• Published by NewMan
• December 2005
• Interviewed by Mayo Martin
• Used with permission from NewMan Singapore

Believe it: there are Singaporeans out there who aren’t into chasing the Five Cs, people who have chosen to go ‘against the grain’ – and whose colourful experiences might actually lead us to reassess our own lives

DON’T GET THE WRONG IDEA: THERE ARE VIRTUES TO NORMALCY, and Singaporeans—that largely conservative lot—have decades of progress and a high standard of living to show for their minimal boat-rocking. Critics might blast this island’s structured education system, fine-happy regulations or Confucian ethics for creating a city of narrow-minded automatons—but if you think everyone here leads a staid 9-5 lift complete with two kids, a maid and a mortgage, you may want to read the papers more often.

In May 2003, writer Wong Kim Hoh of The Straits Times came up with an idea for a six-part series called A Life Less Ordinary, in which he sought to feature some of the country’s more unusual personalities. No they weren’t TV celebs, technopreneurs, or even sports stars. They were just regular people like you and me—sort of. The response to this showcase of survivors, unsung heros and eccentrics was so great that eventually became a fortnightly column. Now, two years on, Wong, 44, has since interviewed more than 60 people, ranging from bit-part actors and paranormal investigators to an ‘ah beng’ faith healer.

These engaging profiles have now been compiled into a book of the same title. “You just need to have a very healthy interest in people and have your ears pricked up all the time”. Wong says, explaining that he gets his contacts through other people, or simple by walking along the streets during occasions like funeral wakes. To find out just how different Singaporeans can be, we’ve done out own take on some of these now-famous lives less ordinary and meet an exorcist, ex-commando, magician and an embalmer.

CHEW HON CHIN, EXORCIST
Master Chew picks up a vial filled with some vile-looking black liquid and shows it to us. He says that what’s inside was taken from a female corpse that someone had dug up in order to control the dead woman’s spirit. Unfortunately, she proved too strong and the guy was possessed—and his family cursed as well. To standard folk this ought to come across as either ridiculous or downright creepy, but it’s par for the course for Chew. Eat your heard out Buffy, for in a span of seven years, the 58-year-old exorcist and feng shui master has encountered enough ghosts to last a lifetime, and has banished just as many with—literally—a flick of his fingers. His small officer at the basement of Katong Shopping Centre is crammed with statues of Taoist gods, swords and other paraphernalia. Through his son Teck Fatt 30, an erstwhile English translator, he gamely answers our queries about the great beyond and the “rascals” who live there.

How did you become a ‘ghostbuster’? Fifteen years ago, I was a businessman. I was the first to bring in Thai laborers to Singapore and earned five million dollars a year. But I also made a lot of enemies and got cursed in Thailand. I was spitting out flies and mosquitoes, and had needles inside my body. Oh my god… I then lost everything and was in debt for a few years. Then seven years ago, the Jade Emperor (a Taoist deity) cured me. So now I help others in turn. At first I did it to fulfils a boon, but I wasn’t obliged to do it forever. I simply liked helping people so I worked hard on it.

How did your family react to all this? They’re supportive now but everybody disapproved at first because in a job like this, you don’t actually have a secure income. But at the same time, I told them it wasn’t within my control. The gods had asked me to help people!

Feng shui or exorcism, do you have a specialty? Feng shui. Exorcism is a very minor thing. One of my main talents if foresight. Even from here at my office, I can have a vision of a person’s house using my ‘third eye’. I can see where evil spirits lurk, if there are any.

Right…and so do the ghosts look like what we see in the movies? You can see an outline of their image but their faces are not so clear. They sometimes have long hair and often wear a white blouse or shirt that falls all the way down to their legs. But they don’t have feet—or at least you can’t see them.

And this doesn’t scare you? No, because they look like humans and I’m used to them. But sometimes they can change their appearance to try and scare you—for instance, they’ll make their eyeballs drop out.

Would you say that there are a lot of ghosts in Singapore? Yes, definitely.

Who are your regular clients? I’ve had bankers and SIA girls, as well as people from Japan, England and the US. It doesn’t matter what their race or religion are. Sixty per cent of my clients are Christians. I’ve had Malays coming over, and I’ve also met people from the Korean and Thai embassies for feng shui consultations to increase their offices’ luck. Occasionally, I get flown to other countries as well.

What’s in your ‘ghostbusting’ kit? Mainly it’s just the power given to me by the gods. But before I enter a room to do my feng shui or exorcism, I use a xian shao or ‘magic duster’ with horsehair, which is used to cleanse the room’s entrance and myself, so that the gods can enter both the room and my body. I also have spiritual dowsing rods to detect spirits. It the rods cross, there’s negative energy, which may be a sign of ghosts. If they remain parallel, everything should be okay.

Do you go into a trance when you exorcise spirits? No, I’m fully conscious. The gods sort of ‘coach’ me on what to do. I’ll point where the evil spirit is and command them to leave. Then I gesture with my fingers and the generals in heaven will come to take away the ghost.

What problems have you encountered? There was a Thai client who was cursed for six years. She flew down and I solved her problem with the ghost, but it came back as soon as she went home. We had to do the exorcism thrice! Ghosts are very persistent. When you’re cursed, many evil spirits like to attach themselves to you and drain your energy. But so far, everything has been within my control.

Do ghosts ever get naughty? There was one Chinese girl who was haunted by a ghost who would sleep with her and rape her every night. I also had an Australian woman who had the same problem.

What do you say to unbelievers? I’ll just smile. When I was in Nepal some time ago, I met a Frenchman who said he didn’t believe in these kind of things. So I told him that I had a vision of his house in France with a statue of a gold-coloured elephant god in the wrong place. And it was true. He was shocked.

What have you learnt through the years? Forgiveness and patience. Before I used to be very impatient guy with few friends. But the more I did this work, the more I realized that man is inherently kind. Most murderers I believe are possessed for a spilt-second, when they don’t know what’s going on.

How long does it take to become an exorcist? It’s largely dependant on the date and time of your birth. It’s written in your fate if you’re suitable for this sort of work. I can only ask the gods to teach you: I can’t do it myself.

What are your plans? The main goal now is to attain a higher level of power to help more people. I also plan to raise funds to build a temple in Tanjong Balai in Indonesia. We’re already negotiating for a piece of land.