Bogus Bomohs

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DR AMIR FARID ISHAK is a medical doctor who is interested in spiritual healing. He has taken every opportunity to accompany friends or even patients who went to seek services from bomohs (local traditional spiritual healers). Some of the genuine bomohs, upon knowing that he is a medical doctor, allowed him to observe their sessions more closely. However, when he suspect that the bomoh is bogus, he do not reveal that he is a doctor.

The fact that there are so many bomohs (of all races/traditions) and many of them are so busy, would mean that Malaysians are really sick (both physically and spiritually) or don’t trust conventional and other complementary therapies enough, or both.

Not all bomohs are genuine. Some of them have become too “commercial” and are in fact fleecing the gullible. The bomoh business is really thriving, with some of them openly advertising through tabloids and posters on building walls and lamp–posts. Some of them even see several hundred “patients” a day!

Fake bomohs who do not have any spiritual powers, but manage to fool their clients through trickery and deception, i.e they are good con artistes. It will not take long to uncover these bogus ones because their greed and their sexual urges  (most are men who will take advantage of their gullible clients) will expose their true nature.

The more dangerous ones are those who actually have the power, but through greed and bad intentions, opt to take advantage of their clients, financially and sexually. Because they have the knowledge and power, they can do may things that convince the clients (and even their families) that the treatment is real.

What the clients do not know is that often, these bomohs put more sickness or even command their own jinns (many unscrupulous bomohs ply their trade with the help of jinns who can help in healing, as well as causing illness and spiritual chaos) to inhabit the clients, so that the clients will need to continue seeking treatment indefinitely, become totally dependent on the bomoh, and of course, have to pay lots of money for the services and paraphernalia.

Recently, his friend’s family became a victim of one such bomoh. Ahmad’s (not his real name) family had befriended a bomoh for several years, and he had helped them several times when there were “spiritual” disturbances in the home. They got so close that the bomoh (who is in his 40s) had even asked to marry one of the daughters. Unfortunately for him, she refused. 

Then about a year ago, he “diagnosed” that three of the daughters had jinns in them, and needed treatment. As all his treatment sessions (outwardly) involved reciting Quranic verses, supplications and zikr (chanting Beautiful Names of Allah), the family believed and trusted him. He even allowed the treatment sessions to be video-taped.

The main victim was of course the daughter that he was after. Many treatments were necessary, often starting late at night; and lasting till morning. At every session the victim would be screaming, and jinns would speak through her.

The family was told they had to pay a total of RM50,000 in penance if they hope for recovery. They also had to buy amulets and some oher stuff supposed to keep bad jinns away. 

Yet, even after paying the money, and after months of treatment, the disturbances did  not go away. The victim was so often possessed that the family was in chaos. And since he was “helping” them so much, the family felt indebted and followed all his instructions – including that they should not meet or speak to any close member of the family until the treatment is over (so that their jinns will not contaminated the family anymore).

So he had even managed to split the family. And his main target had also succumbed. The victim, who had refused to marry him earlier, had now fallen for him, and even asked the parents to reward him with more money for his “help” and “sacrifices” for the family!

Dr Amir did not like this bomoh the first time he het him, but even he did not suspect that he is such a crook. So when the “treatment” sessions were held, he gave excuses not to attend. Only when he heard that they had paid so much money and that the problem was getting worse, he did his own “checking”, with the help of his Sufi Shaykh.

The “embargoed” family members had also contacted him, and they had also done their own “checking”. The conclusions were the same – Ahmad’s family had been conned and controlled by this bomoh whom they trusted so much, such that anything others say would be rejected in favour of the bomoh’s version of things.

Since some of the treatment sessions were taped, Dr Amir asked to view them. That gave him a shock because no genuine Muslim spiritual healder would treat a female client the way he did. Unfortunately, they would not have listened if he had advised them then.

So, Dr Amir and the rest of the family tried to help them through spiritual means without their knowing, and after some time. Ahmad decided to seek a “second opinion” (after over three months of almost incessant treatments and RM50,000 down the drain). 

That was the beginning of a search for a genuine spiritual healer. What Dr Amir found out later shocked him. An Ustaz who becomes famous after appearing on TV has a team managing his services. Hundreds of people waited from early morning, and to cope with the numbers, six to 10 clients are treated simultaneously. Each client had only one to two minutes to tell his/her problem, and they were all treated together with Quranic verses.

The entire session lasted about 10 to 15 minutes, and the group was ushered out to the “prescription” counter.   

While his services are marketed as “free”, every client was in for a surprise. Each of them had to buy four bottles of Zam Zam water (healing water from the Zam Zam well located below the Kaabah in Mecca), plus several other things, which cost RM150 to RM250.

With a minimum of six people buying an everage of RM200 worth of stuff every 10 to 15 minutes, this “free” service rakes in at least RM5,000 every hour! No wonder he has an entire team behind him.

Anyway, Ahmad’s daughter was not healed by that famous Ustaz. She was treated by another Ustaz, who is also frequently featured on TV. Ustaz Hanafiah was not only friendly, but also took the time to listen to the whole story, and patiently treated and guided the family to normalcy.

So, dear readers, be cautious when trying to engage the services of bomohs.