KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Universiti Malaysia Pahang’s (UMP) hefty RM8,750 “anti-hysteria kit” is ineffective against spiritual hauntings, a Muslim religious healer said.
Tuan Asmawi Tuan Umar who is based in Bangi asserted that such supernatural disturbances can only be overcome with inner spiritual strength.
“Djinns are unbothered by all that. Black pepper is a creature too. Strength must come from within, not from things.
“Those things can only give a scare,” he said in a recent interview with Malay Mail Online’s sister publication in Bahasa Malaysia, ProjekMMO.
In April 2015, UMP revealed its anti-hysteria kit comprising everyday items such as chopsticks, salt, lime, vinegar, pepper spray, and formic acid that it claimed can ward off “evil spirits”.
The RM8,750 price for the kit includes training for two on its usage, expert treatment services should there be no improvement in one’s condition, further treatment for chronic cases, three refills for items in the kit, a ceramah session, risk management costs and online consultation services.
Just a month before that, the university claimed to have formulated a Standard Operating Procedure to combat the use of witchcraft through its Committee for Advanced Studies in Witchcraft Law.
Following a hysterical attack at several schools in Kelantan a year later, UMP said it will offer its services if requested.
Tuan Asmawi also scoffed at explanation that the hysteria cases was caused by stress, claiming instead that the students had ignored religious obligations and indulged in too much entertainment.
“Others taking doctoral degrees do not even get hysteria. These students are not even at certificate and diploma level. What stress?” asked Tuan Asmawi, who used to work with the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department.
He also insisted that the hysteria could be “cured” simply by reciting the Yasin chapter in the holy book Quran.
This is despite Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid telling Parliament last year that medical experts have concluded that the students involved were facing emotional stress, anxiety and chronic depression.
A clinical psychologist had told Malay Mail Online in 2015 that scientific research has long established a correlation between hysteria and anxiety, an unpleasant state of inner turmoil often accompanied by nervous behaviour.
She added that a lot of the immediate responses to hysterical situations would be to calm the victims down, with many alternatives available and applicable regardless of faith.
