The practice of witchcraft recently made the headlines with Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) Committee for Advanced Studies in Witchcraft Law providing a standard operating procedure to combat its use in everyday life.

According to the committee’s chairman Dr Mahyuddin Ismail, the research was conducted over a two-year period from February 2013 to February 2015 through a combination of individuals from various backgrounds such as Islamic medicine practitioner, religious scholars, judges and psychiatrists.

He added that the study received a grant of RM189,000 under the Knowledge Transfer Programme under the Education Ministry.

The news became viral on social media, including from Astro AWANI readers as some agreed with the proposal while some were not in favour.

A reader Wan MyClans said, “It’s good to have laws for witchcraft” while another reader, Mohd Saleh Senin, asks: “Why believe in witchcraft?”


However, the question we want to ask is: Is it right to use public money to fund research on combating use of witchcraft?