'Raja bomoh' apologises for stunts, claims he was acting under orders

Ibrahim Mat Zin courted international stardom when he attempted to track the missing MAS aircraft MH370 with a pair of bamboo binoculars and coconuts.

His antics at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) had left Malaysian authorities red-faced.

Since then, the self-styled "raja bomoh" or "king of shamans" has appeared at various places, including outside the Sungai Buloh prison, where he performed a ritual to protect incarcerated former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

However, Ibrahim has repented and apologised to all Malaysians, both Muslims and non-Muslims, for his stunts.

The 66-year-old, who is often decked in a suit, also claimed that certain individuals, whom he cannot name, had ordered him to perform the rituals.

According to Berita Harian, he made the confession at the at the Federal Territories Islamic Department's office this afternoon.

Present as his witnesses were Federal Territories mufti Zulkifli Al Bakri, Jawi director-general Abdul Aziz Jusoh and Jawi chief enforcement officer Wan Jaapar Wan Ahmad.

The 'protector' of Malaysia

Ibrahim, who was arrested in Johor last Friday, also pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 7(a) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 for insulting or bringing into contempt the religion of Islam.

Among his latest ritual was to protect Malaysia from North Korea, following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam.

The bomoh, in an interview, claimed he had been been protecting Malaysia from harm for seven decades - from even before the country's independence.

"I don't want money. I pray to ring-fence Malaysia.

"We don't have modern weapons like (North) Korea. If we go to war with weapons, we will lose. But we use ancient methods to fence the air, the earth and the water, so that missiles will go missing and not reach Malaysia," he had said.

On March 19, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki confirmed that Jawi and the police were on the hunt for Ibrahim.

In the aftermath of his attention-grabbing ritual at KLIA after MH370 went missing, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin urged religious authorities to apprehend Ibrahim.

An unfazed Ibrahim then threatened to unleash a "tamparan buaya" (crocodile slap) on the minister.- Mkini