Bomoh finding.
I felt so ashamed at myself when I realised my mistake: to laugh at Malaysia using bomohs to located the missing aeroplane. MH370 that is.
In a modern society today we would find it amusing that our neighbours up north was not able to find an aeroplane after days of search and need to resort to spiritual means. Many, including myself, would find it a mockery.
I was doing my essay, on some colonisation issues and was focusing on the history of British Malaya. Malaya in those days was a land of abundance, almost like paradise. One may even argue that the people then enjoyed more freedom than they had today in Malaysia, too. It led me to think of the development of cultures in the Malay Peninsula.
Bomohs are a form of shamanism. It entails a cultural identity to the Malays, mostly the traditional ones. Of course many say that bomohs are un-Islamic, but then again they existed before the arrival of the religion, and transformed along with it.
Instead of mocking at our brothers and sisters up north, perhaps we should respect their culture. After all, isn't 祈福法会s about the same thing? Everyone is tagging #prayformh370 anyway.
When one loses hope in the mortal world, there is always a spiritual one for him to turn to.
