Refugee "Camp" and Black Magic

Wise Women in the market

Yes, at last calm has been restored with sadly many people being needlessly killed. It was a hopeless mission between 100-300 men against the Malaysian police force and army and was doomed to failure. There just wasn't the support for their cause with very few sympathisers. On the other hand  it has made people very nationalistic and very suspicious of outsiders. My teacher Asmah's husband has returned to Ranau and she was telling me he is a lot thinner and quieter because of the stress and tension of having never being involved or seeing violence before and also she whispered because of the black magic. "Black Magic!?" I asked surprised "Yes, the Sulu terrorists used black magic to protect themselves and make themselves invisible so that they could move without being seen. They were like the walking dead," she continued, "no matter how many shots were fired at them, they wouldn't die." She continued about how she was worried about the curse they may have made on her husband and his colleagues and seemed anxious about the future.   So the belief in magic, ghosts and curses is not very far from the surface - a crisis happens and the ancient beliefs come to the fore again.

  On Friday I went to KK to collect Andrew from the airport and popped into the Hyatt where 16 of the British Council's mentors are setting up a "refugee camp" by the swimming pool. For some of the Semporna and Lahad Datau colleagues, this will be their 12 th  day away from their homes. Of course, it is difficult to have too much sympathy in that case but I did feel sorry for them as they were bored, they were worried for friends and colleagues in their schools and they wanted to get home plus there is the worry that their contracts could be shortened as the Foreign Office believe it is unsafe to work in that area now. We shall see what happens but at the moment their future is very uncertain and I'm thankful I'm up in the mountains.