One evening in May 1982 a small, happy crowd people gathered at a popular restaurant in Kuala Lumpur to attend a dinner in celebration of the seventy fifth birthday of an old friend Musa Putih, a former Malay interpreter of the High Court of Selangor. when he retired in 1960 after almost thirthy years service, Musa left with many vivid memories of some famous cases in which his services were required.
One case that he would never forget was the sensational murder trial in 1931 in which a young and beautifu; woman named Puteri Bulan was sentenced to hang for a brutal murder of Mrs.Iris Pearson who was five months pregnant at the time of her death. (Note: Readers may refer to the story 'The Moon Princess'). The murdered woman's husband Thomas Pearson, a magistrate, had been Puteri Bulan's lover for two years before his marriage. Reports on the murder trial were splashed across the front pages of local newspapers as well as those in London since it was the first time that a 'vampire' (as pontianaks were erroneously described) was on trial for murder and more importantly, since an Englishman was the victim (Malaya being under British colonial rule at the time).
The murdered woman's body had deep claw like marks. Her swollen stomach had been ripped apart, exposing the fetus. Her husband, who had found her body under a bush in the garden of their bungalow at Bukit Damansara, suffered a mental breakdown and was confined to a mental institution in England where he killed himself by biting through the veins of his wrists. The astonishing highlight of the murder trial was when Puteri Bulan told the English judge and all European jury that she was in a 'supernatural state' in the form of a 'pontianak' when she is supposed to have killed Mrs. Pearson and had no recollection whatsoever of committing the crime when she returned to human form.
Puteri Bulan has escaped from her prison cell on the morning of her execution. There was no evidence to show how she accomplished this. The only clue was a large black feather that was found near the small, barred window of her cell that was also heavily reinforced with steel mesh. The English warden of the prison, a Major Howard, was later found dead in mysterious circumstances. he had a loaded revolver in his hand. A coroner's inquiry said he had 'committed suicide'. However, no mention was made of his severed genitals that were discovered by police in a corner of the guardroom. Some months after Puteri Bulan's escape a retired British army captain by the name of Wakefield who was a personal friend of Major Howard, told some friends that Howard had confided in him that he was being tormented by his unfulfilled lust for Puteri Bulan who he said was 'the most beautiful woman he had ever seen'. He was frustrated that he couldn't sleep with her in her prison cell although he had unsuccessfully tried to do so. She had resented is advances. Nothing more was heard of her.
But now, more than fifty years after her sensational trail and escape, there was good reason for Musa Putih and his wife Ros to suddenly memories of the beautiful pontianak Puteri Bulan in a way that terrified them. We shall return to the scene of Musa's seventy fifth birthday dinner at the restaurant in Kuala Lumpur; Helped by his wife Ros, he had just cut his birthday cake and his guests had begun to sing 'Happy Birthday'. Suddenly, Ros felt a cold shiver run down her back. It was because she thought she recognized the face of a young and beautiful woman dressed in black who had taken a seat at a table close to where her husband's birthday celebrations were in progress. Ros felt a dryness in her throat and her eyes widened as she tried to remember where she had seen the woman's face before. Noticing the sudden change that had come over his wife, Musa whispered to her, 'Is anything the matter?'
She did not reply. Trembling, she gripped her husband's arm and whispered, 'The woman in the black dress seated alone at the table in front of us, look at her face!' Musa did as his wife asked and said with a mischievous smile, 'I think she has a very beautiful face and if I were forty years younger....' Ros tightened her grip on her husband's arm and said breathlessly, 'stop joking! Don't you think her face is familiar?' Without taking his eyes away from the young woman Musa said with a smile, 'Well, she could be a film or TV star... a model... a beauty queen!' Ros saw her husband's eyes narrow and widen and his smile disappeared as he whispered excitedly, 'No! It's impossible! It cannot be her! She disappeared more than fifty years ago!'
'Shhh!' whispered Ros. 'Please keep you voice down!' 'But... but I dont understand! She should be as old as ourselves in her seventies! Not young and beautiful as when we saw her fifty years ago!' said Musa under his breath, struggling to contain his amazement. They saw that manager of the restaurant escorting a well dressed man with graying hair to the table where the young woman was seated. It was obvious from the attention he was receiving from the manager that he was somebody of importance. It was also obvious from the affectionate way he greeted the young woman that his relationship with her was a romantic one. They spoke for some time over glasses of wine before they stood up, ready to leave.
musa got up from his chair. Ros whispered, 'Where are you going?' 'To take a good look at her!' he said and excusing himself from his guests he followed the young woman and her escort at a safe distance to the entrance to the restaurant. Concealing himself behind a large pot of palms, Musa saw them going towards a shiny Mercedes Benz in the car park. As the young lady was about to enter the car she happened to look over her shoulder directly towards where Musa was hiding, that gave him an unobstructed view of her face under the bright lights of the car park. She was Puteri Bulan! He saw the manager approaching him. 'Can I be of any assistance, sir?' he asked, smiling. 'Er, yes', said Musa quickly trying to hide his embarrassment since he realized the manager had been watching him. 'It's about the couple who left just now, are they film stars? My wife and I think they are but we are not sure', Musa lied.
From the strange smile ha gave Musa it was easy to tell the manager was not convinced by Musa's excuse for spying on the couple. He said, 'No, sir, they're not film stars. Her name is Asmaraputeri, a popular fashion model. The gentlemen with her is Jefri Salim who owns fashion boutiques in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. I hear they are to be married soon'. He was still smiling as Musa said, 'Thank you for the information. I must tell my wife', and hurried back to join his guests. At home that night, Musa sat in the living room with his wife. Both were deep in thought. They had discussed the information the restaurant manager had provided about the couple and the disturbing news that they were to be married soon.
'How sure you that she is Puteri Bulan? Could we both have been mistaken?' asked Ros. 'No! There's no mistake as far as I concerned. It's Puteri Bulan! How could I have made a mistake? I saw her face everyday for ten days in the High Court during her trial. I was her interpreter', said Musa. 'She recognized me last night. I have no doubt about that!' Ros said, 'If I remember correctly a reward was offered for her arrest after she escaped from prison. Perhaps the reward still applies and she could be arrested?' 'That happened during British colonial days in 1932! This is 1982! People would have forgotten all about the case and about her', said Musa.
'So, what do you plan to do? asked Ros. Musa's frown deepened. He looked hard at his wife and said, 'Somehow I must find a way to inform her future husband Jefri Salim about who she really is! He doesn't realize the danger he is in! And, since I suspect she knows that I know her true identity, I am in danger, too!' 'Do you think you should inform the police?' she asked. 'what? And tell them a story about a pontianak who has suddenly reappeared after fifty years? The police will think I've gone mad! Could you imagine what would happen if the newspapers heard about it?' 'I think you should consider everything carefully before taking any action', said Ros. 'What is there to consider?' asked Musa. 'It's either we believed she is Puteri Bulan and did something about it or we forget about the whole thing!'
Musa spent a restless night. Twice he thought he saw someone standing in the shadows on the veranda outside the bedroom he shared with his wife. He thought the moonlight was responsible for creating the illusion. But, when he was alerted to movements on the veranda for the second time, he shouted, 'who's there!' and reached for the drawer of the bedside table where he kept a .38 revolver. Ros sat up in bed and turned on the bedside lamp. 'What's the matter?' she asked her husband who was playing the beam of a powerful flashlight along the veranda. His search was in vain. He sat on the side of the bed, looking very worried. The bedside clock said it was 3.40 am. Musa and his wife did not sleep for the rest of the night, sitting on chairs in their bedroom or pacing the floor.
At breakfast the following morning Ros said to her husband, 'I think you imagined there was someone standing in the shadows on the veranda last night. Moonlight can cause many illusions'. 'Maybe you're right', he said. 'I am very confused. Tell me, if it was Puteri Bulan whom we saw at the restaurant last night, how is it that she still looks so young?' 'You seem to forget that a pontianak is half human and never grows old', said Ros. 'That's what some superstitious people believe...' Musa began to say. Ros interupted him. 'Are you going to tell me that pontianaks were 'a lot of mumbo-jumbo' like the English prosecutor at Puteri Bulan's trial had described it?' Musa went for a walk alone and when he returned he found his wife in the garden. He told her, 'I have decided to try and meet this man Jefri Halim and to warn him. I shall always feel guilty if something bad happened to him'.
As they entered the house the phone rang. Ros answered the call. The voice of a woman at the other end of the line said, 'Is it the residence of Inche Musa, the former interpreter at the High Court?' 'Yes. Who's speaking please?' said Ros. 'My name is Asmaraputri. Are you Inche Musa's wife?' 'Yes. Do you wish to speak to Inche Musa?' 'Yes, please, if you don't mind'. Ros felt cold all over as she handed the phone to her husband ans whispered, 'I think it is her! She wishes to speak to you!' Musa took a deep breath, his heart racing, as he took the phone from his wife. He tried hard to speak in his normal voice but his mouth and tongue were suddenly dry. 'Musa speaking', he said hoarsely. 'Good morning Inche Musa, my name is Asmaraputeri. You saw me at the restaurant last night. I was with my fiance Inche Halim. I have something important to tell you. Could we meet today? My time is limited because I am flying to Hong Kong this evening for a fashion show.'
Musa took another deep breath before he answered, 'Yes... where could we meet?' he asked. 'I was thinking we could meet at your home... I would like your wife to be present, If that's all right?' she said. Musa placed his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and said to Ros urgently, 'She wants to meet us here today!' Ros shrugged her shoulders and shool her head rapidly from side to side, looking very worried. 'I don't know!' Shutting his eyes and trying to steady his voice, Musa said into the phone, 'Yes, please come over. What time would we expect you here?' 'In half an hour? Would that be all right?' 'Do you know our adress?' 'Oh, yes. I got it when I looked for your name in the phone book', she said. 'See you soon, and thanks.'
Musa put the phone down and quickly sat on a settee beside his wife. They stared at the floor in silence. Minutes went by then Musa suddenly jumped to his feet and said to his wife, 'Tell the maid to prepare some tea... and a tray of cakes... she'll be in half an hour!' Twenty five minutes later, they saw a red BMW turn into the drive in that led to their bungalow. They could see the driver was a woman. As she got out from the car, Musa and Ros saw she wore black leather jeans, the ends tucked into a pair of shiny, black 'cowboy' boots, a red T-shirt and black sunglasses. As she approached the front of the bungalow Musa and Ros got up from their seats on the veranda and gaped. Not knowing what they should do. 'I think you should go down and greet her', Ros whispered nervously. 'Let's go together', said Musa. Ros hesitated and said, 'Alright. Hold my hand.'
Their visitor broke into a smile that lit up her face as she saw them and said pleasantly, 'Good morning pakcik and makcik! It's very kind of you both to have me here today.' Her cheerfulness seemed to dispel any fears they had. She sat in large, cushioned cane facing Musa and Ros. 'You have a beautiful home', she said, removing her black sunglasses. She looked at them with her greenish brown eyes and smiled. There was no doubt in the minds of Musa and Ros that she was Puteri Bulan, the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. She frowned and said seriously, 'I realize that you recognized me at the restaurant last night. I have come here to tell you a story, one that is the truth and that nobody has ever heard before. Since you know who I am, or to be more correct, who I was. I must tell you that I shall soon become the wife of Jefri Salim, the man you saw me with last night. I think you both may be only people living who know about me, when I was Puteri Bulan. You may think there is something evil about me and that Jefri Salim's life is in danger. That's one of the reason I am here.'
She paused and looked at Musa and Ros steadily. 'I don't blame you if you had such thoughts. But, please listen to my story. Wouldn't you like to know the truth about everything? I am no longer what I was. As I am now, I could marry and have children. I am no longer a 'child of the moon' to be feared and hated as a pontianak. As I sit here before you, I swear all that I am about to tell you is the truth. I have not come here to lie! If I did I shall be immediately transformed into what I was before when I was Puteri Bulan! I beg of you, please believe me... please hear my story!' Her beautiful eyes were suddenly filled with tears and she looked away. Ros gripped her husband's hand and were obviously moved by her sincerity. But they still had some doubts about her.
Sitting before them was a woman whom they had known as Puteri Bulan fifty years ago! She had killed a pregnant woman! She was sentenced to death! She had escaped from prison on the morning she was to be hanged! She had killed the British warden of the prison! What was more, she had admitted at her trial in the High Court that she was the daughter of a pontianak! These were the thoughts that flashed through the minds of Musa and Ros as they looked at this young and beautiful woman... or creature? What were they to believe she was? 'I have nothing to hide from you, 'she went on. 'I shall answer any questions truhfully. All that I ask is for some happiness; that I can marry the man I love and who loves me. He does not know my secret. How could I tell him and break his heart and mine, too? So, I shall hope to enjoy what I can in the time I have left on this earth.'
She looked at Musa and Ros with a sad smile. She became serious when Ros asked, 'Why did you kill Mrs. Pearson?' Asmaraputeri lowered her eyes, then looking at Musa and Ros steadily again, she said, 'You may find this impossible to believe. It was my mother who killed Mrs. Pearson, not me!' Musa sat forward in his chair, shocked by her reply. 'Why didn't you say so at your trial?' 'Would it have made any difference?' she asked. 'The European jury and the judge had already decided to hang me, whether I was guilty or not! The police had found no evidence to show I was guilty of the murder. I told the police I had no recollection whatsoever of killing Mrs. Pearson. My mother who had abandoned me at birth had suddenly appeared and told me she would take care of me. She was bitter at the way I had been treated by my former lover, Mr. Pearson. Although I had never expected him to marry me, he should have told me to leave him in a nicer way. He had used me and threw me away when he found someone else. I had no reason to take my revenge on his wife. If at all, I should have taken my revenge on him!'
She looked away as she spoke, tears in her eyes. 'From the time I became his lover I understood that I, like other mistresses of White man, that I would be disowned one day and would have to work as a waitress in a bar or become a prostitute to earn a living since nobody would marry a woman who had been a White man's mistress! The only reason why girls like myself agreed to become their mistresses was because we were mostly uneducated and unfit for anything else but house work. Since most kampung families were large, some parents would get rid of their daughters by offering them to any man. Or, these girls would be given in marriage to any bachelor. Many girls were badly treated by their husbands, They were afraid of being divorced because they couldn't return to their families and become burdens to them, especially if they had children. They had nobody to turn to for help. Most of the ignorant, uneducated girls who were forced into marriage had been told by their elders that if they disobeyed their husbands, they would never go to heaven when they died. Their corpses would turn black, worms would infest their bodies and the living members of their families would be cursed! Girls would rather become the mistress of White men because it gave them a chance to escape from worse lives with husbands who would make them their sex slaves and abuse them! I knew of many cases in which pregnant wives who had been abused by their husbands died while giving birth because they had suffered internal injuries from beatings. That's why they became pontianaks and killed the men who abused and raped women and made them pregnant. An unmarried pregnant girl who had been the victim of rape would rather die while giving birth than have to face the shame and disgrace because her parents would have disowned her. Most parents wouldn't accept the fact that their unmarried and pregnant daughters had been forcibly raped. They would rather believe that their daughters had seduced the men who had attacked them. In such cases parents wouldn't have cared if their daughters became prostitutes. I was told that some of the mothers of these girls would have wished to take care of them and their illegitimate children but were powerless to do anything because they lived in fear of their husbands whom they would never dare displease.'
Ros said, 'How terrible it must have been for young women in the days gone by!' To which Asmaraputeri replied, 'It may surprise you to know that such things still happen in today's modern society! Women were expected to obey their husbands, to bear children and look after them as well as suffer in silence even if they knew their husband had secretly married other wives!' Ros smiled at Musa and held his hand. 'Not all men are bad. The same could be said of women, 'said Ros. 'I was lucky, I suppose, I married a good man'. Musa said, 'Why do pontianaks kill pregnant women? Why do they hate them so much?' Asmaraputeri said, 'It is because pontianaks had been cruelly treated by their husbands or lovers when they were human. They thought by killing pregnant women the spirits of these women would be happier in the Spirit World. They also took their revenge on some men in a terrible way, I don't think I have to explain the manner in which this was done.'
Musa nodded his head and asked, 'Why did your mother suddenly appear to you after having abandoned you for so many years?' ;I do not know the reason, 'replied Asmaraputeri. 'She came to claim me as her daughter the day after Mr. Pearson informed me that he was going to be married. My mother was hoping I would join her and the other 'children of the moon'. I had become half human like many others with a similar background as mine. I wished to live as human and not as supernatural. I was shocked to discover that my mother could transform herself into large bird as big as an eagle with an ugly human face. She could also change her appearance and look like anybody she wished. She played a joke on me one day and appeared to me as Mrs. Pearson, although Mrs. Pearson was dead. Sometimes when I looked at my mother I imagined I was looking at my reflection in a mirror. We looked exactly alike! She had given me some of her powers and asked me to kill Mrs. Pearson after which I would have disappeared and the police would never have found me. When I had refused to kill Mrs. Pearson my mother became angry with me. She insisted that Mrs. Pearson should die because she was the wife of the man who had disowned me and he should also be punished. My mother was responsible for Mr. Pearson becoming insane and killing himself. Using her powers, she led him to the place where he discovered the badly mutilated body of his wife. The shock was too much for him and he suffered a mental collapse. They sent him to a mental institution in England where they said he had committed suicide by biting through the veins of his wrists.
'When I was arrested I told the European police officer in charge that I had received supernatural powers from my mother who, like myself, was 'a child of the moon' and I would not be able to remember my actions while in a supernatural state, when I returned to a human state. The police officer laughed at me and said, 'Do you expect me to believe such lies? Hanging is too light a punishment for what you did1 You black bitch!' 'My mother would sometimes take my place in the High Court at my trial and she would look and behave exactly like me in every way.'
Asmaraputeri paused and looked at Musa with a smile. 'Some days it wasn't me whom you spoke to in court but my mother. It was impossible for you to have known this. Believe me, I am telling you the truth. But, at the end of the trial when the jury said I was guilty, It was I, Puteri Bulan, whom the judge had sentenced to death. My mother had not appeared in court for some days. I thought she had abandoned me again. I was so sad because I was going to be hanged for a crime I had not committed. The night before I was to be hanged my mother appeared to me in my prison cell. She looked exactly like me, again! She made me invisible and told me to watch something 'very interesting.'
'I heard the sound of a key turned in the lock of my cell door. It was quite dark. The door opened slowly and I was shocked to see the English warden of the prison, I do not know his name. He was about fifty years old and fat and he had been drinking. He stood at the door and pulled out his revolver and pointed it at my mother. Mistaking her for me, he said, 'Puteri Bulan, I have wanted to sleep with you ever since you came to this prison. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and now I am going to have you because you are going to be hanged at dawn tomorrow morning!' 'I saw him go towards my mother. He tried to push her down on to the wooden bed in my cell but she escaped from him and ran out of the cell. She began to tease him.
She took off all her clothes and sitting on the bed said, 'Come, let's make love!' When he approached her, she escaped from him again. This game of hide and seek went on for some time. he became angry and went away. My mother told me to leave and that she would contact me later. So, it was my mother who had left the black feather on the windowsill of the cell before she escaped, hoping the English prison warden would find it, which he did. She did it to let everybody know that the powers of the pontianak were not 'mumbo-jumbo' as Europeans believed. It was my mother who killed the English prison warden in the guardroom the following morning after she escape, not me! I was asleep in the jungle.'
Asmaraputeri looked at Musa and Ros who were staring at her in disbelief at what they head heard. 'I have told you the truth although it may sound fantastic to you. It is because only people such as bomohs and pawangs understood the behavior of spirits', she said. 'What you have told us is incredible... and as you said... quite fantastic!' Musa said. 'How did you become what you are now?' Ros asked. 'As I told you I did not wish to be a supernatural like my mother', she said. 'I become too used to life as a human and wished to remain as one. I could not love my mother because she had abandoned me for all those years and I grep up in poverty with the old woman who had found me when I was a few days old. She was very poor, but she looked after me. We were starving. My mother was like a stranger to me and I was terrified of her. She was revengeful and had a bad temper. She could kill for the slightest reason. She watched me like a cat watches a mouse. I decided to do everything she wished. I waited for an opportunity to escape.
'One day I met another pontianak by the name of Rom. She seemed to be quite friendly towards me and I wondered why this was so. Without having to tell her about my problems, she seemed to know. 'You would like to escape from your mother, but you don't know how. right?' she asked me with a smile. Rom, like all pontianaks was a young and very beautiful woman. She told me the time had come for her to leave the Spirit World. When I asked her where she intended going, she said, 'I shall be turned into flint stone, batu api.' 'I had thought spirits could go on forever. She seemed to know what I was thinking and said, 'There is an end to existence even in the spirit world. Nothing lasts forever. I have been here for more than three hundred years and have reached the limit of my stay. At any time now I shall be turned into stone and become part of an undersea mountain. I have decided I would like to do a good deed by helping you to escape from your mother and send you back to earth. i know you would like that to happen!'
'I was overjoyed and burst into tears! She went on to say, 'I would have to perform a ritual like the one your mother had performed on you after you were born. I shall insert a silver nail into your head. The nail will be there for as long as you live. It cannot be extracted because it is a paku mati. After that you shall be known as Asmaraputeri because you would become a 'child of passion and love' and no longer a 'child of the moon.' But, you shall still have the face of Puteri Bulan. That is the seed of your origin and what is known as your pangkal and like your fingerprints, cannot be changed. The length of your life on earth shall be unpredictable, the same as any human. When you die you shall not return to this side of the Spirit World that is known as tempat gundek iblis or the Devil's harem, unless you had committed bad deeds during your life on earth. It may surprise you to know that I have a daughter who is married to a member of a certain royal family. Her husband is a good man. They have three children, all daughters. Che's very happy. You should return to earth and try and find a good man. Marry him and be happy. but, there is one thing you must remember always; The moment you told a lie you would revert to being a demon.'
'I promised Rom I would do as she said. When I asked her why she was helping me to escape from my mother, she said, 'I have good reason to see that you are not destroyed by her. I have the power to stop her because she had broken many rules of the Spirit World and shall be severely punished! Would it shock you to know that I am her mother? I was speechless for some moments. I knelt down and kissed her hand as tears ran down my cheeks as I cried, 'grandmother! I shall always be grateful! I'll never forget you! 'Let's perform the ritual quickly!' she said. 'I do not have much time left before I am turned into stone!' She held my hand and we were carried away by some unseen force into the clouds. We came close the to house where I had lived with Mr. Pearson. I suddenly found myself standing with my grandmother in a jungle near a pool with a waterfall. She removed my clothes and quickly held me under the water until I felt my lungs were bursting. I couldn't breathe and I became unconscious. When I awoke my grandmother was sitting beside me and chewing sireh. I felt the back of my head throbbing. It was very painful. 'The pain shall go away when the moon rises', she said. I knew she had inserted a nail in my head.
'Then suddenly, there was a rush of wind and she was carried away to the top branches of the trees. I knew I would never see her again. I realized she had made me unconscious by holding me under the water so that I would not feel the pain when she inserted the nail in my head. As she had said, the pain at the back of my head disappeared as soon as the moon appeared that night. With the tips of my fingers I tried to feel the place where the nail had entered my head, but could not find it. I remembered she had said it was a paku mati which meant it had been driven deep down. I put on my clothes and after some time came to a road and I heard my grandmother's voice say to me, 'Look behind the sentul tree to your left. You shall find clothes and money. Go on your way and find happiness in life!'
'With the clothes and money I found wrapped in a cloth near the tree, I rented a room and soon found a job as a salesgirl. A week later I got a job as a model. My name was Asmaraputeri. 'After my photo appeared in a few fashion magazines I was selected with some other girls for a fashion show in Jakarta. That's where I met my future husband Jefri Salim who is about ten years older than me. His wife had died of cancer three years before. He has a son named Amran who is twelve years old and lives with his maternal grandmother in Jakarta for the time being. After Jefri and I are married I shall quite modelling, become a housewife and raise a family.'
She looked at Ros and Musa and lowered her eyes as she came to the end of her story. 'What an incredible story!' said Musa after some time. There were tears in Ros's eyes. 'I hope you're future life will be full of happiness!' she said. Asmaraputeri knelt before them and kissed their hands. 'I feel you are my own family... remembering that I really have no family at all! Could you adopt me as your niece?' 'Of course... if that's what you wish, my wife and I would be very pleased', said Musa as Ros nodded her approval. 'I am very grateful to you both for listening to my story. My future husband and I shall visit you on our return from Hong Kong. He is a very nice person. He would be delighted to meet my pakcik and makcik!'
She glanced at her watch, 'I shall have to hurry back to the hotel and do some last minute packing and then catch the plane for Hong Kong. She walked briskly to her car and with a wave of her hand, roared off down the drive in towards the main road. Long after she had gone Musa and Ros were still mystified at everything that they had heard. 'Nobody would believe us if we told them about Asmaraputeri', Musa said. 'Do you intend telling your friends about what she told us?' asked Ros. 'No, not at all! I was only passing a remark. I don't think it's anybody's business to know her story!' said Musa. 'Besides, Asmaraputeri is now adopted niece. If we ever decided to tell people what she had told us they would think we are...'
Musa paused unable to find the right words to complete what he wished to say. 'You're afraid people would think we are a pair of old fools... tolol?' asked Ros. 'I had wanted to say they would think we are a couple of orang bodoh. But, tolol is more polite way of saying it', said Musa with a smile.
Musa spent a restless night. Twice he thought he saw someone standing in the shadows on the veranda outside the bedroom he shared with his wife. He thought the moonlight was responsible for creating the illusion. But, when he was alerted to movements on the veranda for the second time, he shouted, 'who's there!' and reached for the drawer of the bedside table where he kept a .38 revolver. Ros sat up in bed and turned on the bedside lamp. 'What's the matter?' she asked her husband who was playing the beam of a powerful flashlight along the veranda. His search was in vain. He sat on the side of the bed, looking very worried. The bedside clock said it was 3.40 am. Musa and his wife did not sleep for the rest of the night, sitting on chairs in their bedroom or pacing the floor.
At breakfast the following morning Ros said to her husband, 'I think you imagined there was someone standing in the shadows on the veranda last night. Moonlight can cause many illusions'. 'Maybe you're right', he said. 'I am very confused. Tell me, if it was Puteri Bulan whom we saw at the restaurant last night, how is it that she still looks so young?' 'You seem to forget that a pontianak is half human and never grows old', said Ros. 'That's what some superstitious people believe...' Musa began to say. Ros interupted him. 'Are you going to tell me that pontianaks were 'a lot of mumbo-jumbo' like the English prosecutor at Puteri Bulan's trial had described it?' Musa went for a walk alone and when he returned he found his wife in the garden. He told her, 'I have decided to try and meet this man Jefri Halim and to warn him. I shall always feel guilty if something bad happened to him'.
As they entered the house the phone rang. Ros answered the call. The voice of a woman at the other end of the line said, 'Is it the residence of Inche Musa, the former interpreter at the High Court?' 'Yes. Who's speaking please?' said Ros. 'My name is Asmaraputri. Are you Inche Musa's wife?' 'Yes. Do you wish to speak to Inche Musa?' 'Yes, please, if you don't mind'. Ros felt cold all over as she handed the phone to her husband ans whispered, 'I think it is her! She wishes to speak to you!' Musa took a deep breath, his heart racing, as he took the phone from his wife. He tried hard to speak in his normal voice but his mouth and tongue were suddenly dry. 'Musa speaking', he said hoarsely. 'Good morning Inche Musa, my name is Asmaraputeri. You saw me at the restaurant last night. I was with my fiance Inche Halim. I have something important to tell you. Could we meet today? My time is limited because I am flying to Hong Kong this evening for a fashion show.'
Musa took another deep breath before he answered, 'Yes... where could we meet?' he asked. 'I was thinking we could meet at your home... I would like your wife to be present, If that's all right?' she said. Musa placed his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and said to Ros urgently, 'She wants to meet us here today!' Ros shrugged her shoulders and shool her head rapidly from side to side, looking very worried. 'I don't know!' Shutting his eyes and trying to steady his voice, Musa said into the phone, 'Yes, please come over. What time would we expect you here?' 'In half an hour? Would that be all right?' 'Do you know our adress?' 'Oh, yes. I got it when I looked for your name in the phone book', she said. 'See you soon, and thanks.'
Musa put the phone down and quickly sat on a settee beside his wife. They stared at the floor in silence. Minutes went by then Musa suddenly jumped to his feet and said to his wife, 'Tell the maid to prepare some tea... and a tray of cakes... she'll be in half an hour!' Twenty five minutes later, they saw a red BMW turn into the drive in that led to their bungalow. They could see the driver was a woman. As she got out from the car, Musa and Ros saw she wore black leather jeans, the ends tucked into a pair of shiny, black 'cowboy' boots, a red T-shirt and black sunglasses. As she approached the front of the bungalow Musa and Ros got up from their seats on the veranda and gaped. Not knowing what they should do. 'I think you should go down and greet her', Ros whispered nervously. 'Let's go together', said Musa. Ros hesitated and said, 'Alright. Hold my hand.'
Their visitor broke into a smile that lit up her face as she saw them and said pleasantly, 'Good morning pakcik and makcik! It's very kind of you both to have me here today.' Her cheerfulness seemed to dispel any fears they had. She sat in large, cushioned cane facing Musa and Ros. 'You have a beautiful home', she said, removing her black sunglasses. She looked at them with her greenish brown eyes and smiled. There was no doubt in the minds of Musa and Ros that she was Puteri Bulan, the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. She frowned and said seriously, 'I realize that you recognized me at the restaurant last night. I have come here to tell you a story, one that is the truth and that nobody has ever heard before. Since you know who I am, or to be more correct, who I was. I must tell you that I shall soon become the wife of Jefri Salim, the man you saw me with last night. I think you both may be only people living who know about me, when I was Puteri Bulan. You may think there is something evil about me and that Jefri Salim's life is in danger. That's one of the reason I am here.'
She paused and looked at Musa and Ros steadily. 'I don't blame you if you had such thoughts. But, please listen to my story. Wouldn't you like to know the truth about everything? I am no longer what I was. As I am now, I could marry and have children. I am no longer a 'child of the moon' to be feared and hated as a pontianak. As I sit here before you, I swear all that I am about to tell you is the truth. I have not come here to lie! If I did I shall be immediately transformed into what I was before when I was Puteri Bulan! I beg of you, please believe me... please hear my story!' Her beautiful eyes were suddenly filled with tears and she looked away. Ros gripped her husband's hand and were obviously moved by her sincerity. But they still had some doubts about her.
Sitting before them was a woman whom they had known as Puteri Bulan fifty years ago! She had killed a pregnant woman! She was sentenced to death! She had escaped from prison on the morning she was to be hanged! She had killed the British warden of the prison! What was more, she had admitted at her trial in the High Court that she was the daughter of a pontianak! These were the thoughts that flashed through the minds of Musa and Ros as they looked at this young and beautiful woman... or creature? What were they to believe she was? 'I have nothing to hide from you, 'she went on. 'I shall answer any questions truhfully. All that I ask is for some happiness; that I can marry the man I love and who loves me. He does not know my secret. How could I tell him and break his heart and mine, too? So, I shall hope to enjoy what I can in the time I have left on this earth.'
She looked at Musa and Ros with a sad smile. She became serious when Ros asked, 'Why did you kill Mrs. Pearson?' Asmaraputeri lowered her eyes, then looking at Musa and Ros steadily again, she said, 'You may find this impossible to believe. It was my mother who killed Mrs. Pearson, not me!' Musa sat forward in his chair, shocked by her reply. 'Why didn't you say so at your trial?' 'Would it have made any difference?' she asked. 'The European jury and the judge had already decided to hang me, whether I was guilty or not! The police had found no evidence to show I was guilty of the murder. I told the police I had no recollection whatsoever of killing Mrs. Pearson. My mother who had abandoned me at birth had suddenly appeared and told me she would take care of me. She was bitter at the way I had been treated by my former lover, Mr. Pearson. Although I had never expected him to marry me, he should have told me to leave him in a nicer way. He had used me and threw me away when he found someone else. I had no reason to take my revenge on his wife. If at all, I should have taken my revenge on him!'
She looked away as she spoke, tears in her eyes. 'From the time I became his lover I understood that I, like other mistresses of White man, that I would be disowned one day and would have to work as a waitress in a bar or become a prostitute to earn a living since nobody would marry a woman who had been a White man's mistress! The only reason why girls like myself agreed to become their mistresses was because we were mostly uneducated and unfit for anything else but house work. Since most kampung families were large, some parents would get rid of their daughters by offering them to any man. Or, these girls would be given in marriage to any bachelor. Many girls were badly treated by their husbands, They were afraid of being divorced because they couldn't return to their families and become burdens to them, especially if they had children. They had nobody to turn to for help. Most of the ignorant, uneducated girls who were forced into marriage had been told by their elders that if they disobeyed their husbands, they would never go to heaven when they died. Their corpses would turn black, worms would infest their bodies and the living members of their families would be cursed! Girls would rather become the mistress of White men because it gave them a chance to escape from worse lives with husbands who would make them their sex slaves and abuse them! I knew of many cases in which pregnant wives who had been abused by their husbands died while giving birth because they had suffered internal injuries from beatings. That's why they became pontianaks and killed the men who abused and raped women and made them pregnant. An unmarried pregnant girl who had been the victim of rape would rather die while giving birth than have to face the shame and disgrace because her parents would have disowned her. Most parents wouldn't accept the fact that their unmarried and pregnant daughters had been forcibly raped. They would rather believe that their daughters had seduced the men who had attacked them. In such cases parents wouldn't have cared if their daughters became prostitutes. I was told that some of the mothers of these girls would have wished to take care of them and their illegitimate children but were powerless to do anything because they lived in fear of their husbands whom they would never dare displease.'
Ros said, 'How terrible it must have been for young women in the days gone by!' To which Asmaraputeri replied, 'It may surprise you to know that such things still happen in today's modern society! Women were expected to obey their husbands, to bear children and look after them as well as suffer in silence even if they knew their husband had secretly married other wives!' Ros smiled at Musa and held his hand. 'Not all men are bad. The same could be said of women, 'said Ros. 'I was lucky, I suppose, I married a good man'. Musa said, 'Why do pontianaks kill pregnant women? Why do they hate them so much?' Asmaraputeri said, 'It is because pontianaks had been cruelly treated by their husbands or lovers when they were human. They thought by killing pregnant women the spirits of these women would be happier in the Spirit World. They also took their revenge on some men in a terrible way, I don't think I have to explain the manner in which this was done.'
Musa nodded his head and asked, 'Why did your mother suddenly appear to you after having abandoned you for so many years?' ;I do not know the reason, 'replied Asmaraputeri. 'She came to claim me as her daughter the day after Mr. Pearson informed me that he was going to be married. My mother was hoping I would join her and the other 'children of the moon'. I had become half human like many others with a similar background as mine. I wished to live as human and not as supernatural. I was shocked to discover that my mother could transform herself into large bird as big as an eagle with an ugly human face. She could also change her appearance and look like anybody she wished. She played a joke on me one day and appeared to me as Mrs. Pearson, although Mrs. Pearson was dead. Sometimes when I looked at my mother I imagined I was looking at my reflection in a mirror. We looked exactly alike! She had given me some of her powers and asked me to kill Mrs. Pearson after which I would have disappeared and the police would never have found me. When I had refused to kill Mrs. Pearson my mother became angry with me. She insisted that Mrs. Pearson should die because she was the wife of the man who had disowned me and he should also be punished. My mother was responsible for Mr. Pearson becoming insane and killing himself. Using her powers, she led him to the place where he discovered the badly mutilated body of his wife. The shock was too much for him and he suffered a mental collapse. They sent him to a mental institution in England where they said he had committed suicide by biting through the veins of his wrists.
'When I was arrested I told the European police officer in charge that I had received supernatural powers from my mother who, like myself, was 'a child of the moon' and I would not be able to remember my actions while in a supernatural state, when I returned to a human state. The police officer laughed at me and said, 'Do you expect me to believe such lies? Hanging is too light a punishment for what you did1 You black bitch!' 'My mother would sometimes take my place in the High Court at my trial and she would look and behave exactly like me in every way.'
Asmaraputeri paused and looked at Musa with a smile. 'Some days it wasn't me whom you spoke to in court but my mother. It was impossible for you to have known this. Believe me, I am telling you the truth. But, at the end of the trial when the jury said I was guilty, It was I, Puteri Bulan, whom the judge had sentenced to death. My mother had not appeared in court for some days. I thought she had abandoned me again. I was so sad because I was going to be hanged for a crime I had not committed. The night before I was to be hanged my mother appeared to me in my prison cell. She looked exactly like me, again! She made me invisible and told me to watch something 'very interesting.'
'I heard the sound of a key turned in the lock of my cell door. It was quite dark. The door opened slowly and I was shocked to see the English warden of the prison, I do not know his name. He was about fifty years old and fat and he had been drinking. He stood at the door and pulled out his revolver and pointed it at my mother. Mistaking her for me, he said, 'Puteri Bulan, I have wanted to sleep with you ever since you came to this prison. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and now I am going to have you because you are going to be hanged at dawn tomorrow morning!' 'I saw him go towards my mother. He tried to push her down on to the wooden bed in my cell but she escaped from him and ran out of the cell. She began to tease him.
She took off all her clothes and sitting on the bed said, 'Come, let's make love!' When he approached her, she escaped from him again. This game of hide and seek went on for some time. he became angry and went away. My mother told me to leave and that she would contact me later. So, it was my mother who had left the black feather on the windowsill of the cell before she escaped, hoping the English prison warden would find it, which he did. She did it to let everybody know that the powers of the pontianak were not 'mumbo-jumbo' as Europeans believed. It was my mother who killed the English prison warden in the guardroom the following morning after she escape, not me! I was asleep in the jungle.'
Asmaraputeri looked at Musa and Ros who were staring at her in disbelief at what they head heard. 'I have told you the truth although it may sound fantastic to you. It is because only people such as bomohs and pawangs understood the behavior of spirits', she said. 'What you have told us is incredible... and as you said... quite fantastic!' Musa said. 'How did you become what you are now?' Ros asked. 'As I told you I did not wish to be a supernatural like my mother', she said. 'I become too used to life as a human and wished to remain as one. I could not love my mother because she had abandoned me for all those years and I grep up in poverty with the old woman who had found me when I was a few days old. She was very poor, but she looked after me. We were starving. My mother was like a stranger to me and I was terrified of her. She was revengeful and had a bad temper. She could kill for the slightest reason. She watched me like a cat watches a mouse. I decided to do everything she wished. I waited for an opportunity to escape.
'One day I met another pontianak by the name of Rom. She seemed to be quite friendly towards me and I wondered why this was so. Without having to tell her about my problems, she seemed to know. 'You would like to escape from your mother, but you don't know how. right?' she asked me with a smile. Rom, like all pontianaks was a young and very beautiful woman. She told me the time had come for her to leave the Spirit World. When I asked her where she intended going, she said, 'I shall be turned into flint stone, batu api.' 'I had thought spirits could go on forever. She seemed to know what I was thinking and said, 'There is an end to existence even in the spirit world. Nothing lasts forever. I have been here for more than three hundred years and have reached the limit of my stay. At any time now I shall be turned into stone and become part of an undersea mountain. I have decided I would like to do a good deed by helping you to escape from your mother and send you back to earth. i know you would like that to happen!'
'I was overjoyed and burst into tears! She went on to say, 'I would have to perform a ritual like the one your mother had performed on you after you were born. I shall insert a silver nail into your head. The nail will be there for as long as you live. It cannot be extracted because it is a paku mati. After that you shall be known as Asmaraputeri because you would become a 'child of passion and love' and no longer a 'child of the moon.' But, you shall still have the face of Puteri Bulan. That is the seed of your origin and what is known as your pangkal and like your fingerprints, cannot be changed. The length of your life on earth shall be unpredictable, the same as any human. When you die you shall not return to this side of the Spirit World that is known as tempat gundek iblis or the Devil's harem, unless you had committed bad deeds during your life on earth. It may surprise you to know that I have a daughter who is married to a member of a certain royal family. Her husband is a good man. They have three children, all daughters. Che's very happy. You should return to earth and try and find a good man. Marry him and be happy. but, there is one thing you must remember always; The moment you told a lie you would revert to being a demon.'
'I promised Rom I would do as she said. When I asked her why she was helping me to escape from my mother, she said, 'I have good reason to see that you are not destroyed by her. I have the power to stop her because she had broken many rules of the Spirit World and shall be severely punished! Would it shock you to know that I am her mother? I was speechless for some moments. I knelt down and kissed her hand as tears ran down my cheeks as I cried, 'grandmother! I shall always be grateful! I'll never forget you! 'Let's perform the ritual quickly!' she said. 'I do not have much time left before I am turned into stone!' She held my hand and we were carried away by some unseen force into the clouds. We came close the to house where I had lived with Mr. Pearson. I suddenly found myself standing with my grandmother in a jungle near a pool with a waterfall. She removed my clothes and quickly held me under the water until I felt my lungs were bursting. I couldn't breathe and I became unconscious. When I awoke my grandmother was sitting beside me and chewing sireh. I felt the back of my head throbbing. It was very painful. 'The pain shall go away when the moon rises', she said. I knew she had inserted a nail in my head.
'Then suddenly, there was a rush of wind and she was carried away to the top branches of the trees. I knew I would never see her again. I realized she had made me unconscious by holding me under the water so that I would not feel the pain when she inserted the nail in my head. As she had said, the pain at the back of my head disappeared as soon as the moon appeared that night. With the tips of my fingers I tried to feel the place where the nail had entered my head, but could not find it. I remembered she had said it was a paku mati which meant it had been driven deep down. I put on my clothes and after some time came to a road and I heard my grandmother's voice say to me, 'Look behind the sentul tree to your left. You shall find clothes and money. Go on your way and find happiness in life!'
'With the clothes and money I found wrapped in a cloth near the tree, I rented a room and soon found a job as a salesgirl. A week later I got a job as a model. My name was Asmaraputeri. 'After my photo appeared in a few fashion magazines I was selected with some other girls for a fashion show in Jakarta. That's where I met my future husband Jefri Salim who is about ten years older than me. His wife had died of cancer three years before. He has a son named Amran who is twelve years old and lives with his maternal grandmother in Jakarta for the time being. After Jefri and I are married I shall quite modelling, become a housewife and raise a family.'
She looked at Ros and Musa and lowered her eyes as she came to the end of her story. 'What an incredible story!' said Musa after some time. There were tears in Ros's eyes. 'I hope you're future life will be full of happiness!' she said. Asmaraputeri knelt before them and kissed their hands. 'I feel you are my own family... remembering that I really have no family at all! Could you adopt me as your niece?' 'Of course... if that's what you wish, my wife and I would be very pleased', said Musa as Ros nodded her approval. 'I am very grateful to you both for listening to my story. My future husband and I shall visit you on our return from Hong Kong. He is a very nice person. He would be delighted to meet my pakcik and makcik!'
She glanced at her watch, 'I shall have to hurry back to the hotel and do some last minute packing and then catch the plane for Hong Kong. She walked briskly to her car and with a wave of her hand, roared off down the drive in towards the main road. Long after she had gone Musa and Ros were still mystified at everything that they had heard. 'Nobody would believe us if we told them about Asmaraputeri', Musa said. 'Do you intend telling your friends about what she told us?' asked Ros. 'No, not at all! I was only passing a remark. I don't think it's anybody's business to know her story!' said Musa. 'Besides, Asmaraputeri is now adopted niece. If we ever decided to tell people what she had told us they would think we are...'
Musa paused unable to find the right words to complete what he wished to say. 'You're afraid people would think we are a pair of old fools... tolol?' asked Ros. 'I had wanted to say they would think we are a couple of orang bodoh. But, tolol is more polite way of saying it', said Musa with a smile.
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