Brunei Malay traditional medicine: persistence in the face of Western medicine and Islamic orthodoxy

This thesis analyzes the continuing demand amongst some Brunei Malays for practitioners of traditional medicine, although they are increasingly vilified by representatives of Western medicine and Islamic reformists. Their traditional multi-dimensional approach to illness etiology and treatment has survived the encroachment of Western medicine. The campaigns conducted in Brunei by the State-backed reformist movement since independence against the "superstitious beliefs" and "heretical practices" of Brunei Malay traditional medicine have only had a limited success, as the services traditional healers offer respond to social, personal and psychological needs that Western medicine, orthodox religion and Islamic medicine fail to fulfill.