SPECIAL REPORT
For septuagenarian Tan Swee Hoon, the festival of Chinese gods at the
Hu Fu temple in Kampung Sungai Jawa in Pengerang, Johor, has been the
most anticipated event for the past 70 years.
As she recalled, that was the time when the Kampung Sungai Jawa folk led their lives without television and Internet, which made temple stage performances a precious entertainment.
In mid-December this year, the Hu Fu temple committee held its annual gods festival together with a number of other Chinese temples in Pengerang.
What makes their festivals unique is that the committee of each temple will ‘invite’ deities from the other temples to join in their celebrations.
Committees that accept the invitation must carry the statue of their temple deity to the celebrating temple and only bring it back after the celebration ends, days later.
Unfortunately,
this year’s celebration is the last ever for the Hu Fu temple, which is
to give way to the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated
Development (Rapid) project being carried out by national oil and gas
company Petronas.
Petronas acquired a 2,630-acre site, spreading across Kampung Sungai Kapal, Kampung Sungai Jawa and Kampung Teluk Ampang, for the project.
Built in 1884, the small Hu Fu temple is located off the shore. It has been guarding and blessing the fishermen in the sea for the past 120 years. The space in front of it is where the villagers gather or hang around.
According to a Hu Fu temple committee member, Yong Teck Chai (right),
eight Chinese temples in Kampung Sungai Kapal, Tanjung Tembuang,
Kampung Teluk Ampang and Kampung Sungai Kapal are being forced to be
relocated to a newly developed residential area - Taman Bayu Damai, some
15km to the east of their current sites.
However, Yong said, the statues would be “homeless” because the temple committees were told to vacate the temples by April next year - with the construction of the new temple buildings still a long way to go.
“It takes one to two years to build (a new temple), so we have no way out. The deities are going to be in trouble... they will have to be put in somebody’s house, temporarily.
“The deities are in trouble, for they have no place to stay. What to do?” he asked with a wry smile.
Yong said the statues of the Hu Fu temple needed to be placed in the house of a priest, at least. The statues from the demolished Kampung Sungai Kapal temple, he added, have been placed at a temple committee member’s house in Singapore.
The rest of the temple statues will be put in a Chinese temple in Kampung Sungai Renggit, which is not affected by the Rapid project.
Plot of 3.5 acres land given to eight temples
According to the government’s planning, Yong said, all the eight temples will be located on a 3.5-acre plot of land and each of the temples will be given 19,000 square-feet sites.
“Originally,
they only gave us a two-acre piece of land, and we managed to strive
for 3.5 acres,” said the 67-year-old businessperson, adding that each
temple would only have limited space as they were planning to build a
common hall on the land.
However, the proposal does not satisfy everyone. The Guan Yin temple committee members from Tanjung Tembuang are complaining that the area given them is too small.
One of the Guan Yin temple committee members, who only wanted to be referred to as Soon, said the proposed site would have to accommodate statues from four temples.
Soon said the Guan Yin temple was the only temple in that area that was able to get the land and money compensation from the government as it is a registered temple, while the others were not.
“We have many statues and we would like to fit four into one temple. But how can we arrange them?” he asked.
After a recent meeting among the committee members of the eight temples, Soon happily told Malaysiakini that the problem had been resolved as they eventually obtained a bigger plot of land at the meeting.
On the other hand, although all the temples are forced to make way for the Rapid project under the name of development, Yong still opined that it does more good than harm.
“I personally think that it’s good to relocate as all (the temples and deities) will be together and all of them can be invited to watch the performances during the festival,” Yong said, adding that this would save time and costs if the statues are to be moved to different temples.
No compensation for unregistered temples
Meanwhile, a local resident, Chua Peng Sian, who calls himself the “toothless man” and has been opposing the Rapid project right from the beginning, said the total number of Chinese temples in Pengerang cannot be confirmed.
Of the temples, Chua (left)
said, not more than 10 are registered and have received compensation
from the government to move out for the RM60 billion Rapid project.
Generally, he explained, registered temples in the Pengerang area have official committee members who organise the large-scale gods festivals, while the other unregistered ones have caretakers and they too did not face any problem before the coming of the Rapid project.
In this case, Chua said, the unregistered temples have no way to seek compensation for relocation.
One typical example of this would be the Shun De temple at Kampung Sungai Kapal, which is currently being cared for by a farmer, Kee Mooi Mooi, 56, and her family.
The family of six had the temple erected right in front of their house some 30 years ago, with Kee’s husband turning into a medium and receiving donations from the community to build the temple.
However, the family faces problems in getting their temple relocated, for the compensation of RM100,000 they have been promised is only for their house and the land it is located on.
“I
used to insist on not relocating as I have a deep feeling about the
temple. And also, I grew up here and it is a great pity that we are
being forced by the government to move out,” said the heart-wrenching
Kee (left).
Eventually, she decided to move to Taman Kota Jaya in Kota Tinggi with her family, and spend the monetary compensation to build a new house on a 2.5-acre plot of land, as well as a new Shun De temple right next to it.
“I need to start all over again once I have moved. It causes me a big headache, but I have no choice,” Kee said.
Kampung Sungai Kapal is about 80km away from Taman Kota Jaya, which is about an hour’s drive away.
However, what worries Kee even more is that she has not received the compensation from the government until today.
“It (the government) said (the compensation will be given to us) in the middle of December, but we have got nothing until now. I cannot work on the things that I have planned until I get the money,” she said.
Although Kee said her friends staying in Kota Tinggi welcomed them to move there, she was forced to leave her long-time friends in Pengerang.
“I have to leave this place... it’s a pity. I will be going there (Kota Tinggi), but all the friends here will be gone,” she lamented.
As she recalled, that was the time when the Kampung Sungai Jawa folk led their lives without television and Internet, which made temple stage performances a precious entertainment.
In mid-December this year, the Hu Fu temple committee held its annual gods festival together with a number of other Chinese temples in Pengerang.
What makes their festivals unique is that the committee of each temple will ‘invite’ deities from the other temples to join in their celebrations.
Committees that accept the invitation must carry the statue of their temple deity to the celebrating temple and only bring it back after the celebration ends, days later.
Unfortunately,
this year’s celebration is the last ever for the Hu Fu temple, which is
to give way to the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated
Development (Rapid) project being carried out by national oil and gas
company Petronas.Petronas acquired a 2,630-acre site, spreading across Kampung Sungai Kapal, Kampung Sungai Jawa and Kampung Teluk Ampang, for the project.
Built in 1884, the small Hu Fu temple is located off the shore. It has been guarding and blessing the fishermen in the sea for the past 120 years. The space in front of it is where the villagers gather or hang around.
According to a Hu Fu temple committee member, Yong Teck Chai (right),
eight Chinese temples in Kampung Sungai Kapal, Tanjung Tembuang,
Kampung Teluk Ampang and Kampung Sungai Kapal are being forced to be
relocated to a newly developed residential area - Taman Bayu Damai, some
15km to the east of their current sites.However, Yong said, the statues would be “homeless” because the temple committees were told to vacate the temples by April next year - with the construction of the new temple buildings still a long way to go.
“It takes one to two years to build (a new temple), so we have no way out. The deities are going to be in trouble... they will have to be put in somebody’s house, temporarily.
“The deities are in trouble, for they have no place to stay. What to do?” he asked with a wry smile.
Yong said the statues of the Hu Fu temple needed to be placed in the house of a priest, at least. The statues from the demolished Kampung Sungai Kapal temple, he added, have been placed at a temple committee member’s house in Singapore.
The rest of the temple statues will be put in a Chinese temple in Kampung Sungai Renggit, which is not affected by the Rapid project.
Plot of 3.5 acres land given to eight temples
According to the government’s planning, Yong said, all the eight temples will be located on a 3.5-acre plot of land and each of the temples will be given 19,000 square-feet sites.
“Originally,
they only gave us a two-acre piece of land, and we managed to strive
for 3.5 acres,” said the 67-year-old businessperson, adding that each
temple would only have limited space as they were planning to build a
common hall on the land.However, the proposal does not satisfy everyone. The Guan Yin temple committee members from Tanjung Tembuang are complaining that the area given them is too small.
One of the Guan Yin temple committee members, who only wanted to be referred to as Soon, said the proposed site would have to accommodate statues from four temples.
Soon said the Guan Yin temple was the only temple in that area that was able to get the land and money compensation from the government as it is a registered temple, while the others were not.
“We have many statues and we would like to fit four into one temple. But how can we arrange them?” he asked.
After a recent meeting among the committee members of the eight temples, Soon happily told Malaysiakini that the problem had been resolved as they eventually obtained a bigger plot of land at the meeting.
On the other hand, although all the temples are forced to make way for the Rapid project under the name of development, Yong still opined that it does more good than harm.
“I personally think that it’s good to relocate as all (the temples and deities) will be together and all of them can be invited to watch the performances during the festival,” Yong said, adding that this would save time and costs if the statues are to be moved to different temples.
No compensation for unregistered temples
Meanwhile, a local resident, Chua Peng Sian, who calls himself the “toothless man” and has been opposing the Rapid project right from the beginning, said the total number of Chinese temples in Pengerang cannot be confirmed.
Of the temples, Chua (left)
said, not more than 10 are registered and have received compensation
from the government to move out for the RM60 billion Rapid project.Generally, he explained, registered temples in the Pengerang area have official committee members who organise the large-scale gods festivals, while the other unregistered ones have caretakers and they too did not face any problem before the coming of the Rapid project.
In this case, Chua said, the unregistered temples have no way to seek compensation for relocation.
One typical example of this would be the Shun De temple at Kampung Sungai Kapal, which is currently being cared for by a farmer, Kee Mooi Mooi, 56, and her family.
The family of six had the temple erected right in front of their house some 30 years ago, with Kee’s husband turning into a medium and receiving donations from the community to build the temple.
However, the family faces problems in getting their temple relocated, for the compensation of RM100,000 they have been promised is only for their house and the land it is located on.
“I
used to insist on not relocating as I have a deep feeling about the
temple. And also, I grew up here and it is a great pity that we are
being forced by the government to move out,” said the heart-wrenching
Kee (left).Eventually, she decided to move to Taman Kota Jaya in Kota Tinggi with her family, and spend the monetary compensation to build a new house on a 2.5-acre plot of land, as well as a new Shun De temple right next to it.
“I need to start all over again once I have moved. It causes me a big headache, but I have no choice,” Kee said.
Kampung Sungai Kapal is about 80km away from Taman Kota Jaya, which is about an hour’s drive away.However, what worries Kee even more is that she has not received the compensation from the government until today.
“It (the government) said (the compensation will be given to us) in the middle of December, but we have got nothing until now. I cannot work on the things that I have planned until I get the money,” she said.
Although Kee said her friends staying in Kota Tinggi welcomed them to move there, she was forced to leave her long-time friends in Pengerang.
“I have to leave this place... it’s a pity. I will be going there (Kota Tinggi), but all the friends here will be gone,” she lamented.
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