Why mass hysteria only happens to malay girls in Malaysia?

Here is one of those weird Malaysia facts or weird things in Malaysia which many Malaysians still couldn’t comprehend. Do you know that the outbreak of mass hysteria or epidermic hysteria only or rather mostly happens to perempuan Melayu (Malay girls) in Malaysia?

Although this freaky phenomena has happened to other people in other parts of the world, but here in Malaysia, it  affects predominately the female Malay community; among Malay lower seconday school girls in schools or those staying in hostels and also Malay factory girls.

Talking about mass or epidermic hysteria in Malaysian secondary schools, my sister who once witnessed this weird and unexplainable occurrence when she was studying in Sekolah Menengah Sri Muar, back in the early 80s.

She told me it only affected the Malay girls, and not a single Chinese or Indian school girl. What happened was, all of a sudden, for no obvious reason, one girl started crying hysterically and then staggered and went down on the ground.

It was as if her legs went jelly and she just fell to the ground in convulsion and continued crying and screaming. And automatically this triggered other Malay school girls to act the same weird manner. This caused a chain reaction. Some of the affected girls even fainted.

Some say that this strange and sudden outbreak of mass hysteria is because the school compound or the factory area is kotor (dirty in the sense it is haunted ). What they actually mean is there are jins (spirits) living   around those places. And these girls happen to kacau (disturb) the spirits.

This is one of those weird things which we often hear or read about, but  still couldn’t fathom. The big question is why it strikes only the gadis Melayu (Malay girls) in Malaysia?

Here are some weird malaysia news reported in the local daily about mass hysteria outbreak in schools and school hostels. Back in August, 2009, 35 students kena (struck) mass hysteria in SMK Tanjung Lumpur in Kuatan. The school engaged a bomoh (shaman) to “cleanse” the school by holding  religious recitals and prayers.

Then on July, 2001, a mass or epidermic hysteria struck more than 30 secondary school girls at Puchong Perdana National School. It happened during a  morning assembly, when suddenly a 15 year-old girl started screaming, and then collapsed. And her strange action spread to other school girls and they all began acting violently, throwing objects and screaming.

According to the State educational officer, this school have experienced similar incidents many times before.

Last year on July, more than 60 students of a secondary school in Kuala Kubu Baru, Selangor, were involved in an epidermic hysteria. It all started by a girl staying in the girls’ hostel in the school.

One student was reported saying that the weird incident had taken place after a white apparition was seen on a bed in the hostel.

 

Issues about mass hysteria among the female Malay factory workers in malaysia is also mentioned in the book “Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia” written by Aihwa Ong and “Women In The Global Factory” by Annette Fuentes and Barbara Ehrenreich.

Anyway for those of you who like to know more about this weird thing in Malaysia or better known as epidemic /mass hysteria, there is this 1975 Singapore medical journal written by Jin-Inn Teoh, entitled:”Epidemic Hysteria And Social Change: An Outbreak In The Lower Secondary School In Malaysia”

Oh yes, I think maybe these unexplainable mass hysteria outbreaks only happen to school girls because it has something to do sexy Malaysian school girl uniform or the Baju Kurung to be exact. Maybe the “jins” or the spirit cannot tahan (cannot bear or endure) lah!

Mystery Quote: “The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.” – Quoted by malaysiannews