In True Malay Ghost Stories, Rahim Abdul explores the Asian folklore of ghosts, spirits and genies through a collection of short stories, set specifically in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In these areas, unlike India, China, and the West where traditional ghost stories were written down long ago, tales of ghost, possession, and black magic are handed down by word of mouth. The supernatural still features strongly in the culture and Abdul brings together first-hand experiences, stories handed down by family and from local tradition, of entities such as the 'Breast Ghost' which abducts unguarded children in its monstrous, stinking cleavage, the mischievous thieving 'Toyol', or the stifling female 'Pontianak' whose presence is first indicated by a strong scent of fragrant frangipani before turning foul and rotten. Through vivid and widely varied tales, Abdul portrays a world where the supernatural is ever present, ready to trap the unwary or disrespectful. While some stories feature recognised universal demons, others tell of incidents in specific locations - Singapore's Mount Pleasant Road, Changi Hospital, local cemeteries or Seletar Base Camp - recording chilling encounters with ghostly taxi passengers, an invisible motorcycle pillion luring the rider into danger, or a phantom security guard outside a ten-storey window.Abdul is quick to own that these twenty-four stories may be a real spirit encounters or not - it's for the reader to decide - they should not be taken seriously but be read as entertainment. What is certain is that the mind can play tricks in the scary 'haunted' realm of midnight graveyards and abandoned sites where evil deeds have been done.
