Teen medium made suicide pact with friends
Tue, Sep 08, 2009, AsiaOne
[Photo: Ku Witaya (right), 16, told the group of friends, which includes Sia Chan Hong (right), that they had to die to become 'slayers' to kill demons threatening the world; The boys wrote words like 'goodbye' and 'last day on earth' in their diaries.]
A 16-YEAR-OLD self-professed Taoist medium, Thai-Chinese Ku Witaya, convinced his friends as well as his younger brother to enter into a suicide pact, based on his theory that the world was ending.
Of all his six friends whom Witaya had spoken to, only one - Sia Chan Hong - carried out the suicide act with him by jumping off the ninth floor of Block 667, Jalan Damai in the Bedok Reservoir area.
The other five friends backed out when they saw Chan Hong, 16, moaning at the foot of the block. He died three hours later in the hospital.
This incident occurred last year Aug 23 at around 5.20am in the morning.
In Lianhe Wanbao's report, it was revealed on Monday morning at a joint coroner's inquiry into the deaths of the two Tampines Secondary School students, that Witaya carried out Taoist rituals at home every Friday while his friends, including Chan Hong, would visit him at his house.
Witaya also believed that he could speak to deities.
One week before the joint suicide, Witaya spoke to his friends about a "Third World War" and preached about sacrificing themselves in order to "rid the world of demons".
According to the Chinese evening dailies report, the eight boys met at around 2am that fateful night and agreed on the suicide pact. One of them backed out.
After which, seven of them headed to Witaya's home and agreed to jump from the 13th floor but seeing that the entrance to the rooftop was locked, they decided to jump from his bedroom window.
The Straits Times reported that Chan Hong was "a little afraid" and Witaya had to calm him down before the two went back to the ledge. Moments later, they jumped from the window holding hands.
State Counsel Ang Feng Qian asked what the group thought of the joint suicide idea. A witness, aged 16, testified that they were "passionate" about it. He also revealed that Chang Hong had been the most passionate and Witaya was unwavering.
The witness mentioned that they had diaries belonging to the teens hidden in a riser outside Witaya's flat and that another witness, a 17-year-old boy, and Witaya's brother had penned farewell letters, wrote The Straits Times.
Shin Min Daily reported that Witaya was introduced to Taoism by his grandmother, Madam Goh Lim Choo, 62, who was formerly a medium.
He had wanted to quit school but was advised by his father to complete his O levels first.
A representative from the Taoist Federation told the media that Taoism valued life and that Taoists would not engage in such activities that would harm themselves or others.
The spokesperson also revealed that Witaya nor his "group" was registered with the federation and that they did not know about his activities.
Of all his six friends whom Witaya had spoken to, only one - Sia Chan Hong - carried out the suicide act with him by jumping off the ninth floor of Block 667, Jalan Damai in the Bedok Reservoir area.
The other five friends backed out when they saw Chan Hong, 16, moaning at the foot of the block. He died three hours later in the hospital.
This incident occurred last year Aug 23 at around 5.20am in the morning.
In Lianhe Wanbao's report, it was revealed on Monday morning at a joint coroner's inquiry into the deaths of the two Tampines Secondary School students, that Witaya carried out Taoist rituals at home every Friday while his friends, including Chan Hong, would visit him at his house.
Witaya also believed that he could speak to deities.
One week before the joint suicide, Witaya spoke to his friends about a "Third World War" and preached about sacrificing themselves in order to "rid the world of demons".
According to the Chinese evening dailies report, the eight boys met at around 2am that fateful night and agreed on the suicide pact. One of them backed out.
After which, seven of them headed to Witaya's home and agreed to jump from the 13th floor but seeing that the entrance to the rooftop was locked, they decided to jump from his bedroom window.
The Straits Times reported that Chan Hong was "a little afraid" and Witaya had to calm him down before the two went back to the ledge. Moments later, they jumped from the window holding hands.
State Counsel Ang Feng Qian asked what the group thought of the joint suicide idea. A witness, aged 16, testified that they were "passionate" about it. He also revealed that Chang Hong had been the most passionate and Witaya was unwavering.
The witness mentioned that they had diaries belonging to the teens hidden in a riser outside Witaya's flat and that another witness, a 17-year-old boy, and Witaya's brother had penned farewell letters, wrote The Straits Times.
Shin Min Daily reported that Witaya was introduced to Taoism by his grandmother, Madam Goh Lim Choo, 62, who was formerly a medium.
He had wanted to quit school but was advised by his father to complete his O levels first.
A representative from the Taoist Federation told the media that Taoism valued life and that Taoists would not engage in such activities that would harm themselves or others.
The spokesperson also revealed that Witaya nor his "group" was registered with the federation and that they did not know about his activities.
I really hate reading articles like this, it makes gamers look bad because someone is going to try to pin the cause of the suicide on some game instead of looking hard and long at the psychological state of a distraught young person who certainly seems to not have gotten much help from the people he should have gotten it from.
Secondly, it makes people who do talk to spirits look like possible asylum candidates. :(
I wonder if any of Witaya's relatives ever said anything to him like... "Take this whole mediumship slowly..." and "16 is too young to be a medium..." :P This sort of reminds me of the time I read about how the Singapore Paranormal Investigators (SPI) mentioned in their article how they had gotten the services of a bomoh to help them out with finding ghosts at the ruins of the Japanese shrine at MacRitchie... the bomoh in question was also a young person... if I remember correctly either in his late teens or early young adult years... early 20+
Now, I have nothing against young people doing witchcraft or dabbling in the occult, but I DO think teens to early 20s is a little TOO YOUNG to be an actual practitioner offering services to clientele.
It's not just a matter of being inexperienced and screwing up some spiritual stuff big time... I do think a little life experience and maturity is needed before one can actually practice without being caught up in possible legal ramifications or client problems. And really, how many people do you think would actually seek the services of someone in their teens??? Honestly, do you expect a pimply youth to chase spirits from your house or give you a reading to pinpoint deeply personal issues?
Although most people would say "NO" to the abovementioned questions, sadly I have seen quite a number of people seek advice from the proverbal pimply youth-practitioner... haiz... I guess pimply youths don't charge as much or like to give it away free... without thinking about the possible karmic ramifications :P
I think the teenage and early young adult years are a time of exploration and well, trying out stuff.... sure you and your friends might cast circles, use the ouija board or even summon up a few... "demons".... but in the end, most mistakes made during those years can be fixed... some problems... with a little bit of work and effort.... however, as F once said to me, no problem or mistake is truly something you cannot walk away from... (that means you can walk away from it... turn your life around) .... except for well... getting pregnant and being a mother... then she said you will end up spending like 20 odd years of your life worrying about your kid.... well, that's the voice of experience since F is like 60+ and a mother.
It's a time for young people who are trying to decide if they should embrace alternative spirituality to learn as much as possible... improve their skills... question everything... It certainly is not a time to become a practitioner and give people advice... when you yourself are looking for those answers or trying to decide if being a "holistic" practitioner is what you want to be for the rest of your life :(
In my own journey... I have unfortunately met quite a lot of young people who have discovered the really nasty way that they really weren't ready for what lies out there...
Quite early in my own journey into this path, Wolfy and I went to a meeting at the holistic centre which at that time was located opposite to this very prominant malay burial site. After the meeting, we had a chance to talk to some of the people who were there, and I saw this lady in her 40s who seemed to be a little tired and listless. I decided to talk to her simply because well, she wasn't talking to anyone else and it seemed, no one else wanted to talk to me.
As it turned out, said 40ish lady was a "healer" who was recently attacked by some entities and "recuperating". I was curious as to why she chose to be a healer and so proceeded to ask her about her previous career and stuff... I mean, I assume a 40ish lady would have worked at something else before being a healer... it was a natural assumption, few people get into the holistic business at the get-go.
I was lucky when asking her in that I didn't say ... ".. worked for many years in the non-holistic field???" ... why? Well, as it turned out, this 40ish lady was actually 20! The reason she looked older than me.... I mean at that time I was like 10+ years older than her... was that her work as a "healer" had taken its toll on her.
She was originally studying in Australia and was supposed to finish up her degree, but at around 17, she got into some kind of energy "healing". I guess she must have been "successful" at her first few attempts because she then decided to stop studying and become a healer full time.
Who the heck decides at 20 that they want to become a energy "healer" for the rest of their lives anyway? Most people at that age are still trying to find themselves. :(
Anyways, I suggested it might be a good idea to put the healing thing on hold for a bit and try to finish her studies.... well, that was when she told me her story...
Apparently, she had tried to "heal" some woman who was influenced by some spirit and who had "dark energies". Although she didn't give all the details, I got the impression that she had tried to "heal" said woman without her consent. The woman was clearly unwilling to be "healed" by her...
Well, this young "healer" received a tremendous backlash from the unwilling patient and eventually even had some entity following her... according to her at least. All I could tell at that time was that she was completely drained by ... well... whatever... it could be really some entity or just the entire confrontation with the woman.
I often tell this story as a sort of morality tale... in many areas... The young often think that they can take on anything... most also have an exeggerated view of their own abilities. Hey, its natural, I went through that phase myself... :P
Unfortunately, some also end up thinking that they might be special because they are able to contact certain entities who might claim to be spirit guides or even "angels". And some even believe that well, they have a "special destiny"..... maybe because some "powerful" spirits deign to speak to them or those same entities spin a beautiful lie about how they are powerful persons here to "save the world".
Spirits are sometimes the biggest liars around... I think I have said that before... and humans are capable of the biggest delusions.
Well, just think about it.... if you are like some teen and you receive some message that says "hey you have a special destiny to "save the world" " would you seriously believe that? Well, to be honest, if somebody said that to me when I was a teen I would believe that person .... yeah... I was stupid like that.... but think about it now, you are a young person with limited knowledge, having limited abilities, and trying to figure out who you are.... Do you SERIOUSLY think that well, some important entity would tell you that you have a "special destiny" to "save the world"?????
I mean, why not wait till you were a little older? Why not just tell you, "hey man, why not learn this and this.. it might be useful in the future...." if an entity were truly wise, won't they know how to phase advice so it doesn't sound like..."you have a great destiny!"
One of the biggest lessons I learned as an adult was that... well, for the most part, we are mostly BIG ASS NOBODIES! Work and working in the adult world in a job which you need to take to help you pay your bills teaches you that lesson real fast. I'm sure if the teen medium in question had finished his studies and started working as an adult, he would soon feel the cutting edge of reality sink in... and might even drop the entire idea of being a medium for being some corporate guy.
IF.... IF being a medium is truly part of who he is, I am sure that, he would somehow find his way back to it again... but this time more sober and a lot wiser.
And who the heck wants to be a medium anyway! Low pay. Low status career option in Singapore. Might cause injuries that result in scarring. And often associated with the local hoodlum scene....:( Certainly a friend in this scene and a student researcher from the local university mentioned to me that it is not uncommon to hear from certain chinese mediums that this path was in a way imposed upon them by spirits and often not of their chosing.
The biggest issue that young people have to grapple with is well.... finding out who they are and especially for some.... what their real power is... I mean, power isn't always the ability to do some silly hocus pocus shit... it could just as well be the ability to organise stuff, make sales, attract people, convince others to do stuff that you want... using your own glibness...
I think that for some young people at least, they get into this whole spiritual stuff to fill up that void they are feeling... that sense of powerlessness.... thinking that by waving a wand they can make all their problems go away. :( Unfortunately, popular media is rife with images of easy "power".... Harry Potter waving his wand and creating changes to reality without effort..... I wonder what happened to the days when it used to take like 20 years for a young person to study to become ... a druid... for instance....haiz.....
Maybe people should watch less TV and read more... that might help... I hope...
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