The death of my last aunty .( My late father's sister )

On 24th May 2010 at about 0630 hrs. I received a telephone call from my cousin informing me that his mother had passed away in Sungai Besar ,Sabak Bernam. His mother was my auntie and my late father's youngest sister . She was the last surviving ( till 24th Mat 2010 ) aunty from my father's side . I then called my brothers and sisters to inform them of her death . ( Later I found out that none of them went to pay their last respect except for Muttakin )

Accompanioed by my wife I left home at about 0730 hrs. to go to Sungai Besar to pay my last respect for my auntie . She had a stroke about 5 years ago and had remained in bed since then .She could not get off her bed and had to be helped each time she wanted to sit up . It was hell for her and hell to for her daughter who was taking care of her for such a long time .

We reached the house at about 0900 hrs and there was already many people there . I met a few cousins . The cousin who called me had yet to arrive .While waiting for the burial which was to be after mid day prayers ,my cousin Asmawi asked me to follow him to Sg.Air Tawar ,Sabak Bernam to see the China man who took care fo his coconut plantation . From him I came to know that he was also the one taking care of my late father's coconut plantation . My mother is now holding in trust over the plantation .

We came back to the house and was just in time for the last prayers .

I did not attend the funeral . We then left Sungai Besar back to Klang.

Family gathering turned into bizarre rituals .

Coming back to the ' saka story ' ( bad spirit or satan ) . We had a family gathering in Port Dickson on 14th May 2010 . My younger brother Muttakin whose wife was the PRO of Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya booked 3 MPPD apartments in Port Dickson . My mother ,brothers and sisters stayed in those apartments while I and my family stayed in our own family's apartment , a few KMs away . Without my prior knowledge my brother in-law Makmor ,had arranged for the so called a ' faith healer ' or ' bomoh ' to perform some rituals for the so called ' saka cleansing ' . because according to the bomoh all of us had been struck by the ' sakas ' and he needed to perform certain rituals to rid us off from the ' sakas/bad spirits/satans ' .

For that each family had to make available 3 metres of white cloth , some kenanga flowers , some lime fruits and some ayam kampong eggs . In the beginning I was against such activities which could lead us to ' syirik ' /loosing track from the true path of Islam . However my brothers and sisters persuaded us to join them since we were already there . In the end I relented although deep inside my heart I was against it . I also told my wife that we would just follow them just out of respect for my mother who was also present then . I did not want to hurt her feelings .

At about past midnight all of us except my mother who was incapicitated were told to go the sea off our hotel appartments . Each of us were given a bottle of water mixed with the kenanga flowers .Then we were told to gulp the water and swallowed it in our throat while submerged under the sea water . The same process were also made for the ayam kampong eggs and lime water - 3 process in all . The ' bomoh ' chanted some doa after everything was finished . It looked silly . I was slightly ashamed and quickly left the place back to our apartment . Luckily there was no one else except for our family .

From the above experience I noticed there are still quite a number of us who believe everything the so called ' bomoh ' tell us . The religion too accept the fact that there are evil spirits and satans in this world . This is further aggravated by many medical practitioners who accept the fact that there are unknow sickness/diseases which cannot be diagnosed by modern medicines .

I just do not know whom to blame for this situation .