Woman Recounts Inappropriate Touching by Alleged Deviant Doctrine Teacher During ‘Healing Session’

Shaffiq Alchatib
The Street Times
October 10, 2024

A woman testified in court on Oct. 10 that she previously filed two police reports against an alleged deviant teacher, accusing him of inappropriately touching her in separate incidents.

The court heard that no further action was taken after these two reports were released because there was no “objective evidence”. There was also no indication that the witness had lied.

The 27-year-old witness said she first filed the report in 2015 after Mohd Razif Radi, now 67, allegedly touched her leg and kissed her hand in a car.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to a gag order, also testified that she made the second report in 2020 about an alleged incident that took place at her home during a “healing session” when she was in sixth grade.

She told the court she decided to do so after hearing about media reports in 2020 about his case, adding: “I was just hoping that Razif would stop his teachings.”

She testified that she had experienced anxiety, so her mother, who was one of Razif’s followers at the time, told her that he could help her with the condition.

Only she, her mother and Razif were at home when the “healing session” took place, said the witness, who added that she was initially reluctant to participate.

The ritual involved the witness taking a shower wearing only a sarong.

Responding to questions from Deputy Public Prosecutor Jini Pillai Eliathamby, the witness said she was still dressed in the sarong after showering when her mother ordered her to kneel in front of the bathroom door.

According to the witness, Razif then knelt next to her, whispered some prayers and blew into one of her ears and then into the other.

The witness told District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan that Razif also blew and kissed the top of her head before running his hands down her arms.

She said: “I hid in my room (after the ritual)… My mother told me not to tell my father. I was too scared to do anything… (I felt) unsafe and disrespected, possibly violated… I didn’t really trust her after the healing session.”

The witness’s parents divorced in 2017, after which she went to live with her father, while her younger sister lived with their mother.

The witness also said that she and Razif participated in a separate healing session at Mount Faber.

“(Razif and I) hugged each other very tightly… so that my bad energy would transfer to him and his good energy to me,” she added.

In another incident, she said Razif, who is also a former massage therapist, massaged her after she complained of pain in her stomach.

Razif, who has never been recognized as an Islamic teacher under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme, is seeking a trial for teaching a doctrine relating to the Muslim religion in a manner contrary to its laws.

He is said to have taught his followers, among other things, that gambling could be made permissible and that a ‘spiritual marriage’ between a man and a woman could be valid.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore states on its website that gambling is prohibited in Islam.

Razif, a Singaporean, is represented by lawyer Simon Tan.

The witness who testified on October 10 had previously been diagnosed with conditions including mild autism.

Her voice cracked a few times as she gave her testimony, while Razif sat in the dock, hidden behind a screen.

At one point, the court proceedings were halted for about ten minutes after she said her heart was racing. During the break she joined her father in the gallery and he comforted her.

When the trial resumed, DPP Pillai told the court that giving the testimony had caused stress and distress to the witness.

The witness told the court that her mother introduced her to Razif when she was in Primary 1.

When she was in upper primary school, she accompanied her mother to attend three to four classes conducted by Razif at his Arab Street office.

She testified that Razif was usually calm and quiet, but this changed during one of the lessons.

“My mother said a spirit would come into his body. Then I heard his voice change to a higher pitch. (The voice) reminded me of an old lady,” she said.

However, the woman could not remember what Razif had said to her mother and the other followers at the time.

The witness also stated that she heard her mother tell another person that according to Razif, gambling is allowed if the money is used to spread religion.

She told Judge Shaiffudin that her mother told her a few days before her parents’ divorce in 2017 that she wanted to marry Razif. But the older woman married another man instead.

The witness said: “Many of my parents’ conflicts were due to (Razif’s) teachings… His teachings did not follow Islam to begin with.”

When Mr Tan questioned the witness, she testified that she was still cordial to her mother and sister, who are now 24.

The witness also said that she had never heard Razif talk about gambling and ‘spiritual marriages’. The trial will resume in November.