In the Sarawak Malay world, there is a line between the pure Islam that everybody worships today and the fuzzy beliefs of the past. These fuzzy beliefs were a combination of supernatural ways from everything to cure one of a disease, to make one fall in love or to place a curse on an enemy.

In a world of long ago, the person in the kampong would visit a dukun or bomoh. They would explain what they wanted and the dukun would write the necessary appeal to the unseen world. The message would then be given to the person to keep or wear on a piece of clothing. Sometimes the paper was burned over a glass of water and the person then drank the mixture ashes and water.

The language written on the pieces of paper or on other items was known as wafaq. The mystical language is from an old form of Arabic with some verses in the old Malay language of Jawi. They were phrases written in shorthand to tell a parable from the Koran. Wafaq can only be read by those who have studied this form of shorthand.

The script includes stars (*), lines(IIII) and a three blade helicopter symbol among many others. Each parable usually has a reference to Allah. They can be found in sewn packets, on scrolls, and in my case, engraved on a kris

I became curious about the meaning of these symbols when I obtained a rusty kris blade said to have been buried on Mount Santubong. I found an old pamphlet, written in Malay, which had a translation of these of symbols. I set to work trying to find out the meaning of what was written on the kris. Alas, the translation on the kris went to Arabic and not to Jawi.

There were some  characters every Muslim knows which were recognized immediately. The most important was Allah written in Arabic script. I searched and searched for answers to the embedded script and tried to match the characters to the ones in the pamphlet. I was not successful. Some people told me the book with the parables was quite thick but my well thumbed pamphlet was only about 220 pages. I could not make any matches with what was written on the kris, other than the words for Allah.

I am guessing the 148 phrases written in the pamphlet were the most common requests made by the people to the dukun. For Example:

Number 53 was written for ladies. It was to be written on a paper for men to attract women with good intentions. (Zimat ini ditulis pada kertas agar dikashihi oleh perempuan, dan dengan niat yang baik.,maka insya-Allah akan terkabul niatnya itu.)

Number 44 was also written for men to attract the opposite gender. (Zimat ini ditulis pada kertas agar dikashihi oleh perempuan, dan dengan niat yang baik.,maka insya-Allah akan terkabul niatnya.)

Number 58 was written so the man will not ejaculate to quickly while having sex.(Zimat ini detulis pada kertas atau pada telapak tangan kiri, dan disusapakan kepada kemaluan isterinya ketika akan bersetubuh, maka insya Allah akan berhasil)

THE MALELA KRIS

My kris has the typical Malela pattern except instead of the “bone” running down the center of the  kris, has wafaq parables in its place. There are two lines in wafaq which, to me, are indecipherable no matter how hard I try to translate them. There is the symbol for Allah but the four lines and other symbols I cannot decipher.

The kris also has seven curves, which, I have been told, means the kris once belonged to a member of royalty. If this were true, then the kris proves there was once royalty in the Kingdom of Santubong.

The kris is in the fuzzy world where animism, Islamic beliefs and Islamic mysticism once ruled the lives of the people in the kampongs.

For more information about the kris see The Aesthetic Design of Malela Kris in Migration Letters vol 20 no.8  p.678-691