MAY 16 — A group of us went into fits of hysterical laughter when the subject of the discovery of the anti hysteria kit came up. Luckily no one got choked.
Eureka! What a fantastic discovery, the pride of our institutions of higher learning. And it will make the inventor rich as one kit containing a few items that can be found in the kitchen sells for a whopping RM9,000.00
A university student from Birmingham, England, pointed out in his article in the Star of 11 May that in Malaysia hysteria “is often associated with being possessed by evil spirits which, obviously, is not easy to prove. Interestingly, this phenomenon seems to be largely isolated to the Malay community”.
I couldn’t agree more for all the mass hysteria cases that I have heard of happening in schools and factories involved Malays, particularly girls and ladies.
There is nothing supernatural about it. It is not “spirits” that cause this phenomena.
Psychologists, if they are serious about finding a “cure” for this condition, should look at two elements present in the Malay culture.
One is “melatah”. It is quite common among some ladies and is something the girls in the family will pick up from their mothers through imitation. It then becomes habitual and spontaneous. For example, if the lady accidentally does something (say drop a spoon), she will “melatah”, i.e. let out a scream, or blurt out expletives as if scolding someone, and even become nervous over it.
Another is the “hantu” element in the culture. Just go into bookshops selling Malay language children’s story books. You can find series of such ghost story books.
Ghosts are also depicted in Malay films. They seem to play an important role in the Malay culture.
The minds of children who are exposed to “melatah” and “hantu” from early childhood become conditioned to fear of anything unusual that happens around them. Thus for example if a school girl is frightened by the sudden crack of thunder, she goes hysterical and this has a domino effect on the whole class. So there is a case of mass hysteria.
Having lived in kampungs, these are things I have seen.
Instead of inventing “hysteria kits,” the root causes such as described here should be looked at and proper remedial measures taken, such as getting people out of the “melatah” culture and stop exposing children to “hantu” stories and films. “Hantu” films may be OK for adults, but certainly not for young children. It is difficult to get children out of the fear of “hantus”.
Why can’t writers of children’s books have themes other than “hantu”?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
