Sex in the name of clearing a hex

MELAKA: They lose huge sums of money. And they are forced to have sex – all in the name of getting rid of bad luck and evil spirits.

Many gullible people have fallen to shamans who are known to extort money and to have sex with the female clients by claiming evil spirits have possessed their victims, reveals Melaka Barisan Nasional’s social service centre Pembela.

Pembela director Amir Hamzah Aziz said that in 10 cheating cases involving mediums, female victims were hoodwinked into having sex as part of the treatment.

“The victims’ stories all follow the same script – Satan has possessed them and the only way out is to have sex.

“I don’t know why people still trust such superstition and then come to us to act against the mediums after they have been fooled,” he said.

Amir said mediums would first convince the victims that they were possessed by the devil and that it was causing the problems in their lives before taking advantage of them.

“Instead of solving problems, the victims get into a more trouble once their spouses discover the truth,” he said, adding that married women were also enticed by mediums in such manner.

Amir said there were also cases of santau (black magic spells) that were referred to them.

“There are two types of santau, one done physically and another santau angin which is airborne,” he said.

In the first, the medium touches the target and some potion is pressed into the skin. In the second, the potion is blown into the air and is inhaled by the victims.

Amir said Pembela also managed 20 cases of hypnotism last year where the victims were youths.

He added that the victims aged between 18 and 22 claimed they were not themselves when strangers approached them and stared into their eyes.

They had delusions and handed over their belongings.

“Hypnotism was more rampant in scratchand-win scams here. Some even went to the extent of surrendering all their savings to these scammers,” he said.

The Star managed to talk to a 37-year-old medium who said that most of the locals were under the tutelage of “masters” from Indonesia, India or Thailand before becoming a full-fledged “bomoh”.

The medium, who wanted anonymity, said not all mediums used dark forces to “cure” their clients.

The medium said most people sought their service after they believed they had become victims of black magic.

“We seek the help of genies to help in curing the spells.

“Most of these genies don’t harm humans but some mediums uses ghouls to harm others,” he claimed.