Pukau

I was spellbound while watching a documentary about "Pukau" on the Crime and Investigation channel on Astro this morning.

It showcased three scenarios where this art or ilmu of hypnotising victims were used. The first were firsthand accounts from ordinary people who had been pukau-ed into parting with cash and jewellery - on the spot. Also a case where a Pak Haji drove home, fetched his passbook, withdrew RM20,000 from his bank account and coolly handed it over to the pemukau. These victims reported feeling dazed, antara sedar dan tak sedar, while all this was taking place.

The art of pukau is allegedly used in house burglaries where the occupants of the house are hypnotised into deep sleep during the robbery. This had happened to us too when I was a little girl living in the government quarters assigned to my then civil-servant father. I remembered following the policemen and my father to check out some food strewn in the compound with human faeces nearby - that's the trademark of pukau practitioners in burglaries. They have to eat something from the house and then urinate or defaecate on the premises before their get-away - gross! In that time, the occupants would be having one of the most restful sleep of their lives.

The third scenario was related by a former police-officer who had interviewed a serial rapist about his pukau modus operandi. Some detectives on night patrol had been able to apprehend the rapist because he had done something that broke his own pukau spell. On that particular night in the house of his intended victim, he had kissed the forehead of a sleeping 3-month old baby when overcomed by feelings of rindu for is own child. On that night he was no longer invisible to others and was easily taken into custody without a struggle. However while the arrest was taking place, one of the officers had felt as if he was being tightly constricted by something, until one of his colleagues saw his predicament and promptly urinated at the scene which then reliefed him of his extreme discomfort.

Apparently the serial rapist had already raped 29 virgins and in complying with the requirements of his black ilmu, had fifty more to do to fulfill his desire to be forever young-looking. He revealed that his were not lustful acts and he had never left behind his semen, only to collect the girls' hymens or virginal blood! He used his saliva to "hook" the victim by placing a mentholated sweet that he had sucked into the victim's mouth. Victims remember having this taste in their mouths upon waking.

Three professionals who commented on the art of pukau in this documentary were of the opinion that these kind of criminals are actually con-artistes well-versed in the psychology of human nature, and in the techniques of hypnotism. In choosing their victims, they would have recognised the gullible ones from their body-language or whatever, and then placed "anchors" on them through eye-contact or a touch or a spoken word. For burglaries or rapes, they would then have followed the victims home a few times to make sure that they indeed live there. Scary isn't it?

And it seems there is nothing to show that there is any supernaturalism involved in pukau.

But then how to explain that policeman being bear-hugged by something or other?

All this goes to show that we have to always be on our toes when approached by strangers no matter whether you are an elderly man, woman, or young boy or girl because these monsters are very deft at putting our guard down and playing on our sympathies. The victims in the documentary only came to realise that they had been tricked or their safe-haven violated after they came out of their hypnotised stupor.

Anyway, that was the first time  that I watched Crime and Investigation. It's something you have to pay extra for but I'm  getting it free because we have someone in the house-hold working for Astro now.

Cheers.