It is well known that Malaysians are generally a superstitious lot. Irrespective of race, Malaysians still believe that they can better achieve wealth, power, career, love etc with the help of supernatural means. We all know of people that have sought the assistance of bomohs (Malay witch doctors), feng shui masters (Chinese geomancers), Chinese and Indian astrologers and mediums etc to achieve whatever their goals are in life.
Most Malaysian still remember the famous bomoh Mona Fendy's case in 1993 - She killed and chopped her client, the then Batu Talam Assemblyman, Datuk Mazlan Idris into 18 pieces. Mona Fendy and her 2 accomplices were sentenced to death in 1995 and were hanged in 2001.
It was apparently reported by a well known online newspaper, last year, that a famous "bomoh politik"Awang Mohd Yahya admitted that Malaysian politicians seeking top posts in their party elections have sought his help.
Apparently Asahan, in Sumatera, Indonesia is well known for "bomoh tourism" - Malaysians visit Asahan to consult its powerful bomohs.
It is also rumoured that Blitar, a city in East Java, Indonesia, the birthplace of Sukarno (Indonesia's first president), also attracts "tourists" seeking assistance from its famous bomohs.
It is also not unusual to hear of Malaysians traveling all the way to Thailand and India to seek "spiritual guidance" from spiritualists there.
Are Malaysians the only ones obsessed with the supernatural ?
It has been reported in The Times that Burma’s Junta are intensely superstitious and have long been guided by a belief in prophecies, cosmology, numerology, magic etc
The newspaper further reported that politicians, in general, are superstitious:
- Hitler, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Charles de Gaulle, François Mitterrand and
Leonid Brezhnev have all sought advice from astrologers - President Roosevelt would apparently never travel on a Friday
- Napoleon feared black cats, and believed that eating chicken and crayfish would bring victory
- Catherine de’ Medici consulted Nostradamus
Well, we all know what happened to Hitler, right ?
The Times also quoted Gilbert Murray having once said “The best seed ground for superstition is a society in which the fortunes of men seem to bear practically no relation to their merits or effort.”
In 1970, Time Magazine reported that Indonesia's President Suharto and members of the Thai elite do rely on the advice of spiritualists. The magazine also said that the then Malaysian Minister of Works Tun V.T. Sambanthan regularly consults Hindu priests to determine the best days to open new facilities. However it reported that Lee Kuan Yew and President Marcos were the only 2 leaders in this region who do not believe in the supernatural. The ex President of Sri Lanka is believed to have used military helicopters to drop blessed soil on territories as advised by his astrologers.
Well, I believe that I must now get dressed and go for a cool beer or whatever, on a beautiful Saturday like this - Bye !.
Don't forget to tell me...what do you believe ?
12 comments:
so i guess you are a free-thinker who don't resolve to get advice or leadings from the mighty God.??
don't get me wrong..I'm a free-thinker as well..
does anyone know how to be an expert in spiritual stuffs ? i want to become a practitioner...
i know there are a lot of bull shits out there thats why i want to find the real ones.the real thing, not Harry Porter ok.
this is all hocus pokus rubbish...bomohs like mona fendy can't even save herself from the gallows.
i know for a fact that thai black magic is very powerful. even businessmen, politicians, protitutes, and pimps believe in it.
Did you know that there is also a bomoh politik in kampung pandan kl ?
His customers are mainly politicians and artistes
If these supernatural things are not real then why people still belief in them ?
It's what these people believe in so for me I don't believe a single thing of it. =) Anyway, everyone's allowed to have their believe in anything as long it doesn't concern cutting people into pieces or some sort of human sacrificial ritual.
yatz - There are some things that cannot be explained and thus open to manipulation and interpretations.
cody coda - You want to be a spiritualist ? hmmm why ?
arun - You've got a very valid point.
Anonymous
&
nitewatch
- Does it mean that just because people believe in it, it becomes powerful or real ?
Seaqueen - You mean someone can be as insane as he /she wanna be as long as he / she doesn't hurt others ? Insanity is really relative.
My co. indonesia operation isn't doing too well.
Can this help as a last resort?
free thinkers? there are free thinkers out there? well i am one but i have not met another one yet!
but i thought a free thinker believe in god, but do not follow any religion out there because ...... of what ever?
ahmeng - I don't know if this will help. Ive never resorted to this approach to solve problems.
Snapshots - As far as I know, the distinctions are as follows: An agnostic doesn't disbelieve or believe in the existence of the divine until personally experienced. An atheist, however, disbelieve in the existence of the divine. For a free thinker, on the other hand, "anything goes".
I've seen a Thai and Indonesian Bomoh - not sure if it was the atmosphere in the Indonesian guy's place, but he was scary.
The Thai guy worked out of a shopping centre, and he was the most correct.
Go figure
ozlady - He was working out of a shopping mall, you say ? must be some kind of Thai santa clause.
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