The Datuk – “Orang Bunian”

This image is of the “Orang Bunian”, considered to be a Malay spirit of the forest with strong associations to place. “Lan” means blue and “Zhou” means Fairy and this deity is often depicted as a warrior with a blue aura. I like the green plaque to symbolize the forest, and they even use a green glass! This plaque is in the Cantonese Association where the temple committee members introduced it to me as their “Datuk”. This “Orang Bunian” demonstrates the extent of the influences of many cultural ideas on the evolution of the Datuk deity concept. The notion of spirits that live in the environment around us is not foreign to any Malaysians.