???

      Hati2 lah yo ...

      Waghih.

      Delete