Puteri UMNO's call at the General Assembly in October 2009 to ban the production of "horror, mystical and superstitious" movies on the grounds that watching them can weaken Muslims' faith in Islam is sheer nonsense. Like it or not, pontianak, jin, orang bunian and other supernatural beings have been part of Malay beliefs (and hence culture) since time immemorial.
So, let me share a ghost-busting tale told to me by a friend. Many years back, a building was slated to be built on a piece of prime land in Kuala Lumpur. The land had a "dirty" history-- being a former cemetry, to be precise.
"Better be safe than sorry" was the attitude of the contractor who didn't want to risk accidents caused by evil spirits during construction. So a bomoh was summoned to conduct an exorcism ritual, who in turn summoned a lorry to the spot. The poor lorry driver didn't know what he was into actually, and thought he was assigned to carry goods. He was taken aback when he saw the bomoh burning kemenyan (benzoin), slaughtering chickens and chanting away. Then the bomoh herded the ghosts into the lorry, with shouts of "Masuk! Masuk! Masuk!" However, as the driver didn't see any apparition, he was sceptical. The bomoh got into the front cab of the lorry and asked the driver to drive off.
Imagine the driver's shock when on pressing the accelerator, he discoverd that the lorry was much heavier than before! However, a few stubborn ghosts have remained behind, and today the spick-and-span building is supposedly haunted. Security guards have seen its automatic sliding glass doors opening by itself on umpteen occasions; they have also seen ghostly figures standing on top of the reception counter in the wee hours of the night. Believe it or not?
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