Revelations about the Sultan of Kelantan and his alleged isolation have treated us to an undignified public airing of the dirty royal linen. This is damaging and destabilising for Kelantan.

There were allegations that visitors were barred from visiting the sultan during his hospitalisation. But I think that the most damning assertion was that his consort was using witchcraft to 'treat' the Sultan. Amulets and other "questionable items" were discovered near him.

The power struggles in the palace have generated bad publicity and it is important that the royal household be saved from further humiliation. Groups are taking advantage of the situation and taking cheap political pot-shots at various key figures.

NONE It is disingenuous of Perkasa's President, Ibrahim Ali (left) , to accuse Kelantan Menteri Besar, Nik Aziz, of prolonging the palace crisis. If Perkasa is serious about helping, it should focus on ridding the stranglehold of bomohs on Malays and by extension, other Malaysians.

The consort of the Sultan of Kelantan is not the first royal with alleged links to black magic. Instead of hounding Nik Aziz, who is probably working hard behind the scenes to diffuse the tension, Perkasa should be pro-active and seek ways to tighten the laws on regulating bomohs. Or ban them, altogether. The public must be protected from con men and cheats.

Bomohs are part of our culture

The animistic influence is very strong in Malay culture. Many of us believe in spirits and supernatural beings. Charlatans easily convince us that we are possessed or disturbed by these beings. Magic spells and charms to effect a cure, cost money. Despite Islamisation, bomohs are ingrained in this dark part of our culture.

Most Malaysians know at least one person, who has consulted a bomoh. I know of professionals, whose lives were destroyed by their dependence on bomohs. Their personalities changed after engaging them. Their self-confidence eroded. They became edgy and suspicious.

bomoh and politics In the course of this research, one bomoh, whose clients included royalty and high-profile politicians, mentioned the name of a prominent Datin by way of recommendation. It was a shocking piece of information not only because the lady is someone I know but when in the public eye, she professes to be religious. She is also a ‘hajjah'.

This Datin was alleged to have ‘trapped' her husband with specially cooked rice (crudely termed ‘nasi kangkang') and over her forty years of marriage, spent hundreds of thousands of ringgits on charms to ‘control' her husband.

Could she have mistaken her husband's short flings as evidence that the potions were working? Was she in denial and so refused to acknowledge that he was a serial philanderer? Possibly not. The vain, the ignorant and those who lack self-confidence and self-respect, seldom notice the most obvious things, but prefer answers that are out of the ordinary.

Insanely, her desire to marry her children off to suitable (read royal) suitors, meant that her children, too were introduced to bomohs. Instead of emphasising the importance of building relationships for a stable marriage, the focus was on charms and amulets. As expected, her childrens' marriages failed. The only person to benefit was the bomoh.

Bomoh's clients are professionals

It is wrong to believe that the bomoh's clients are illiterate, uneducated and only village-folk. Graduates, professionals, politicians and foreigners seek their help and advice, too. They do so for a variety of reasons: To secure promotions, to gain someone's love, to pass examinations, to break families up, to dissuade unsuitable suitors and to destroy competition in business or love.

Only those who have been bewitched by a bomoh know the full extent of the destructive forces. Desperate people demand answers. They seek alternative treatment for illness if medicine fails them. When it comes to love, some rely on amulets or potions to slip into someone's drink or food, instead of looking inwardly and correcting their own behaviour.

People in a failing relationship, or suffering a reversal in fortunes, find it convenient to blame witchcraft. They are lulled into a false sense of security and depend on charms, rather than using their own intellect and resources to improve their lives.

bomoh witch doctor shaman healer 240506 Not all bomoh practise black-magic but most prey on peoples' obsessions - money and beauty. Incredibly, some women believe that the only way their fortunes will change is if they have sex with the bomoh. When they realize their stupidity, they are too ashamed to tell anyone.

The weapon used by bomohs is psychological. They are cunning people, are experts at reading people and tapping into their insecurities. They frighten their victims with psychology. They target the most vulnerable or superstitious.

On 7 May, two 19 year-old-girls sought a bomoh's help to restore their virginity. They ended-up having a threesome with him. Are girls so naïve about virginity? Did the warning bells not ring?

List is endless

The list is endless. Women have sex with a bomoh to cure their acne, rash or excessive sweating. Tragically, innocent people have suffered because charms were planted to deliberately incriminate them. Incredibly, I know of two intellectuals who claim to have seen bomohs change into tigers and then climb the walls and ceiling of the room.

If education will raise people's awareness of these con artists, then the authorities, NGOs and houses of worship need to conduct campaigns and programmes to highlight the bomoh problem.

It will not be easy. To expose bomohs as religious hypocrites is an arduous task. Because of the stigma, few will admit to seeing a bomoh. And to protect his livelihood, the bomoh himself may have warned people not to divulge information.

To change the mindset of Malaysians who use bomohs is going to be hard. To legislate against the practice of black magic, or prove in court that black magic was used to harm someone is going to be equally difficult.

But change has to occur if we are to lift normal Malaysians out of their dependence on bomohs, to control their destiny. We must reinforce the belief that a person's future is in his own hands, and not the bomoh's.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real–speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.