Recounting the Pontianak (Part 1)

This is a collection of stories regarding Pontianak encounters around Singapore.

Towards the end of my national (Singapore) service, my service support group was sent in to the new SyangKong Camp to prepare stores for the in-coming battalion for their reservice.

I was in charge of 20-odd of them. They were on unfamiliar grounds as most of them did not have full basic military training because of their medical condition.

SyangKong Camp is in the middle of reclaimed Tekong. It sits on a sandy/rocky terrain, flank by rubber plantations. The camp was made up of series of single level barracks spread across the field surrounding a center square. Its big enough to house one full infantry battalion. So our first impression when we reach there was, it was a big and empty camp.

Those 20 odd storeman got down doing their stuff, equipping each barrack with the necessities. Foldable beds, pillows, blankets...the list goes on.

Soon after, once everything is in place, they all got back to their barrack. It was a long barrack with windows on the longer sides and entry at both end. There was a double door and a steel gate on the outside.

It was around 8pm and it was already dark. They were all resting. Listening to their MP3s, squinting their eyes on their PSPs. Some rowdies were playing outside. Taking photos on top of a stationary bulldozer, basically just enjoying the time in the middle of the jungle with no officer to scream at them and with only a sergeant who couldn’t care even if they kill each other.

I was too tired to entertain them. After giving them the last instruction for the day, I dozed off on my bed. Strangely, I dreamed of the exact same barrack that I was in. In my dream I was lying on the exact same bed looking on as my men run around the bunk from end to end in total chaos. They were all terrified. The door was opened but the gate was closed. Soon amidst the chaos, I saw a woman in a white cloak with a long hair. The face was horrible but I can never remember how to describe it.

She was a Pontianak...a classic blood sucking bitch who is apparently dead and alive again to struck shear fear in every Malay's life. (I personally think she’s over-rated, but she got her credentials.)

So that explains why the guys are running around in chaos. ‘She’ was flying above our barrack, circling the roof top, jumping from each end to the other trying to gain entry into the barrack. Only the gate was in her way.

So that was the dream I had. It sounds stupid, didn’t it? But it was scary as it was in the middle of Tekong, and having your brain corrupted by the constant stories of Pontianak since you were young. I woke up in a sweat. It was barely an hour since I dozed off.

The barrack was still lighted. The guys who were on their PSP and MP3 had already dozed off. Those from outside had came in. There was an unusual silence amongst them. The doors were shut. I could sense something was wrong. I turned to my man beside me and told him my dream. He kept quiet and went on to sleep. That night, I tried to put myself to sleep. I managed to after awhile. Unexpectedly, it was a sound sleep.

Next day, the man whom I told the story, told me that while I was sleeping earlier last night, they sighted a Pontianak on top of the bulldozer.

As the battalion came in the next day and continue their training for the week, there were a few other happenings and sightings which was more disturbing.

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This story may sound a bit silly, a bit lame even, but I swear it is true!

My friends and I had decided to watch a movie at the Mall. The movie was “Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam”. Its quite a new movie, maybe you’ve heard of it?

Anyway, the Mall (yes, that’s the name of the shopping complex. Imaginative huh?) is built right in the middle of the a busy commercial district, the town center you might call it. It;s brand new, completed just this year, and as far as I know, no supernatural going-ons have happened in the area.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were watching the “Pontianak” movie, the late night showing. I happened to be at the end furthest from the aisle. The few seats from mine to the wall were all empty.

In the middle of watching the movie, my neck felt stiff. You know how that feels right after staring up at the movie for quite a while? So I stretched out, turning my neck from side-to-side to get rid of the stiffness.

To my shock, the empty seat beside me was no longer empty! There was a lady in a white dress with long black hair sitting there, seemingly absorbed in the movie! I turned back to the movie, frozen in terror.

I couldn’t stand it anymore and was about to go crying to my friend (who was sitting right beside me but didn’t seem to have seen something strange). I glanced back at the extra person, but she was gone! I went crying to my friend anyway. She didn’t believe me, but didn’t mind switching seats with me. Needless to say, I wasn’t very much interested in watching the movie after that. I mean, who needs a movie when you’ve seen the real thing?

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This happened when I was on the way back home from work. At that point of time, I was working at Boat Quay as a chat operator. So usually we knock off at 3am. My in-law was staying at Tiong Bahru. Sometimes my hubby would fetch me from work and we would walk all the way to my in-law's place. As our normal routine just like when we were still dating, we like to travel by foot (considering its not that tiring to walk to the destination) and talk about lots of things.

Narrow things down, we reach this 4 block area where it's just 4 story high or 5. Can’t clearly remember. Rumors said that the HDB wants to pull it down but now I see that its being made as a rental place.

So before we reach Tiong Bahru Plaza, we will pass by this place. A few metres before we reach this block, (this happen before the HDB carried out the renovation to upgrade this vacant 4 story block. So it's really run down and been years nobody actually live there) I popped a question to my hubby, "Isn’t it scary to look at this building? It's been vacant like years and I’m sure there’s like 'those things' in there..a lot!". Wile talking, my hubby eyes was fixed to the 3rd story of this building. I tap him gently and ask him what is he looking at.

He turned to me and ask me to look straight. "Sorry sayang", he suddenly said. "Why are you apologizing to me"? I ask. He then answered "Thanks to me, now that thing is already at the bushes across the road. Just don’t look now. Just now, that pontianak was at the 3rd story looking at us. Thanks to me looking at her back, she knows that I spotted her and now she is walking the same line as us just that she’s across the road".

I turn my head slowly and fix my eyes right at the bushes. True enough, there is no wind and nothing across the road (it"s just metres away...so near) the bushes are rustling and moving. It seems like someone or something is walking behind or in the bushes parallel with us, following us from the other side. I calm myself down and just walk straight.

I was praying hard that we would reach home quickly but thanks to the shoes that I'm wearing, I have to go slow (it's a new shoe, so yeah). All of the sudden, my hubby grabs my bag and hand, he pulled me and we both ran. I was clueless at that time but in my mind I did have this thought, "is that thing behind me? Chasing us and wanting to kill us?"

We finally reach a bus stop and sat down. Hubby said it's safe. I really needed to sit down after that dash. Being impatient, I ask my hubby to explain why the sudden dash. Hubby insisted that we reach home and talk about it. Back at my in-law's he explains.

"I saw that thing from the 3rd story while you were talking. At first it didn’t see me looking at it. Then the Pontianak spotted me looking at her. So it was like too late for me to pretend that I never saw her at all. I thought that the Pontianak would just stand and look but she suddenly came down and followed us from the other side. The reason I pulled you was she was about to show herself because I saw the Pontianak emerging from the bushes. I saw her white dress and black hair already so I rather we ran than having you see her that close up".

Since then, whenever I pass the building then and now, I never want to look at it. It just reminds me of the incident. Even now, since the renovation, trying to walk past the building at night, I walk at the back of the building. Who knows what you may see or even meet.