Roadshow and Opera to say Thank You to the Deity at Kota Permai

If you have been in Malaysia over the last couple of weeks, you would probably be entertained by our local singers at the Ge-Tai(Mandarin) or in Hokkien " Ko-Tai or Roadshow had you ventured out at night to the local Chinese temples.  You would also had the opportunity to watch a traditional Chinese Opera show too.  Over here in Bukit Mertajam, the local Chinese community here speaks the local TeoChew dialect as compared to the majority of the local Chinese community in Penang Island who speaks Hokkien dialect.  Therefore, the opera shows over here are mostly the TeoChew Opera.

However, due to the Opera show and its traditional culture and apprenticeship which are not "seen" to be paying attractive income and the nomadic lifestyle(due to frequent travels around the country to perform at various temples) of the troupe members, comprising the actors, actresses, supporting casts, make-up artist, wardrobe and tailors, the musical team which sometimes doubled up as the stage crews in setting up the "theater and backdrops" which play the traditional musical instruments such as drums,gongs, trumpets and flutes and cymbals, these professional arts and noble jobs are hardly attracting the new and young generations.

They have to put in long hours of training to acquire the acting skills and singing and dancing. They have to teach themselves to paint their faces with colored powders and other cosmetics to depict the faces of heroes and heroines and villains too. They eat at and sleep on the temporary stage set up by the local committee of the temples.  It is hard to find a local opera troupe to perform because today's Chinese younger generation are leading a very different lifestyle in the advent of digital age, and have higher expectation of a quality lifestyle in the comfort of the beautiful five stars hotels and the lime lights of the more sophisticated modern art of acting and the glitters on the silver screen and to bash in the glamors of the Hollywood for being cast in the Megabucks Blockbuster Movies. They probably want to be glamorous like Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, Sammo Hung  or Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li and etc. Guess what? Even today, the Opera troupes are imported from China to perform here in Malaysia.  At one time, the troupes from Thailand were quite regular here.  They probably find it hard to get new bloods into the industry.

Another dying culture is the Chinese puppet shows which are also performed to thank the deities.  Today, we have the animation using the computer digital technologies. I have seen in the past that some temples when they could not secure the puppet shows or the opera, they had hired the services of the cinema crews who show the old movies on a large white screen like a drive-through movie which is more economical and easy to set-up.  For the Opera show, there are usually two performances per day. One episode in the afternoon and one episode at night.  As for the Ge-Tai or Roadshow, it is only performed at night and usually from 8.00pm to 12.00 midnight with a mixtures of male and female singers who usually dressed sexily or in scantily outfits.  Male singers are also rare nowadays as the audience preferred to watch females performers.

Recently, the Opera show held at Kota Permai was to thank the deity "Datuk Kong" or the so called Malay Spirit Deity worshiped by the Chinese community especially those that practiced Taoism for the blessings which they belief were bestowed throughout the whole of last year. Some of the businessmen and residents would sponsor and donate huge sum of moneys to organize the event make burnt offerings.   The local shopping  center, Billion Supermarket sponsored one night performance of the Roadshow. At Kota Permai, the "Datuk Kong" is said to be "dwelling or residing" at the big rock along the main road of Jalan Kota Permai and it is the main deity housed at the temple built onto it.  See my earlier post on the temple here.  At this temple, pork offerings and non-kosher foods are not allowed to be offered to the "Datuk" deity as it is a Malay Spirit and it is considered a taboo.  Ill luck and bad fate will befall the persons who make such an offering blunder. Even the singer will respect the deity by singing at least one Malay song to entertain the deity.

Here is one Malay song titled Sha-Na-Na sang by Miss Chang Sin Yee.

 Anyway, the deity and or other deities will watch the opera or puppet show or Ge-Tai secured as offerings and thanksgivings by the local temple committee who are themselves nominated among the sponsors and donors annually or for a specific term.  Of course, the people and residents like me who like to see Roadshows will join the crowd just to watch the performances for free.  In the present days, there are plastic stools for sitting and canvas tents sheltering from the rain.  In the olden days where I grew up as a child, there were rows of wooden planks laid on stilts and tighten with bolts and nuts above grasses and muddy open spaces and arranged like rows of seats in a theater hall with no shelters except for the makeshift stage.

Those days, we could only watch and it remained in memory.  Today, we can shoot photograph and record video.  That is why you are now enjoying these video clips that I recorded with Sony handy camera.  Here at the Chinese temple roadshow, we cheer and clap for the singers as they sing and entertain us with the latest pop songs and dances. The visitors to the temples will usually close their hands together and kneeling or bowing down, and offer prayers with burning incenses (joss-sticks which can be plain and tiny or big with dragon and figurines and printed joss-papers in gold and silver colors accompanied by lighted candles and lamps to the deity or deities at the temples. Some who have been blessed with good-fortunes will make cash donations. They may even bring along food-stuffs such as boiled chicken, eggs, home cooked meals and dishes, fruits and cookies to offer to the deity or deities. After the prayer sessions, these food-stuffs can be taken back home and consume as it is belief to bring good luck and blessing. You can expect the joss-sticks or incenses with dragon figurines will be popular throughout this Chinese New Year as this is the Lunar year of the Water Dragon.

 

In contrast, at the Church, the worshipers play the musical instruments, sing praises and worship songs to God, dancing, clapping and raising hands in prayer postures, bowing or kneeling down and giving thanks unto the Lord and Jesus Christ. There are Malay and Murut versions of Songs of Praise and Worship.  The church congregations give tithes and offerings in cash and checks.  The modern and large churches even accept offerings through debit to credit card accounts or online transfers using the latest banking facilities.  These monies are used by the Church to support its administration, missions and to help the poor and needy. The Church have the Holy Communions where the disciples broke breads and eat and drink the cups of wine in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Love and Sacrifice for us.

Now you may like to ask, who is worshiping and who is singing? Who is thanking God and who is being entertained? Who benefited from the collection of monies and how it is being used? Anyway, mankind came empty handed into this mortal world and cannot take it with us when we leave this world. Let us be good Stewards and Custodians of what God has placed in our care and hands.

Here, enjoy the opera, roadshow, the pop songs and worship songs and may God Bless you and family and be with you always. Gong Xi Gong Xi.

New Year 2012 Go to New Chinese Primary School at Kota Permai, Bukit Mertajam -Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Beng Teik (Pusat)

Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Beng Teik (Pusat)

Main Entrance to the building

corridors between the two blocks

This is the new Chinese Primary School, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Beng Teik (Pusat) which is opening for new registration and intake of new students from Primary Year One to Year Six for the new Year 2012 session.  This Chinse primary school was originally located in Penang Island but it was relocated here due to the small and dwindling enrollment at its original location.  With the growing population in and around Bukit Mertajam, especially in Kota Permai, Saujana Permai, Permai Indah and the nearby residential housing estates, the arrival of this school is timely to cater to the children living in this place.  You can contact the telephone number and contact persons and headmaster stated on the notice board for more information.

As you can see, the Chinese primary school is built mainly from getting the funding from the Chinese community and donations and from sponsors such as the Tiger Beer charity concerts with donations from the public well wishers.  The Malaysian Government is only chipping in its token share of developing the Chinese and Tamil streams of education.  In fact,most of Malaysian Chinese schools are also having many students from the non-Chinese community as their parents belief that the education system is good for their future generations than the national schools where the language of teaching is in the national Malay language except for the subject of English.  Let us not go into the flip-flop policy making by our Education and Cabinet Ministers on the subject of teaching Mathematics and Science in English.  One thing I will always be proud of our fellow Malaysians of non-Chinese origins who have sent their children to Chinese Schools and their children are able to speak Mandarin or local dialects like Hokkien and Cantonese with their Chinese friends.  I salute you. You are worth two men' minds in this world. I myself have not studied in Chinese vernacular schools and is a "Buta Huruf"(Chinese Letters Blind). 

Although the Malaysian Chinese and Indian community have been contributing to the commerce and welfare of our beloved Negaraku (My Country), Malaysia, long before the British granted the Independence to Malaya and Sabah and Sarawak, the community cannot depend on the Malaysian Government to build the Chinese and Tamil schools.  The irony is that the Chinese community is contributing a very high percentage of taxes collected by the government but it only get chicken feed in return from the government to set up the Chinese schools. The Tamil schools were mostly built by the plantation owners who employed the estate workers to tend to the plantations in the past decades.

Even to get the approval to build a school have to go through so much bureaucracies and politicking.  The Chinese school is usually equipped with a cement basketball court which also double up as the assembly ground but seldom have football field.  Mind you, the Chinese school students and youths have contributed to the National Basketball team at the SEA Games and other international tournaments as the training ground for our national basketball players.  It is hard to find a good footballer from a Chinese or Tamil school in the likeness of our former national heroes "Towkay" YB Datuk Soh Chin Aun from Malacca or Striker James Wong from Sabah. or famous Spiderman Goalkeeper Arumugam .Most of today's Chinese and Tamil schools do not have enough land space for football field. The National schools which the Government fully financed will have a big football field and all other sports facilities.  In my old primary and secondary national schools back in Perlis, I am blessed to have the green-green cow-grass fields as large as two football fields to run and roam about during the physical exercise lessons. This was where we had former National players from Perlis, Bakri Ibni and Saidin Osman in the good old days when our "Harimau Malaya"(Malayan Tigers) was now the "Harimau Lagenda" (Legends).

Do the students from the Chinese or Tamil schools performed academically and excel in sports better than the national schools? Are the quality of the education systems in the various type of schools in Malaysia measured by the money poured into by the Government and staffing plus facilities? What is our Education Minister and the Ministry going to do to improve the overall education in Malaysia for the benefits of all Malaysians?  On one level, we are trying to promote ourselves as the the regional education hubs but we neglected and failed to promote a meritocracy and equal opportunities for all Malaysians.  We cannot blame the British for leaving a legacy for neglecting the poor as the nation has been ruled by our Malaysian forefathers and current government over 50 years. Even our Universities' ranking have dropped.  What is happening?

Must the Chinese and Indian communities have to beg for allocations of funding and licenses for the Chinese and Tamil Schools from the Malaysian governments each time there is a General Election coming?  Are we not One Malaysia for Malaysians? Is there a caste system in our Malaysian family. Or we are only one and united in spirit in sports only when we can shine under the glitter of glory being world champions? When will we see the day when the Government treats all Malaysians and Made-In-Malaysia products (including students and graduates from these schools) like its slogan One Malaysia. Or are we only interested to promote the cow farmings(NFC) to incur losses of millions of Ringgit and thereby wastage of Malaysian People's funds as highlighted by the Auditor-General reports. The latest no brain-er project to sell and export frozen Durian to the People of Republic of China. I leave it to you. 

There are primary and secondary Chinese schools in most major towns in Malaysia. Is there a Minister from the Chinese or Indian community or better still a visionary Malay Education Minister who dare to ask the PM and his cabinet to set up a Chinese or Indian University in Malaysia so that we can have the Chinese from the mainland China and Indians from India to study in Malaysia so that we can have a more balance trade with them and earn their currency exchange from the education industry and prevent our outflow of funds since many Malaysians have been going to their countries to study medicines and other courses in the past.  We can import their expertise of highly qualified academicians to teach our people and reduce the brain drain.  Who knows, we can learn to build rockets,space shuttle and stations from the Chinese to send our Angkasawan (Malaysian Astronaut) to the Moon and orbit the Earth and Mars instead of riding on a Russian rocket while we can learn from the Indians on computer programming and cow farming (see the you tube here contributed by PeteMcCormack2)?

Is this just my One Malaysia ideal dream and will remain a dream till the cow come home?
What is your say, PM  Y.A.B. DATO' SRI HJ. MOHD. NAJIB BIN TUN HAJI ABDUL RAZAK
PRIME MINISTER, MINISTER OF FINANCE and his deputy,  Y.A.B. TAN SRI DATO' HAJI MUHYIDDIN BIN MOHD. YASSIN
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, MINISTER OF EDUCATION?

You may be interested to learn a little information from the link here to Matrade's statistics on our Malaysia's Trade Performance from January  to September 2011.

Here is a resource link to Center for International Development at Harvard University for your reading.

Another resources from Centre for Malaysia Chinese Studies

Notice for the public

Canteen

show classroom

E-learning facility at classroom

Lion Dance at Ground breaking ceremony

VVIPs including Dato Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen & Datuk Ir Dr Wee Ka Siong at the ground breaking ceremony

From Jln Kota Permai going  to Jln Song Ban Kheng

Side view from Kota Permai where the work in progress

The assembly hall on the 1st floor of the administration block

Wooden parquet floor for the stage

The assembly hall

Library area

Boys washroom

Girls washroom

A view from the school towards Kota Permai

After Fire Destroyed the Shophouses at Kota Permai

The ceiling and metal roofing and air-conditioner compressors burnt

State Executive Officer for Welfare, Mr Phee Boon Poh expressed his concern to the business proprietor

Roof gone and windows shattered

Clearing the mess at the back lane

Cracks appeared on the ceiling on the first floor of the building

Scene at the back lane with terrace residential houses on the right

Bulldozer to clear and compress the metal roofing

Scrap metals salvaged

At the back entrance

A temporary lamp lits up the room to help the workers to clear the mess

Smokes still can be seen blowing out of the top corner

The door frames left standing with glass panels broken

Look like a bird nest on the right

Two fire engines seen on standby and continue pumping waters into the building to cool it

Fire Investigating team briefing the VIP visitors

Windows hacked

Workers helping to clear up

After the fire was put under control the next day after more than 12 hours, there were still smokes coming out from the heaps of burnt items.  The Fire Services Department deployed their teams and two fire engines to the scene on standby and still pumping water into the three units of shop-house selling toys that were destroyed by the fire.  During the fire, there were at least 15 units of fire engines and support vehicles such as skylifts and at least 100 firemen from the Voluntary Fire Units from the various towns in Penang, and nearby Parit Buntar and Lunas fighting the fire along with the Fire Services Department teams.

The proprietor of the building and business were there with a group of workers and helpers salvaging whatever assets they could.  The elected representatives of the constituency and the State Executive Office for welfare, Mr Tan Cheong Teong and Mr Phee Boon Poh were seen visiting the sites and spoke to the Fire Department Investigating Officers and showed their sympathy and concerns for the business proprietor.


The fire is very destructive and can be seen from here that assets were destroyed.  In order to prevent fire, everyone has to be mindful of the safety in our workplace and most importantly at our home.  Prevention is better than fire-fighting. Educating the young ones right from our youngest family members are crucial.  So remember, DO NOT PLAY WITH FIRE which is the warning and advice which our parents instilled in us.

Clearing up the mess after the fire is dangerous as there are many broken glasses and sharp metal objects and debris strewn all over the places.  The smoke and gases emitted are hazardous to our health and body. Safety precautions have to be taken by the salvage workers and helpers.

The losses through fire accidents and destruction are huge not only in terms of monetary values but also the loss of jobs and loss of lives too as a consequence of the fire. It goes beyond the the physical loss as there are people who were injured and left with fire burnt marks and scars permanently on their body to remind them of their misfortunes.  The worst situation are the people who suffer from trauma and phobia when they escaped from such accidents. I sympathize with the victims of fire and related misfortunes.

There are many heroic stories we heard about firemen rescuing properties and human lives like the ones who sacrificed their very own lives to save others such as the incidents during the September 11 attacks in the United States of America some years ago.

The financial losses due to fire can be mitigated by the business proprietors by taking up comprehensive Fire Insurance policy for commercial goods and stock assets, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture, fixture and fittings, building properties.
Individuals house owners can insure the home building by taking up House-owner insurance policy and for contents by taking a House-holder insurance policy .

In the event of a claimable accident and covered perils of the Fire Insurance Policy under, the insured can file for claims.  The submission for claims with completed essential documents will expedite claim processing by the loss adjusters and underwriters. 

By the way, I am your local insurance agent with global insurers who can help insure your properties and assets here and abroad.  We have many risks management program to meet your needs and other financial planning tools to help you achieve your financial goals.  Our global associates can help you too if your company are operating worldwide.

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