Spirit medium apologises after linking death of M'sian teen hit by temple beam to karma

A spirit medium sparked controversy for his remarks and behaviour at the wake of the Malaysian teen who was fatally struck by a temple wooden beam.

He caused a scene by shouting at the parents and at a photo of the deceased about the teen's death being a karmic incident, The Star reported.

On Apr. 7, 17-year-old Guo Yujie (transliterated) was helping to clean a temple in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor, when a 1,000kg wooden beam suddenly broke and hit her.

The medium's actions at the wake were captured in two videos posted on Facebook by a different Malaysian temple on Apr. 10, and have since gone viral.

He went to the scene of the incident "not only to reveal the truth, but also to resolve this sudden karmic imbalance immediately", the caption wrote.

He allegedly did so at the request of the teen's family.

Xie also claimed he felt an "oppressive" force at the scene, and talked about "patching the holes" in order to bring positive energy back to the temple.

Inappropriate

Commenters slammed Xie for making inappropriate comments to the grieving family.

Shun Tian Gong, the temple where the fatal incident happened, also released a statement on Facebook to say that Xie's remarks do not represent the temple and its position.

It offered condolences and apologies again to the deceased's family, and reiterated that it has been working with the authorities in their investigation.

At the same time, the temple will strengthen the safety of its facilities to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The Malaysia Taoist Cultural Research Association also called out Xie's remarks as inappropriate, and said that such claims can create misunderstandings about Taoism.

Connecting a death to the act of negative spirits or karmic resolution undermines the dignity of the deceased and can cause further emotional harm to the deceased's family, the association added.

Apologised

On Apr. 13, Xie apologised and said he had reflected a lot on the criticisms.

In a post that now appears to have been removed, he admitted that he has a straightforward personality, and there are problems with his method of communication.

He will work hard to improve the way he communicates, and learn to engage others with more compassion.

Xie previously made headlines in 2010 when he accused Malaysian police officers of detaining and beating him for four hours after they failed to obtain bribes from him, according to China Press.

Some of the officers were brought to court, but were ultimately acquitted of the charges.

Top images from 雪隆天皇关帝佛堂/Facebook and Sin Chew