Medium advised man to leave "cursed" wife

Jan 5, 2011, 4:33 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - A Malaysian husband left his wife and two children after being told by a temple medium that they were a curse to him, news reports said Thursday.

The woman, 44, who was identified only as Loh, said her husband of 18 years left them in August following the medium's advice. Before he left, he withdrew 37,000 ringgit (about 12,000 dollars) from their children's savings account, claiming he needed it to pay the medium.

He now has asked for a divorce.

'He stopped eating at home, refused to wear anything I bought him and also refused to have sex,' The Sun daily quoted Loh as saying. 'He said he was afraid that I would continue to put a curse on him and that disaster would strike.'

She also claimed the medium, whom the family had known for 20 years, has caused the break-up of another marriage.

Loh has sought the help of Michael Chong, the head of the Public Services and Complaints Department of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second-biggest party in the ruling coalition.

Chong said Loh's was the third case he has received since January 1 that involved crooked mediums ruining marriages.

'Since 2006, 32 cases have been referred to the bureau and most of them involved women whose husbands left them on the advice of these mediums,' he said.

On the flip side, he said there have been cases of women who had been duped into having sex with male mediums purportedly to rid them of 'curses' allegedly placed by their husbands.

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