Page 59 - Malayan Story
P. 59
MALAYAN STORY
There was a parallel between Sir Gerald and his fight against the guerrillas and our fight against the
forces of evil. There was a time when the British soldiers did not seem to be making any headway
and so it was with us too. For the British soldiers this was a new kind of warfare and for us who
were fighting the spiritual battle in the villages of Malaya this was a new experience in many ways
too.
As we lived in the villages and began to understand more of their way of life, we began to sense
something of the power of the evil forces which were our real enemy and to see the tremendous
power they had on the village people. We were not fighting against flesh and blood but “against
spiritual wickedness in high places”. We needed to keep our armour on and to use every weapon
our Captain had made available to us. These, we were told, had Divine power to “destroy
strongholds and break down every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God.” We were there with a
Heavenly mandate to bring knowledge of God to a people who had never heard, and our enemy was
ready to use every weapon he had against us.
We were shocked when Hayden and Harold’s young language teacher was found strangled in the
jungle soon after they had employed her. It was a horrible introduction to their first night in Kuala
Lumpur when Bertha Silversides and Ina Tebbs found that somebody’s finger had been chopped
off and hung on the outside of their window in an attempt to intimidate them. There was obviously
not going to be any respite in this warfare.
In every village there were spirit mediums, witch doctors, necromancers and demon possessed
people. In some villages, as we approached them by car, we could feel the power of evil that
controlled the whole village. In every dialect group, Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese or Teochin there
were witches to whom people turned for help and advice. They were called “the women who
enquire from the spirits” and they were mediators between the people and the spirit world which
they all believed in and were afraid to offend. High prices were demanded by the mediums for
advice, but somehow the people managed to find the money to pay them.
In the villages, people seldom went to a hospital when they were sick. They either went to a
“boma”, a “pawang” or a “dukun”. The most powerful was the “pawang” who was known as either
good or bad.
The good were those who used their magic skills and supernatural powers by going in to a trance
and then healing the sick, overcoming the blight threatening to destroy their crops, or even
reversing the judges “guilty” decision in court against an innocent man about to be hanged. The
“pawang” could also act as a fortune-teller, and if something was lost, could help to recover it.
The “bad pawangs” could turn themselves into a wild animal, a tiger, or a crocodile and do a lot of
harm. They were usually famous too for their love potions which many Chinese women applied for
and which by some kind of witchcraft seemed to work.
The “bomo” was primarily a doctor and less powerful than the pawang, but more so than the
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There was a parallel between Sir Gerald and his fight against the guerrillas and our fight against the
forces of evil. There was a time when the British soldiers did not seem to be making any headway
and so it was with us too. For the British soldiers this was a new kind of warfare and for us who
were fighting the spiritual battle in the villages of Malaya this was a new experience in many ways
too.
As we lived in the villages and began to understand more of their way of life, we began to sense
something of the power of the evil forces which were our real enemy and to see the tremendous
power they had on the village people. We were not fighting against flesh and blood but “against
spiritual wickedness in high places”. We needed to keep our armour on and to use every weapon
our Captain had made available to us. These, we were told, had Divine power to “destroy
strongholds and break down every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God.” We were there with a
Heavenly mandate to bring knowledge of God to a people who had never heard, and our enemy was
ready to use every weapon he had against us.
We were shocked when Hayden and Harold’s young language teacher was found strangled in the
jungle soon after they had employed her. It was a horrible introduction to their first night in Kuala
Lumpur when Bertha Silversides and Ina Tebbs found that somebody’s finger had been chopped
off and hung on the outside of their window in an attempt to intimidate them. There was obviously
not going to be any respite in this warfare.
In every village there were spirit mediums, witch doctors, necromancers and demon possessed
people. In some villages, as we approached them by car, we could feel the power of evil that
controlled the whole village. In every dialect group, Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese or Teochin there
were witches to whom people turned for help and advice. They were called “the women who
enquire from the spirits” and they were mediators between the people and the spirit world which
they all believed in and were afraid to offend. High prices were demanded by the mediums for
advice, but somehow the people managed to find the money to pay them.
In the villages, people seldom went to a hospital when they were sick. They either went to a
“boma”, a “pawang” or a “dukun”. The most powerful was the “pawang” who was known as either
good or bad.
The good were those who used their magic skills and supernatural powers by going in to a trance
and then healing the sick, overcoming the blight threatening to destroy their crops, or even
reversing the judges “guilty” decision in court against an innocent man about to be hanged. The
“pawang” could also act as a fortune-teller, and if something was lost, could help to recover it.
The “bad pawangs” could turn themselves into a wild animal, a tiger, or a crocodile and do a lot of
harm. They were usually famous too for their love potions which many Chinese women applied for
and which by some kind of witchcraft seemed to work.
The “bomo” was primarily a doctor and less powerful than the pawang, but more so than the
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