Most Malays in the Kota Kinabalu region will go to see a doctor in a nearby private clinic or the general public hospital, Queen Elizabeth General Hospital for treatment and medicines. Some will pursue traditional herbs and other forms of medication that is available to them. If these treatments are not effective, they will consult a bomoh.
However, most Malays will make use of village medicine (ubat kampung) for 'postnatal illness'. Even if one goes W hospital, clinic, family members and relatives will always administer ubat kampung to assure the well-being of the mother and child. Sometimes the order is reversed. They will first approach a tukang ubat or bomoh for a perceived spirit-induced affliction, and if the result is not satisfactory, western medicine will then be pursuedL There is a wide difference in individual preference as to the order in which treatment is sought. The motivation for those who continue to practice uhat kampung is more altruistically oriented than the desire for personal gain. The material compensation may at one time have been a significant factor, but today this can hardly be a prime motivation, since such compensation is minimal. There is a certain amount of respect and prestige involved in being a well-known practitioner- of "village medicine" (ubat kampung). This may be another motivational factor for those who continue as "specialists of village medicines" (pakar ubat kampung). The following list of patients and their therapy strategies gives enough examples to become familiar with the diverse possibilities that the dilemma of illness presents.
Affliction(s) and Choice of Treatment(s)Patient Affliction(s) Choice of Treatment(s)M.E., a 44 year old woman Experiencing First, she went to a private doctorMigraines. then sought a tukang ubat who is not(migran) a bomoh (she's a non-Muslimhealer from a nearby village). She is using the healer's air tawar exclusively.
M.Y. a 40 year
old man Loss of taste. Initially, he sought several bomoh(Hilang rasa).
and non-Muslim healers fromdifferent kampung dan daerah(villages and districts).
Later, hewent to see a government doctorand now is taking both bomoh'sair
tawar and hospital medicines.K.C. a 44 year old woman Bruised skin. Strictly
using air tawar from(Kulit lebam). tukang ubat. She has faith in it,even
though her Wit lebam hasnot healed.100A.G. a 3 year old girl TB and difficulty
in Her grandmother spent $MR150.00
Breathing.
each on hospital prescribed inhaler.(Ampus dan susah Her grandaughter's
problembernafas) keeps on coming back. She sought a local healer for airlawar
and now her conditionimproves drastically. K.A. a 43 year old woman Miscarried
She has seen her gynecologist.(keguguran) No luck getting pregnant. She
sought ubat kampung, bidan (mid-wife) and bomoh. Thebidan diagnosed that
some"black blood" (darah hitam)prevents her from gettingpregnant. Prescribed
her withherbs and urut 'massage'. She now has four children.
L.N. a 42 year
old man
"Touched" by
spirits and Always feels cold. (Keteguran danselalurasa sejuk). M.J. a
48 year old woman Sore legs and fever.
(Kakibengkakdanpanasbadan)
his illness, particularly his headache, did not improve. He believes that
a prolonged headache can be caused by angin dupan orang (bad wind afflicted
by a human agent)
He has faith
in air tawar especially when it deals with the unknown like keteguran.
His condition has improved, but there are days when he feels cold (couldn't
sleep under the ceiling fan).
She is aftaid
of the hospital even though she is taking some hospital medicines to improve
her condition. She keeps air tawar handy in case her illness persists.
G.A. a 49 year old man Kidney stones and He tried private doctors and Chinese practitioners but with little improvement. He then sought a healer's help. He's taking hospital medicines, Chinese herbs as well as air tawar. His condition has improved. The above of course is due to the 'placibo' effect, however the point is that patients felt relieved.
It is also noted that a Chinese practitioner (sinsang) might be consulted if he/she were known through a friend or relative who had previously used a sinsang and it was proved effective. In addition, this type of medicine might also be preferred by a Dusun/Kadazan like M.W., a 6 year old Dusun boy, whose ancestry may be part Chinese. Furthermore, in the Kota Kinabalu region, an affliction like a dislocated shoulder or arm has proven to be successfully treated when one goes to the sinsang for treatment. Sinsang medicine is in many ways similar to the traditional Malay herbs. One difference seems to be the greater variety found in sinsang medicine. As in the case of R.M., a 52 year old woman, it is obvious that she is dealing with harmful spirits like the evil male spirit named toyol and the sea spirit (hantu toyol lelaki dan hantu laut) which has entered her body. The healer who deals with her illness has to find a way to exorcise these spirits, and techniques for dealing with them are innumerable. For example, if one goes to seek help from a religious Malay healer, a defensive doa or a mantra; it is not a form of prayer, but a 'magical formula', part of the power of which lies in the subtle insinuations implied in utterances which may vary from the Qu'ran or hadith literature. On the contrary, if one goes to see a non-religious Malay healer, the healer may still apply the defensive doa or mantra, but he/she will go a step further by 'communicating' with the spirit and confronting the offending spirits causing illness by addressing them directly, identifying them, revealing their qualities, their abodes, their origins, and most significantly, their demands.
According to Sabah Malays, one's Soul or as some call it, "powerful inner spirit/will" (semangat), may wander into spirit worlds that lie outside the usual waking experience of human beings. It is cornmon to hear a healer say, "He has a strong will" (semangatnya kuat). The temporary absence of the semangat from the body usually occurs when one is sleeping but it also can occur when one is fully conscious. For instance, the semangat may depart the body when a person is shocked or frightened suddenly and this cause the semangat to "fly" (terbang semangat) for a very brief moment. In order to bring it back, one has to "call" it (kus semangat). The Sabah Malays classify semangat into two main categories - semangat orang mati (spirits of those who have passed away) and semangat orang masih hidup (spirits of those who are still alive). The latter can be further divided into semangat orang fidur (those who are asleep) and semangat orang bangun (those who are awake). A semangat, however is said, will never die (tidakpandai mwt) but it will "wandei" or "walk" (pandai jalan).
The Malays view hilang semangat as one of the single most important causes of illness in Kota Kinabalu. It is also the most frequently cited, the most likely to cause fatal outcome, and the one for which more than one healer is involved in the process of curing the patient. Harm does not necessarily result from a temporary absence of the semangat from the body. However, Malays believe that the semangat should return promptly to its owner because if it is intercepted by other evil spirit (terkena), then illness results. In most cases, the healer is able, by the assistance of spirit helpers likefin, to discover the whereabouts of thesufferee's semangat,what is detaining it and why it is detained.
The healer may be able to recover it and so restore the patient to secure heath. In some rare occasions, the detainer is too strong for the healer and it refims to let thesemangatfree. Subsequently, it is common to see two healers conducting the healing process simultaneously and it usually goes on for several nights in a row.
In Kota Kinabalu, panggil semangat, the summoning of thesemangat,"the term given to a number of formulae for recalling one'ssemangal"can also be performed by an ustaz (Islamic religious teacher). It is usually done by a group of people (between 510), headed by the ustaz, and they recite Surah Ya Sin (see Appendix B) for several nights (preferably every Friday night).
One healer explained
to me that according to local beliefs human beings are created from thirteen
components that are related to nyawa and they are as follows:
1. Four parts
from the father (bapa) which includes bones (tulang), veins (urat), skin
(Wit) and brain (otak).
2. Four parts from the mother (ibu) which include hair (rambut), flesh (daging), color (warna), and blood (darah).3. Four from God (kudrat Tuhan) which is conversing (percakqpan), hearing (pendengaran), sight (pengelihatan) and smell (perasq).4. One from God (bendaharaan Tuhan) which is our "life" (nyawa).Pacik Mohammad also believes that our nyawa is specifically positioned at a certain time of the day, and it is as follows:
In subuh which is early in the morning, our nyawa is situated at our bottom (sulbilbuntut). During zohor which is in the early afternoon our nyawa is located at our navel (pusat), while during ashar (late afternoon) our nyawa positioning is at our liver (hati), and during maghrib (in the evening), our nyawa is at our heart 6antung), and lastly, during isyak (at night), our nyawa is situated at our brain (otak). While nyawawillnot stay at the same position at all times, it also has different colors. He explained that nyawa supposed to be white in color in subuh, located at the sulbi of Prophet Adam; in zohor, it is yellow color and located at the navel of Prophet Ibrahim; in asar, its location is at the heart of Prophet Yusof and its color is red; in ntaghrib, its location is on the chest of Prophet Isa and its color is blue; lastly, in isyak, its (nyawa) location is at the brain of Prophet Musa, and its color is black.
He further argued that:
In fact our
"life" is our "body" and "liver" (sebenarnya nyawaitulah tubuh dan hati).
The "liver" is the "light" and the "light" is God's food (hati itu ialah
nurdannur itu adalah zat Allah). What we refer to as "light" is our secret
(apa yang dikatakan nur itu adalah rahsia kita). La Ha Ill aha Allah -
La is our body (tubuh), Ha is our "liver"(hati), Maha is our "life"(nyawa)
andAllah is our secret (rahsia).
I have spoken
to different healers about the issues of tubuh, nyawa, and so forth and
most of them shared similar information. However, this information is not
available to all Muslim healers in Kota Kinabalu unless one is pursuing
both ilmu zahir and batin. The different ideas about nyawa and tubuh are
very important in the healing process for a healer like Pacik Mohammad
because his healing focuses on both to cure the body aswell as the soul.
If we look at the medical hadiths from the prophet we see that it encourages medical treatment in case of sickness, whether it is through modem medicines, village medicine, ritual specialist, healer, Chinese practitioner (sinsang) or even living saint (keramal hidup). However, despite this, the healer is a Muslim practitioner who is also engaged in curing the sick yet he does not properly belong to the band of curers in traditional Malay medicine. He is in the mainstream because curing is only a part of his "repertoire'. In fact the keramat hidup is an individual emerging from the popular religion: he is more or less a "living saint" who is endowed with extraordinary powers, one of which is the ability to cure illnesses.
However, the existence of keramal hidup is rare and far between, for unlike the bomoh over whom no religious restriction has been known to be applied thoroughly, the keramat hidup is not allowed to thrive by the religious authorities, for his presence is skeptically looked upon as a deviation from the true teaching of Islam. At one extreme, there are people who come and visit graves of keramat hidup for treatment of illness, luck, wealth and so forth. Moreover, umat Islam forbids one to worship the sun or the moon but must worship God (Tuhan) who created them. Keramat men/women, animals or even rocks (batu) are not considercd ghosts (hantu) in the region of Kota Kinabalu. They are just frightening creatures. Many Malays in Kota Kinabalu believe that a keramat person will never eat nor die, like the wali suci.
Some healers will prescribes the air tawar (Blessed Water)according the severity of the illness (penyakit). For example, common illnesses (sakit biasa) like headache (sakit kepala), stomach-ache (sakitperut), air tawar #1 would normally be prescribed. If the illness does not heal in a week then air tawar #2 is given. Air tawar #3 is only given to individual whose illness were attributed to the actions of supernatural beings, like being touched by the sea spirit (keteguran oleh hantu laut). The comprehensive process of making the air tawar includes- first, the name of the patient and his/her illness; second, the healer has to take air wudu (the ablution of the face, hands and feet); third, the recitation of the appropriate doa to counteract the illness , a spirit caused affliction would require a recitation of surah Al-Falaq of forty one times for three consecutive days) and it has to be done facing the kiblat (a direction that one needs to face when one prays- that is to face Mecca) and finally it is always good to recite a zikir 'remembrance of God' such as Allah Hu Akhbar 'God is Great' and other zikir. It will increase the potency of the air tawar if one recites more (in terms of number) zikir. The instructions (peraturanperaturan) of using blessed water (air tawar) are as follows:
Drink one glass in the morning, put on the face and head and massage with the water on the parts that you feel pain, especially at your liver, stomach and back. If your foot or hands feel numb or cold, you can also massage them with the water. (Minum satu gelas di waktu pagi, tapus di muka, di kepala dan urut dengan air di mana tempat yang sakit, terutama sekali di urut ulu hati, perut dan betakang. Xka kakiltangan rasa kebaslsejuk, bolehjuga diurut).
Drink a glass of the water in the evening and also right before going to sleep. Put some of this water on the head after a bath and massage it thoroughly (do not wipe it with any towel). One glass is used for bathing. If you feel pain you can drink some of it and apply some of the water to the affected areas two to three times. If you feel weak, continue applying the water. (Minum satu gelas di tengah hari dan petang, danjuga waktu mahu fidur. Selepas mandi dituang air ini di atas kepala (satu gelas) dan dipicitpicit kepala hingga kering Yangan dikeringkan dengan tuala). Satu gelas lagi dituyung 9 di seluruh bada,% biar sampai kering. Ska ada rasa sakit mana-mana tempat, urut dengan air ini dua hingga tiga kali Jan minum. Xka ada rasa lemas badan atau letih kuat daripada yang b iasa; Jangan takut -urut sahaja dengan air 42 ini dan m inum juga, biar ia berlawan). Blessed Water #3 (Air Tawar #3) To sprinkle around the house, rooms, steps, windows and it will act as a barrier for the unknown forces. (Buatpenyembur ch sekeliling rumah, bilik, tangga, jendela dan penembakpada benda-benda yang kita Iihat ganji)L
Healers consider some common illnesses (sakit biasa) like headache (sakit kepala), warm body (panas badan), as quite easy to heal, but some common illnesses are considered very deadly, such as samaeh, luntong, kelulut and so forth. Symptoms for these deadly illnesses, like samaeh is itchiness (gatal-gatal di kulit) followed by loss of appetite (tidak ada nafsu makan) and sleepless nights (fidak boleh tidur). One of the reasons that the affliction like swnaeh is so rampant is because it does not require "black magic" (a comprehensive process where one needs to meet certain conditions for the success of the "magic" or sihir), and all it needs is for one to touch any objects that are already contaminated by samaeh (barang apa saja yang sudah dipalit oleh samaeh). it 169depends on the healer and where he/she comes from, but in most cases similar affliction can be cured with different treatments and ingredients.
Luntong, on the other hand, is another local syndrome which is considered by biomedicine as a "mystery" illness. An early indication of luntong is that one's skin color becomes yellowish, experiencing sleepless nights as well as a loss of appetite. Doctors in Kota Kinabalu have difficulty in diagnosing the exact cause and thus, they view this affliction as someone who suffers from intestinal infection because of the abdominal swelling, a primary indicator ofluntong-at least from a healer's perspective. Patient ends up being discharged after a minor treatment and given some form of antibiotic but the abdominal swelling reoccurs in a couple of days. Finally, when a patient shows sign of yellowish skin and urine, it indicates that he/she suffers fromkelulut.The following are some treatments given by Pacik Mohammad and Ampal Mukti in treating the above three obscure afflictions and other local syndromes.
A. Treatment forSamaeh (ubat samaeh) 1. Roots of Chili Paddy(A kar Lada Padi)2. Bamboo Roots(Akar Bambu)3. Roots of Durian Salad (AkarDurian SaW4. Young Betel Nuts -five pieces(PinangMuda-lima byi)5. White Chalk(Kapur Putih)6. Charcoal(Balerang)7. Coconutmilk (Kelapa- buatsantan) Instructions-- Pound all the ingredients (ftom 1-6) and mix them with the coconut milk. Recite Al-Fatihah and Al- Ikhlas thrice (see Appendix B). (Peraturan: tumbuk semua ramuan nombor satu hingga enam dan ccimpur dengan santan dan minum Baca AlFatihah dan Al- Mlas figa kah (rujuk Apendik B) B. Treatment for Samaeh (ubat samaeh) External Use:
1. One small glass of salt (satu cawan garam) 2. One small glass of soap powder (satu cawan serbuk sabun) instructions: The above treatment is for external use only (e.g. treatment on the skin). The patient must be bathed thoroughly. (Peraturan: Pengubatan luaran saja (seperd kulit). Pesakit mestilah dimandikan dahulu). Internal Use:
1. Seven pieces of red coconut roots (tujuh akar kelapa merah). 2. Seven pieces of betel nut roots (tujuh akar pinang). Instructions: When taking both roots, one has to ask for permission from mother nature and give a salam. Both roots must be boiled and the water is given to the patient. (Peraturan: Apabila mengambil akar-akar tersebut kita mestilah beri salam dan minta izin. Akar-akar tersebut direbus dan airnya diminum). 171C. Treatment for Luntong (ubat luntong) Take the nest of the bumble bee (sarang penyangat angkutangkut), and mix it with water and then it must be syringed (ditapis) before one can drink it.D. Treatment for Kelulut (ubat kelulut)
1. Roots (akar)
of Cempeka Putih
2. Tumeric-
five little cuts (kunyit- lima hiris)
3. Rice- seven
pieces (beras-t4uh bjyi) Instructions: Soak ingredients in warm water and
give to the patient that suffers from "yellow urination7 and "black feces."
(Peraturan: Rendam di air panas, kemudian diberi minum kepada orang yang
sakit-kencing kuning, berak hitam).
B. Treatment for Kelulut (ubat kelulut)
1. Hard Sugar
(gula batu)
2. Young Red
Coconut Juice -Kelapa Gading (air kelapa muda merah-kelapa
gading)
Instructions:
One must ask for permission from mother nature (penjaganya) and give a
salam (assalamualaikum)
before plucking the coconut, and it must not fall on the ground.
The coconut
j Luce is mixed with the sugar and then given to the patient. (Peraturan:
Sebelum memetik
kelapa tersebut, kita mestilah memohon izin -dan memberi salam
kepadapenjaganya, dan kelapa tersebut fidak bolehjatuh ke tanah. Guld dan air kelapa dicampur dan diberi minum kepada si sakit)
C. Treatment for Diabetes (ubat kencing manis).
1. The bark (kulit) of Cempaka Putih
2. Recite Salawat
3. Recite Al-Fatihah Instructions: One has to get the bark of cempaka putih on Friday night, at least five or ten mmutes, before maghrib prayer. Recite Salawat (see Appendix B) thrice while washing the bark of the cempaka putih, and recite Al-Fatihah (see Appendix B) once before putting it into the pot One has to recite Selawat thrice-before drinking the water and says (niar) "Oh Allah, by consuming this bark water, I am asking (memohon~ you to cure my diabetes and high blood pressure. (Peraturan: Ambil kulit cempaka puteh pada malam Jumaat, lima atau sepuluh minit sebelum azan maghrib. Baca tiga kah Salawat (rujuk Apendik B) sewaktu mencud kulit cempaka putih tersebut dan baca satu kali Al-fatihah (rujuk Apendik B) sewaktu memasukkannya ke periuk Sewaktu hendak minum baca tiga kali Selawat dan Wat "Ya Allah balki kencing manis ku dan darah tinggi ku dengan minum air kayu ini)."
D. Heart Problem
(sakitjantung). 1. Rat's ears mushroom (kulat telinga tikus)- 85 gram
2. Chinese
dates (kurma China)- 10 pieces
3. Ginger (halia)-
two small pieces Instructions (peraturan): Boil all the above ingredients
with mineral water (six small bowls) and drink only two bowls (rebus dengan
air mineral sebanyak enam mangkuk kecil dan minum dua mangkuk). B. Paralysis
(mati badan atau lumpuh). 1. Ginger (.45 kg) and pound it (halia ditumbuk
hingga lumat). 2. Mixthe pounded ginger with salt and fiy it (without using
any cooking oil).
3. Cool it
and place it in a bowl and then mix it with a little kerosense (minyak
gas).
4. Finally,
mix it with ant repellent (ubat semut) and massage on the numbness areas
such as the foot or hands (urutdi kakiatau tangan yangkebas).
go back to the Shamanism Central Page:
