PETALING JAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin is one of many netizens appalled by Bomoh Ibrahim Mat Zin's antics at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
"Somebody should arrest those magic carpet bomohs. Memalukan (embarassing)," he tweeted today.
Ibrahim, who calls himself Raja Bomoh Sedunia Nujum VIP with the title of Datuk Mahaguru, conducted the rituals to locate the Malaysia Airlines missing MH370 flight.
He was accompanied by several assistants who helped in the rituals using "Zam-Zam" water, two coconuts, a "magical" walking stick and a carpet.
The Umno Youth chief also said that he called Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom about the matter: "Beliau akan tangani bomoh2 magic carpet (Jamil will handle the magic carpet bomohs)."
On Facebook, netizen Mhd Amir posted a scathing remark that earned dozens of Likes: "Bomoh kelapa (coconut), this is air traffic controller ... please keep your altitude and your position is 100° 54 longitude … fly straight to your destination … When landed please see your psychiatrist and remember your bed and room number … good day."
Liz Yahaya called the bomoh group "cheap publicity seekers", while Lim Siong Boon said their actions "brought more shame to the country".
Many others pointed out the similarities between Ibrahim's posse and a "magic carpet ride" scene from the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee's movie Laksamana Do Re Mi.
However, Shamsul Sulaiman begged to differ: "It wasn't a magic carpet. The man in front was rowing and the man in the middle was removing water. This was quite obviously a waterborne craft."
Azlina Ahmad found their actions harmless, and called upon others to just let them be: "They are entertaining us here. I want to see whether the tikar (mat) can fly or not. Excited to see."
The practice is not entirely foreign, said Napsiah Wan Salleh, who pointed out that clairvoyants are occasionally used in the West to help locate missing persons when all methods failed.
Dilla Amin also urged enraged netizens to focus their thoughts on finding the missing aircraft: "Please do not make a fool of yourself. Right now everybody needs to pray for #MH370 safety. Do not stop believing."
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