Origins
Asian religions is nature worship. Na Tuks could be remnants of pre-Islamic Malay religion. In Malay, pagan spirits are usually called jin kafir while guardian spirits are called penunggu or Datuk Keramat. Penunggu usually means watchman, guard or attendant.
Datos and Keramats were seen as an alternative power to help in spiritual healing and grant protection. Mediums (bomoh) were engaged to enable communication between worshippers with the Datos and Keramats. The Datos and Keramats include spirits residing in trees, stones and even the spirits of well known local Muslim religious teachers (worshipped at their graves).
The worship of Datos among Malays and Indian Muslims declined steadily after Islamic authorities started clamping down on such activities. By that time, Dato worship have taken root in the local Chinese spiritual beliefs.
It is not clear why the Chinese, having their own Earth deity can easily accept the Dato into their religious pantheon. May be they need a local deity to gain more spiritual protection. Datos are known to grant winning numbers to worshippers. That could be one reason Datos were absorbed into the Malaysian Chinese religious pantheon.
Read more about this topic: Na Tuk Kong
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