"PUAKA" PEOPLE

Hey reader ,

This is based on the true story in Malaysia and believe it or not is depends on you . Spirits are powerful and they won't disturb you as long as you don't disturb them . This story is told by a 72 years old man and also a retired fisherman and about to tell us what happen .

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Have you ever seen "puaka" (Malay for "nature spirits")? My friends and I spotted them often in the open spaces near rivers in the old days.

The sightings usually happened when we were returning home to our village after fishing or when we were going out to sea. The puaka people looked like tiny human beings, not bigger than the size of a Coca-Cola bottle.

They usually came out in the open very early in the morning, emerging from the ground at the foot of the trees. We watch them from behind bushes. They were playful and we could even hear them laughing.

When we placed morsels of cooked rice, eggs and fish near where they emerged, inevitably, the food would disappear.

Now, more than 50 years later, a lot of land in the area has been cleared for development and many of my friends have passed on or become too old to go fishing.

However, you can still see the puaka if you rise up early, but only from a distance. They disappear if anyone comes too close. The puaka seem to have diminished in numbers. I wonder where the others are.

I do miss them but I guess economic development will not wait - even for puaka people.

I will write more about it and find more details about those things.