Kota Permai Temple of the Big Rock

Big Rock or Boulder Temple at Kota Permai

Sunlight lit up

Kota Permai Bukit Mertajam Big Rock Temple

The notice about the dedication service - see the lucky number 4920

Sunlight through the side entrance amidst the smoke of the burning incense

Along Jalan Kota Permai

Guardian lion on the right of main entrance

Another lion on the left

Pagoda furnace for burning joss papers

Chinese Operas and concerts are commonly held here

I took these pictures while taking a morning walk at Kota Permai, Bukit Mertajam after staying up the whole night to learn more about blogging and putting my post.

When I was first introduced to Kota Permai by a former colleague who bought a single-floor terrace house at one of the newer phase back in 1990, the BIG ROCK or boulder at Jalan Kota Permai, Kota Permai, Bukit Mertajam, Penang, is the most prominent landmark you will see on your left about 100 meter as you enter from the main junction coming from Jalan Bukit Minyak-Jalan Alma.  There was only a small hut which was beside the big rock which was used to worship the deity "Datuk" spirit that "reside" there.

Today, the place is built up with a nice temple with ample parking space cum the spot for the Chinese Opera or Concert during festive celebrations or when some lucky guys/gals sponsored the shows after winning some 4-D numbers lucky draw.

According to the caretaker on duty there that morning, he related that there was an interesting story of the big rock and the developer, Supreme (not the famous singing group, The Supreme) of Taman Kota Permai.  They wanted to get rid of the rock to clear it for building houses.  However, each time the efforts to remove it was futile as either the bulldozer or backhoe engine just breakdown or the driver or operator fell sick.  Bad omens also caused the famous personality got into trouble with the laws and were put in jail for the corporate world wheeling dealings that went awry because he wanted the big rock out of the way.  The big rock would not budge from the site.

There were other stories or hearsay too.  Another of the story was that a person from the nearby residential housing estate came over to the temple and broke all the idols and paraphernalia a few years ago.  Recently the temple held a relaunching ceremony to restore the idols as published on the pink poster pasted on the temple wall (see picture).  If you can read Chinese characters, you will know what it was all about.  The uncle told me it was held because that lucky guy got the winning numbers betting on 4920 which came up first prize.  Try your luck here? 

As far as the players are concerned, they will look to the usual weekly three draws (Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday) and the special draws, the lucky winners are the gaming companies.  There are ten thousand numbers to place your bet on but they only draw twenty three set of four digits numbers to win the three grand prizes, ten Starter prizes and ten Consolation prizes. Gaming of number forecasts are licensed by the Malaysian Government which also imposed gaming tax and it is collected upfront when you place your bets at the designated outlets. Guess what, these number forecast gaming companies have set up branches in most part of Malaysia except the State of Kelantan where gaming is banned(where the State government formed by the Islamic Party better known as PAS). You can also see long queues of punters at these outlets which sometimes are side by side with one another competing for the punters' bets.

By the way, if you are a Muslim reader, please be warned that gaming is illicit or simply "unclean and sinful" and prohibited for you in Malaysia.  Anyway, we already side tracked from the main idea of this post. Whatever way, the punters and hardcore players will find trip to the licensed  or "legal" outlets to place their bet or simply make phone calls to the bookies which are just illustrious as the licensed counterparts as they can even go one up where they give you credit terms and you can even net-off with your debts against your winning prizes. Some small time players can have the list of lucky numbers as long as the railway double tracks for dream numbers, vehicle numbers, house numbers, accidents numbers  and telephone number and incidental numbers "asked" or solicited from the God of Wealth or other deities such as the big rock of Kota Permai temple. Sometimes there are "leaked" or "fixed" numbers that spread like wildfires at lightning speeds where these numbers sure strike the jackpot and the bookies would blacklist such numbers and stopped the bet on these numbers or limit their exposures.

Sometimes, the lucky winners will have big feasts to celebrate the winnings and make prayer offerings to the "God of Wealth" or the big rock by burning the "dragon" incense sticks that could be as heavy as 50-100 kg and as tall as 5ft -10ft high and burn many big and small gold and silver printed incense papers at the furnace such as the one in pagoda-shape furnace.

So far that I know, the biggest winners are the gaming companies as you can see their profits from annual financial reports published and announced to the public. So the underground syndicates that go under one
are not reported and unannounced.  $$$..........

 
For me, the lucky Numbers that God gave me is in the fourth book in the Old Testaments of the Holy Bible called Numbers, which is after the books of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus.

You can read it by clicking on this link that lead you to Bible.org 's website for more resources.
Courtesy and Credits go to Bible.org

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taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
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