A Tempest in the Teapot

If someone is dancing on the TV and I want to make him deaf, I can do so immediately even if he was in London. ~Ayah Pin

A giant teapot in the middle of a plantation estate? Hmm… Sounds like a scene from Alice in Wonderland. (Wait till you meet Mad Hatter!)

Indeed, that was my reaction when I first read about the Sky Kingdom community. In fact, there are more bizarre structures – an umbrella which looks like a merry-go-round minus the horses, a vase to collect water from the aforementioned teapot (Who would drink from a vase, by the way?), telaga zam-zam (the legendary well that bears mystical powers), an assembly hall which resembles a palace of the Malacca Sultanate.

However, the introduction won’t be complete without mentioning the 65-year-old “Mad Hatter” who is being treated like a royalty.

But this guy is no ordinary oddball. Ayah Pin, as he is fondly called, is the cult leader of the Sky Kingdom community.

You see, since time immemorial, religion has bring us good as well as equal harm. Different creeds has brought to much discord between men. So, here’s where Ayah Pin comes in – he claims that his teachings could unite people everywhere regardless of their faith.

Well, if he is not seeking for world domination but bear good intentions instead, why not let him have a try?

The problem is, Mad Hatter’s pretend game got a little bit too far. When you start to make incredible claims of having super powers, people around you generally start to treat you with distrust. Hey, dude, we’re talking about a man who is able of “killing or maim someone by mere thought” and “can read people’s mind and has eyes everywhere”.

Hail Professor Xavier!

The plot gets more dramatic as it thickens; it unfolds as in the X-Men 2 movie. The government eventually took the first move in the attempt to eliminate the sect which is said to be spreading deviationist teachings of Islam. When police raided the commune in Jertih a few days back, instead of finding Mad Hatter sipping tea with Alice in the garden, he was no where to be found.

But in an interview with journalists, he claimed that he did not “elude” from police. In fact, he saw them coming but it was them who did not see him. I guess he knows some of David Copperfield’s disappearing acts!

Being an illiterate, Ayah Pin understands no other language aside Malay. But he is allegedly very knowledgeable and “knows more than Bush”. (Considering the general opinion about Bush’s intelectual level, it’s weird why a knowledgeable person like Ayah Pin would condescend by comparing himself with Bush.) Anyway, he is described as “omnipresent and omnipotent” by a follower, who deems Ayah Pin as the “God and creator of the world”.

Okay, so this guy has the power to hypnotise, at the very least.

Perhaps, one of these days, we should pay this magnificent man a visit. Meanwhile, care to have a giant cup of tea?