MALAYSIAN MYSTICAL BELIEFS: MYTH OR REAL?

INTERACTIVE

MALAYSIAN MYSTICAL BELIEFS: MYTH OR REAL?

Saturday, 11 June 2022
By Wahida Ramlan, Izzati Rahman, Shafira Aziz, Irfan Asyraf, Siti Ismail

Even in modern times, there is a strong cultural belief in the supernatural, such as hantu, sometimes known as ghosts, demons, or spirits.

In fact, occult rituals have fallen out of favor in recent decades. We live in a multicultural society, especially Malaysians, including Malays, Indians, and Chinese, have a wide range of supernatural beliefs.

Hinduism

Ravi, also known as ‘Gurukkal’, has been serving at Sri Maha Mariamman Temple for over five years. He stated that Hindus acknowledged that each family had their own God, known as saka to protect them.

Members of Berita Dimensi interviewed the Chairman of Sri Maha Mariamman, N. Sundramoorthy and Gurukkal Ravi at the temple.

(Source: Berita DIMENSi/Shafira Aziz)

Hindus also believe that a person's soul will reincarnate as an evil spirit if they commit suicide or have an accident while inebriated. The unpeaceful souls will cause trouble in their families till their time comes.

In addition, another interesting fact is that toyol, an undead infant in Malay folklore is also relevant in Hindu culture.

Buddhism

In Buddhism, seeing a ghost is considered unfortunate or signifies that there is no ‘Ong’.

KL Chong in Chong Kong Tong Temple in Klang.

(Source: Berita DIMENSi/Izzati Rahman)

KL Chong (not his real name) stated that those who consistently do good deeds will never encounter dreadful things in their lives.

“In our belief, one of the ways to confront the spirit is through kertas kuning. In Buddhism, Mou Shen is the great Shifu who must remain unmarried in order to maintain power, especially when battling with spirits,” he explained in an interview with Berita DIMENSi.

Islam

As we all know, Malay believe that there are many ghost myths, such as Pontianak, Pocong, Penanggal, and Orang Minyak. Each one has its own characteristics and legendary stories.

Santau rituals or known as getting help from a Shaman or Bomoh through the use of black magic are also said to exist in current Malay culture.

Believe it or not, mystical beliefs still exist even in the modern era. To live is to believe and we can not deny that we are not the only beings that are here in this world. In conclusion, every religion has a belief in the mystical realm in their own way.

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