Apples, clamshell, Belalai Gajah? Weird traditional cancer cures from bomohs

Hey, hey, people. Bomohs – Malay shamans and traditional healers, also known as pawang, dukun, tok batin, et cetera – have been an integral part of Malay culture in our country, and that seemingly continues to be the case in 2022. Here’s a screenshot from a Reddit thread about 3 months ago:

And sure enough, a few of the comments on the thread talked about treatments that bomohs would prescribe, like this one:

And while massaging a toe to get rid of a corn might sound silly, that got us thinking: what do bomohs do for patients that have serious conditions… like say cancer? None of us at CILISOS have consulted a bomoh before, and we’re not particularly brave enough to do that now (in case we kena santau or something), but we’re still curious, so…

…we scoured the internet for comments from netizens and looked into scientific journals to check out some of these traditional “treatments”. Turns out…

They may prescribe a form of “herbal chemotherapy”

A study published in 2021 by researchers from International Islamic University Malaysia revealed some of the breast cancer “treatments” given by bomohs to their patients. Here’s a more normal sounding one – a juice made of apples and “daun Belalai Gajah”:

“She blended both ingredients together with water and consumed it twice daily as a juice for cancer remedy. She believed that… ‘daun Belalai Gajah’ were classified as ‘panas’ and could suppress the growth of cancer cells.” – Ila, a participant in the study

While scientists are studying the possible uses of “daun Belalai Gajah” (or Clinacanthus Nutans) in medicine, there’s no real evidence that it does anything for cancer patients. As for the apples… uhh… yeah.

Another lady known only as Teh recounted that she had been recommended by a healer to bring him several herbs like “kulat harimau”, “rumput Sambau”, and clamshell so he can prep a paste for her breast cancer symptoms. The ingredients were blended together with lime paste, and…

“I was told by the healer that ‘kapur’ was classified as ‘hot’ and if used together with the herbal remedy would work like chemotherapy that could suppress the growth of the cancer cells in the breast.” – Teh, 41-year-old woman

Again, we couldn’t find anything about the ingredients indicating that they do anything for any kind of cancer, and unfortunately, the research paper wasn’t really clear on whether the “treatments” helped or if the either of patients survived in the end.

As sus as all of that sounded, nothing quite holds a serai-scented candle to a bomoh telling someone to change their name… to “cure” their autism.

Despite the fact that there is no cure for autism, we’re glad that the guy’s uncle seemed to have made it out fine, and that they haven’t been overtly scammed like these poor folks. Okay, this writer admits that he’s not really a believer in bomohs or traditional healers in general, and everything you’ve read so far might have reflected that sentiment, and you might be wondering…

Are people being scammed hidup-hidup until they mati-mati?

Real talk, yeah, some bomohs can be real ooh-eeh-ooh-ahh-ahh types. Some of them solicit sex from their patrons, some of them have been responsible for taking the lives of others. There seem to be a lot of bad apples in the bunch, but they’re still seen as leaders of sorts within their own communities. That, along with other reasons, like:

• Costs of seeking conventional medical treatments
• Undesirable side effects from regular medication

…can make benevolent bomohs an attractive alternative option to a clinic for people in these communities. Even though these healers might not be able to treat illnesses like doctors can, another Malaysian study has shown that patients who rely on modern medicine AND bomohs on top of that tend to get better soon. It sounds weird, but the rituals and ceremonies practiced by bomohs – if any – can reduce stress and help patients recover sooner. The whole mind over matter (a.k.a. placebo effect) argument, basically.

At the end of the day, if going to a bomoh is therapeutic for the people who need it, cool, but we’d like to emphasize here that if you have cancer, PLEASE go to a hospital. A consultant specialist in cancer surgery from Kelantan, Dr. Imi Saidi Ab Hadi said as much:

“A lot of these cancer patients get proper treatment late… Only when things are grave do they go to the hospital. At that stage, the risk factor of the cancer spreading is higher and more serious,” – Dr. Imi Saidi Ab Hadi in an interview with Harian Metro

Yeah, maybe give that Belalai Gajah shake a miss.