The Belief in Ghosts in Maritime Southeast Asia Belief in ghosts and ancestral spirits is deeply rooted Maritime Southeast

Asian animistic belief. This predates the modern religious beliefs currently practiced by the majority of the Southeast Asian inhabitants, who claimed had long forsaken their past paganistic superstitions. However it should be noted that there still exist a strong scent of the belief in ghost and ancestral spirits that wafts in the air that the inhabitants of maritime Southeast Asian breathe, particularly the conservative Islamic Malay community. In accordance to the Malays concept of the human soul or entity (as some may refer to), it is the essence and the passion (semangat) that constitutes an individual, or more accurately a diminutive form of the larger human entity. The soul is envisioned as something that is not static, but dynamic. The soul is believed to depart the body at the state of unconsciousness that is if a person is sleeping; possessed or dead (in this case the soul has departed from the body permanently). If a person died, it is said that the soul could transfer to another form of entity; another person, an animal, a plant or even an unanimated object. The concept of ghosts and ancestral spirits revolves around on how the soul of the departed takes form and behaves, which has much to do with its past life. The most distinguishable of the beliefs in ghosts and ancestral spirits in maritime Southeast Asia is the belief in birth spirits among the Malay people living in the region. One example of this would be the belief in childbirth spirits, most commonly reffered to as the Toyol or Tuyul. Most accurate literary descriptions of the Toyol depicts a child-like spirit monster that indeed looks like a child and infantile in nature. Accounts from Javanese and Sumatran shamans or dukun states that the Toyol actually ages, not in the same way a growing human child would but their aging process is shown by their facial features. Very old Toyol has facial features similair to an old man bearing a body of a child. In contrast, sightings of these old Toyol are extremely rare. They are considered to be mischevous spirits and like to play pranks either to humans or when playing among its own kind (based on several witness accounts). The Toyol can even be owned by a master that is able to manipulate them to do his/her bidding. But because of the Toyol figure, it is unreasonable to command it to kill or cause an extensive level of harm to others. Popular myths suggest that they are more inclined to steal for their master that is, discretely. The supernatural powers that the Toyol possesed includes the ability to shrink smaller in size and to penetrate through solid object such as walls, however their powers are mallified temporarily if witnessed by a human while attempting to utilize it. In this sense, they are considered relatively harmless. But as for most spiritual ghost depicted in Malay mythology they are considered something to be feared and their presence unwanted. The fear of spiritual ghosts such as the Toyol is vivid in the paradigm and perspective of the Maly community even to this day. The Toyol is said to come to being once as a spirit of a miscarriaged human fetus. In Malay settlements or Kampong, they condone abortion not on religious(islamic) bases, however based on a fear that it might led to a Toyol to come to being.

There are numerous different types of birth spirits in Malay mythology, the most famous variants would involve spirits of women and young infants, which also revolves accordingly to humans as such. Most birth spirits prey on women and young infants due to their resemblance. Famous ones include the Lang Siur and the Pontianak mythology. Lang Siur is supposedly the mother of a stillborn female child, which is envoked to a Pontianak. The Lang Siur, highly feared in coastal areas (where it is said to roam) is said to assault pregnant or breastfeeding women for obvious reasons. Pontianak, a spirit envoked from its stillborn daughter in contrast preys on virgin women often depicted sucking their blood. It is said that the Pontianak could transfigurate into a form of night crow to get around and to conceal itself before attacking victims. The cry of the night crow is popularly considered as a death omen where people believed upon hearing the call of the night crows will result in the death of a family member the following day. Although this perception is based on an educated guess made by anthropologists in the recent pass, it contradicts the indigenous belief where there has been no accounts of the two having any such distinguishable connections. For the beliefs of ghosts in the present day modern society of maritime Southeast Asia to uphold, there are a few factors to consider of. In fact, the beliefs in ghosts and ancestral spirits in Southeast Asia continues in the post-Islamic era is evident in the belief of other supernatural beings such as the Pocong which revolves around the concept of proper islamic funeral practices and burial rights. In accordance to Islamic religious law a dead body must be handled in a certain manner before burial, such as the wrapping of a corpse in a burial shroud. Upon burial, the shroud is meant to be untied. If the shroud remains to be untied after all burial rights are to be completed, the corspe could envoke to a Pocong, a seemingly hungry ghost wandering the earthly realm in search of someone to untie its burial shroud (as popular myth dictates, it is usually the headknot). Religion is meant to serve as a base of morality. For the beliefs of birth spirits to continue after the establishment of religious beliefs among the people is something peculiar. It could just simply be said that old habits die hard and in most cases it is with many indigenous Southeast Asians believing such supertisions without any religious grounds and simply accepting that the two should somehow coexist without any contradiction. However the beliefs of ghosts and ancestral spirits do serve as a base of morality to some extent. Suprisingly enough most ghost stories are meant for children. It is mostly serve as a cautionary tale for children to be obedient and conform to the social norms of the community, especially where such stories are also deemed as effective detterent for discouraging children delinquency. The nature of the belief in birth spirits also suggest something else. The idea of spirits being invoked through mistreatment and in rare cases witchcraft moulds a perception amongst the people within the diaspora. A perception that leds to the antipathy and contravening attitudes towards acts such as child and women mistreatment as well as witchcraft. It also encourages an attitude of being respectful to the dead and preserving a tradition of a well regulated burial tradition. To ask the significance of such beliefs is highly dependant on the individuals being ask, as one could only assume..