ORANG BUNIAN

Have you heard and do you believe in orang bunian (sorry, I cannot find the English word it)?

Yesterday I told Lee about my real encounter with orang bunian. Lee was quiet all through my little story. He was carefully digesting my story perhaps.

My story began when I was still a baby, somewhere in Air Kuning, Negeri Sembilan.

My mother was shocked to find that I was not in my usual place, that was in between her and my dad, on the bed. She looked everywhere, under the bed, everywhere in the house. I was not found.

She only found the piece of batik sarong I slept on, neatly folded at the edge of the bed.

I just disappeared!

Ther news of my sudden and unexplainable disappearance soon spread in the police station. Everyone chipped in trying to locate the missing baby.

My mother was crying. She had lost her first son.

Then, at dusk, when my mom was taking her prayer's ablution, a humanlike figure approached her. She braved herself and listened to what the figure was saying.

"Take back your baby. He is not suitable...there is a birthmark on his left thigh..."

The figure disappeared before she could ask where the baby was.

She ran into the bedroom and there I was, sleeping peacefully on the bed, as if nothing great had happened!

According to my mother, the same thing happened to the brother of my grandfather very long time ago. He also disappeared into thin air, abducted by orang bunian.

His family maintained close relationship with him when he was in the orang bunian world. They got his help whenever anyone fell sick. They borrowed plates and other cooking paraphernalia whenever a party was held.

Whenever you borrow something from these orang bunian, the rule is return everything to them, be it broken pieces. Once things are not returned, the service stopped.

He was never again found and we lost contact with him after many many years of his disappearance.

Many think that orang bunians are djinns. Djinns' population is much more than ours. Soem are good and some can be nasty, just like us humans.

In the eighties, there are stories of people seeing beautiful bunian girls strolling in Chukai town at nights. At first nobody disturbed them and so they continue walking the town. then came a group of rowdy teenagers. they whistled and disturbed the girls and since then they never appaered again.

Once as Syafiq and I were on our home from Penang I saw a lady in white long dress by a bridge somewhere in Temerloh. What was she doing in the dead of the night alone? I quietly told Syafiq about her. He was all of a sudden very quiet. Scared perhaps. I continue driving without anything bad happening to us.

What about you? Do you believe in orang bunian? Have you seen any?