Fake bomoh abuses traditional practice

A young woman broke up with her boyfriend and consulted a bomoh to restore her virginity. Instead, the poor woman was tricked by a fake, was intoxicated by his “medicinal potion” and raped.

The story is just one of many as described in an article in a Malaysian Newspaper. People traditionally have so much faith in the bomoh, the woman got abused as part of the “treatment” and in another case parents were standing by and watching.

The original bomoh (aka shaman, folk medicine practitioner, pawang or dukun) is the traditional Malay medicine-men. They were consulted as healers and their expertise was their knowledge of medicinal herbs and geomancy (divination). It is a centuries old way to heal, passed on from generation to generation.

However, after Islam denounced the practice in the 70′s, many original bomoh’s disappeared and many fake ones took their place. Despite their dubious reputation, people today still consult the bomoh’s. With sometimes disastrous results…