Upon reading Harian Metro over the weekend, I found myself surprised at the extent in which the Malay community is obsessed with the paranormal and superstitious. The one that takes the cake: a full feature on 'perbomohan' or Malay traditional medicine, focusing on how to make your spouse, specifically the wife, look like a pop star, specifically Siti Nurhaliza.
The article outlined the criteria a discerning customer of the bomoh should look for, in order to keep his faith - as there are bomohs out there that cross the boundaries between what is allowed in Islam and what is not. The elements in what is disallowed closely resembles ancient animism/Hindu practices, which has been entrenched in Malay folklore and cultural practices, and has been debated in the past couple of years in reference to the movement to adopt a more purist Islam into the community.
Methods aside - WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
All these people, men especially, who made the conscious choice to marry, also made the equally conscious choice to seek supernatural assistance to blur his eyes to the woman before him in order to fulfil some fantasy. It's one thing to have a powerful imagination - what disturbs me is the lengths in which they are willing to go to.
As the saying goes: Kalau hendak, seribu daya. Kalau tak hendak, seribu dalih.
Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年08月18日 10:46 | TrackBackThis is interesting, granted that practices like this has been around for a very long time. In some cases it has also bene ingrained into what society sees as acceptable. The burning question is that is that person is so religious where can there be a bomoh that practices in line with the teachings of islam.
One may say that all he is doing is "blessing" the person that has gone to seek help, but what makes the bomoh so special?
Although I agree that men has a tendency to be more prominent when you hear stories like this, however "love" in whichever form, blinds all and I've known of women who seek such "help" as well.
I'm inclined to think that the things that bomohs and pawangs do are not as orthodox as we'd like to think. Are there really gray areas when you're dealing with black magick?
Posted by: spit at 2003年08月18日 11:27They want a better version. Bomoh should be cheaper than plastic surgery!!! Oh well.. There are people like that...
Posted by: khalilur at 2003年08月18日 14:37hai siti, bagaimana kabarnya? sedang sibuk ya? saya cuma ingin kenalan aja kok. saya senang kalau melihat siti di televisi.
Posted by: ogi at 2004年05月29日 04:37