This true encounter happened not long ago. It happened in a construction site near the new Changi airport terminal 3 building. The project was to be carried out by a reputable Japanese construction firm. I shall not disclose the name of the construction firm but well the story I’m going to tell is about a tree, an Indian guard and a spirit.

Sometimes in that particular year, a decision was made to bring down a tree because it was situated right at the heart of the new building and it was obstructing the progress of the construction work. Not long after, the tree was cut down like it belonged to the father of the Japanese boss. Whether you believe or not, most Chinese believed that trees or plants are not only shelters for spirits but could be more, perhaps it is a living soul.

Anyway, the Japanese firm took down that tree as like they have taken down thousand of trees in Asia during the Japanese invasion. But this time, they were not as lucky. Few days after the chopping, several staffs that worked till late night could hear crying and moaning voices from the direction the old tree used to be. They couldn’t find documents they wanted in the office during the night but it reappeared again in the next morning. Potted plants that were used to keep in the office for years dried up and died suddenly. Even the new replacement plants doesn’t stay for long. One of the Indian guards working there saw the spirit sitting on a tree top at night just beside his guard post. He reported the incident to his superior and was then granted to offer an Indian altar inside his guard post to protect him. But it doesn’t seem to be working because some staffs and the Indian guard still see the blur image of the spirit at night. The spirit must be protesting for compensation for the demolishing of his private shelter, a tree. However, nothing seems to move the head of the Japanese firm which is owned by a pure Japanese San. He is a devotee of the Japanese god and he has a altar inside his office. Things turned around 180 degree only after he saw the spirit in his own eyes.

ok, now come back to the head of the project in-charge which is a Japanese san. You know Japanese are very workaholic and this particular Japanese is as no different from other and he usually stayed till very late to finish his work. Have u seen those site office that built up by specially designed container in the construction site? Well, they are stacked into double storey with an exposed corridor leading to the staircase at the side of the container office. So, what happened on the faithful night was the Japanese san worked late as usual and just when he was going down the staircase from the site office, he missed a step of the wooden staircase and he slide down just like one using an escalator going down in a shopping centre. Everything happened just in a split second. the next thing he knew is he was laying face up on the cement floor of the staircase landing. He was shocked and feeling hurt somewhere in his body but just couldn’t move his body for that moment. As he was laying on the ground looking up, he saw an image of a tree on the edge of the roof top of the site office above him. How could a tree be planted on the roof which made of zinc sheet and not soil? That was what he was wondering in his mind while still laying on the ground. He was then attended shortly by the Indian guard which the guard post was not far away from the staircase. Beside making some painful moaning sound while the Indian guard was lifting the Japanese san up from the ground, the Japanese san keep gesturing and pointing up at the roof to the Indian trying to show that he saw something unusual up there. But after the Japanese san was helped to sit on a stool nearby, the tree image on the roof was gone.

The Japanese san was very sure that he saw the image and was not because he has a brain damage due to the fall. Anyway, he was not seriously hurt. So, after that incident, the atmosphere in the site was very tense. Everybody working in the site take extra precaution on safety issues. Some cut down on OT, some even jokingly wore safety helmet to toilet. Obviously something have to be done before a plane mistook the site office as runway and land on it. That will be a big disaster. Just kidding.

We were invited by one of a site manager there through his friend we know. It was scheduled to be done as soon as possible before everything go out of hands. On the night of our service. We arranged a lorry load of offering items to pay our respect to the spirit as instructed by dua ya peh. Just when we were about to walk near to the spot of the tree where it was last situated together with the site staffs and the Indian guard which was supposed to open the rear gate for us to access, the Indian guard was possessed by the spirit right in front of all of us including our deity Dua Ya Peh. The Indian guard was leading in front, suddenly stood still for a few second and turn facing us with his 2 arms raised slowly which looked like a tree. All this happened in a split second and all of us were caught by surprise including the Japanese san. The next thing I know was dua ya peh walked near to him about few meters away and look him into his eyes with gong gong gong (drumming) from the background by our members. The spirit went away from the Indian guard after awhile. The Indian guard look puzzled after his recovery because everyone was staring at him. He then asked what was going on! He didn’t realize that he was possessed earlier.

We were told later by due ya peh that the spirit possessed on the Indian guard earlier was a friendly salute by the tree spirit to dua ya peh for his kind attendance to attend his call. We burned a lot of incense papers and other offering stuffs to compensate the spirit on behalf of the Japanese firm for removing his tree. After the service, we were told that everything is fine and back in order. The Japanese san is now one of our regular devotee after since then.