Jade Emperor worship

Today's the ninth day of the first Chinese lunar month - still well within the 15-day period of our Chinese New Year festival - the day that the Baba Nyonya and Hokkien community in Penang celebrate the Hokkien New Year and offer worship to the Jade Emperor Deity. Actually, the celebrations kicked off last night on the stroke of 11 o'clock as we Chinese reckon every new day to begin at 11pm and not midnight.

A long time ago when I was small and living in Seang Tek Road on the island, my maternal grandmother always made it a point to celebrate the worship on a grand scale. Nothing can be grander than to place the worship table, usually the table from the hall or kitchen, on stools to raise it as high as practically possible and thus closer to heaven where the Jade Emperor resides. The day earlier, she would have ordered several long stalks of sugarcane to tie around the legs of the table. Food preparation would take the whole day, and my mother and aunt had to help her. Non-stop work here, and sometimes there would be women relatives coming to lend extra hands. The house would be visited at night for the joint worship as 11pm crept closer. It was to be noted that my grandmother, as the eldest in her family, was the focal point for her five younger siblings to congregate during such occasions. At the end of the worship session, a huge bonfire of joss paper would be lit on the road in front of the house.

I don't know what happened but at one point, all grand worship was stopped on advice from her brother-in-law who everyone accepted was very knowledgable in metaphysics. During that year, there was a huge accident in downtown Bridge Street (now known as CY Choy Road) on the eighth day of Chinese New Year. If I remember correctly, a bus had rammed into one of the old houses along the road sometime in the afternoon, sending dust into the air. When the dust settled, the residents living in houses near the point of collision found their food stuff all covered with a thick layer of whitish dust. Especially the mee koo which was traditionally red, and now covered white with dust. The news spread like wildfire.

Bad omen indeed, my grandmother's brother-in-law said when the news reached his ears, for this sign to appear during Chinese New Year. "Mee koo pian peh koo on Pai Tnee Kong meh," he declared solemnly. What he said was that the red mee koo had turned to white mee koo on the night when we were supposed to worship the Jade Emperor, never mind the fact that it was only dust-coated. For him, it was surely a Sign from heaven. Thus from that year onwards - it must be sometime in the 1960s - everyone decided to end the joint Pai Tnee Kong celebrations and all her siblings began worshipping the Jade Emperor on their own on whatever scale. My grandmother continued to worship the Jade Emperor on Pai Tnee Kong Meh but this was now on a small scale. No more huge table on raised stools for the worship. She moved a small table below the Jade Emperor's small altar mounted on the left pillar at the front of the house, and on it would be placed small plates of fruits and sweetmeat, including sugarcane that had been chopped into small edible sizes.

My family continued this practice even after we moved to Seberang Jaya and later to Bukit Mertajam. While many of my neighbours here worship the Jade Emperor's birthday on a large scale, ours continue to be very modest. We utilise only the available space on the altar which is mounted on the wall. Thus, come Pai Tnee Kong Meh, we only offer three types of fruits or sweet delicacies. 

Tua Pek Kong temple in Taman Jernih, Bukit Mertajam

This year, my wife suggested that we shouldn't be worshipping the Jade Emperor on Pai Tnee Kong Meh since not even a year had passed since her father had died. I didn't want to argue with her. Okay, if she didn't feel like it, then let's not worship this year. No problem with me. In fact, we also decided not to hang the red cloth banner above the front door in deference to her wishes although many of my relatives said that I could still do so as I was only a son-in-law and not a son. But as I said, no problem with me. That's why this Chinese New Year, I also did not decorate the fruits with small red paper cuttings for deity worship. Then suddenly during one of our pre-festival forays to the nearby Kampong Baharu market for our shopping and preparations, we bumped into one of her relatives who told her that we could still worship the Jade Emperor but on a small scale. I don't know how much smaller our worship could be 😁 but in the next few days, I managed to pick up a bunch of green pisang rajah. Only the grand pisang rajah can do for such worship, okay, and not any other varieties of banana. And that's what we had for worship of the Jade Emperor last night.

Nandaka Vihara Meditation Centre, Bukit Mertajam

But....we did something else last night. After we had set out the altar for worship, we went to the Tua Pek Kong temple in my neighbourhood. Normally we would have visited this temple on the first day of Chinese New Year itself but somehow, it didn't happen. Last night, we decided to go there and found that the temple had also laid out an altar for worship of the Jade Emperor..

From the Tua Pek Kong temple, we also visited the Nandaka Vihara Meditation Centre where the final night of their seven-night Paritta chanting was taking place. This annual Paritta chanting is undertaken by a group of Buddhist monks from Ceylon. The nightly chants were usually for two hours from 8pm but for the final night, the monks took turns to chant throughout the night until the following morning. We didn't stay there for long but only for about half an hour. Nevertheless, it was quite an experience for me.

Seventh student leadership workshop, session 2

Finally, Lean Kang and I have completed the latest round of the student leadership workshop at Penang Free School, with assistance from Sue Hay, Yan Tatt and Mohamad Afan. The first weekend of the workshop was held last month and this month, we proceeded with the second weekend. Unfortunately, three of the participants in Lower Six were unable to join the group of 20 Form Four pupils as they were in the midst of their end-of-year school examinations. We shall try to fit them in later in the year so that they can complete both weekends.

Our experiences with this batch of Fourth Formers were not typically different from the other workshops that we held in previous years. Initially, they were quite reserved but by the end of the second day of the first weekend, we had opened them up and lowered the barrier between coach and students. Thus, they arrived for the second weekend completely relaxed and with minds that were eager for more information. We derived quite a lot of satisfaction from this particular group.

As usual, we had the Headmaster come around to present certificates to the participants. I've got to say this about Headmaster Syed Sultan: he was very supportive of the leadership workshops and we, in turn, were very glad of his continued belief in our workshop and training methods. It's a relationship which we hope will carry us through to the eighth workshop during the 2023 academic year.

PCA's golden jubilee

I'm attempting to catch up on a piece of old but meaningful news. Last December, the activities of the Penang Chess Association returned to normal as it resumed holding its 14th Penang heritage city international chess tournament in conjunction with the annual Penang Chess Festival. But what was very significant about last year's Penang Chess Festival was that the association was also celebrating its Golden Jubilee or 50th anniversary simultaneously.

Yes, that is very correct. The Penang Chess Association was 50 years old in 2022. When I attended the inaugural meeting of the Penang Chess Association as a junior member at the Penang Library in March 1972, the furthest thought in my mind was to celebrate the Golden Jubilee 50 years later. But there I was, proudly standing on the stage of the Heah Joo Seang Hall of the St Xavier's Institution on the 18th of December, to give a short shoutout about the association's early years to mark this historical occasion.

1972 MSSPP chess competition at Han Chiang Primary School

There were many thoughts that crossed my mind when I stood there on the stage but knowing that time was limited, I could not say everything that I wanted to share with the chess-playing audience and especially the parents of the junior players who, I'm sure, know absolutely nuts about the Penang Chess Association's long history. 

For example, the fact that among all the founding members at that inaugural meeting 50 years ago, only I remained as the Penang Chess Association's sole member-in-benefit. The rest of the founding members had either passed away or let their memberships lapse with time, which was a pity because among them were several friends who are still around in Penang or living elsewhere, though no longer playing chess.

1972 MSSM chess competition at Dewan Sri Pinang

Another significant item that I did not mention was that together with the Penang Chess Association celebrating its Golden anniversary in 2023, two other chess events in the country could also commemorate their 50 years but it went unnoticed. When nobody remembered them at all, it becomes a waste! And what a great waste; it was a missed opportunity to celebrate 50 years of the MSSPP and MSSM chess competitions which both began in 1972 too! To be exact, the first MSSPP chess competition was played at the Han Chiang Primary School in June 1972 and the first MSSM chess competition at the Dewan Sri Pinang in December 1972. Both started off as team events and the respective individual competitions were added in the Malaysian schools itinerary a year later. Being my final year in secondary school, I was lucky to have featured in both of these inaugural events. In the MSSPP, Penang Free School was first among eight participating chess teams while the Penang chess team came second in the MSSM.

It was also left to Hamid Majid, the Penang Chess Festival's coordinating Chief Arbiter, to add another snippet of information after I finished speaking. He said that after the dark days of the later part of the 1980s when the Penang Chess Association fell into a deep slumber of inactivity, it was left to me almost singlehandedly to revive it. From 1990 onwards, there was no more looking back for the association.

This opening ceremony also included speeches by former PCA President Dr Choong Sim Poey, present PCA President See Swee Sie, MCF President Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi and Penang State Executive Councillor Soon Lip Chee, and a fascinating video presentation that took viewers through the 50 years of the Penang Chess Association. Naturally, this took up quite some time and consequently, the first round of the Penang open was pushed back by about at least an hour. Fortunately, that was the only delay suffered by the Penang Chess Festival as subsequent rounds in the following six days all started on time without any hitch. The Challengers section was played in the main school hall while the Open section took place in the smaller Karpal Singh Hall. 

Finally for the sake of documentation, I'm repeating in this blog my private words to the PCA President regarding the running of the Penang Chess Festival:

Dear Swee Sie, congratulations to you and your team on organising a most memorable Penang Chess Festival this year. Knowing the financial challenges that you faced, it became even more impressive to see how your team had pressed ahead with this event. The Penang Chess Festival turned out to be quite emotional for me in the sense that never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that in this Golden anniversary year, I would be the last Founding Member left standing. I wanted to speak more on the stage but I had promised myself to keep within five minutes. May the progress of Penang Chess Association continue for the next 50 years! You did an excellent job getting almost everyone that mattered to come together on this landmark occasion. It was a moment of significance. Congratulations again!!

A brief ceremony to recognise the main contributors to the Penang Chess Association

Penang State Exco member Soon Lip Chee making the ceremonial first move 

Catching up with Tan Kai Ming, Dr Choong Sim Poey and Tan Hock Lye

MCF President Akramsyah, PCA President See Swee Sie and Fide Arbiter Hamid Majid

The Challengers section

The Open section took place under the watchful eyes of Karpal Singh

Chinese New Year musings

And so, Chinese New Year day; the first day of the Year of the Water Rabbit, has landed on us. It is time, finally, for me to take a little personal breather and attempt to wake up a little later than usual. A small luxury considering that the past one month, and especially the last week, has been pretty hectic as we tried to catch up with our spring cleaning. Admittedly, we didn't manage to get everything that we wanted done and there are still parts of the house which have not had a brush or mop touching it in the last month. But this has been unavoidable as we had to contend with the rush to repaint the kitchen and repair our damaged kitchen cabinet tiles and plaster ceiling. In addition to that, the painters were rather unprofessional and not as meticulous as we liked. As a result the main contractor had to step in to rectify the sloppiness himself. Every time the contractor and his men came in, I had to spend time mopping the floor after them. This has been very tiring work for me but it had to be done.

For the four or five days prior to Chinese New Year, we had been waking up very early in order to go marketing. By about 6.45am or seven o'clock, we would already be at the market. If you think that at this time in the morning the market would not be busy, then you should think again. The place was bustling with activity. People were already doing their marketing rounds for Chinese New Year foodstuff. All the vegetable sellers and the dried foodstuff stalls were doing roaring business. People were jostling with one another to pick out their choices. The fishmongers, chicken and pork sellers were equally busy. At this time, don't ever think of buying any pig stomach for the too tor soup. All would have been snapped up already. 

I remember a very long time ago, my mother and my aunt would say that all these rush-rush activities at the wet market would last only until two days before Chinese New Year. On Chinese New Year Eve itself, the place would suddenly become quiet and less busy as shoppers would have already finished with all their purchases and the traders would be hurriedly clearing up their stalls in anticipation of going back early to prepare for Chinese New Year themselves. But no more. When I arrived at the market yesterday morning at 6.30am, the place was just as busy as the days before. Apparently, this tradition of a quiet market on Chinese New Year Eve no longer applies. People still thronged the market to do their last-minute purchases, perhaps hoping for the freshest foodstuff.  

Yesterday, I busied myself with cleaning both cars and after lunch, went about to give the marble statue of Kuan Yin her traditional end-of-year bath with perfumed water. Also tidied up the joss-stick urns which tended to overflow rather quickly with the joss-stick ashes. While my wife busied herself in the kitchen to prepare the food for the reunion dinner, I spent the afternoon preparing the worship joss paper for burning later at night. I've already given up the practice of folding paper gold ingots - it's just too time consuming - and opted for a simple design. Meanwhile, my daughter went to collect a tray of yee sang from a supplier. It was going to be the first time we would have yee sang at home. We don't believe tossing the yee sang would make any difference to anything but it would be all in good fun. After all, it's quality family time.

Apart from this tray of yee sang, our reunion dinner also included a roast chicken, scallops, the traditional too tor soup, lobak and roast pork. No bringing out the jiu hoo char this time as we felt that we already had ample food on the table, although this Chinese New Year dish had been cooked days before. Neither did we cook the prawns but I guess my daughter and son did not miss this dish much. 

Dinner over, I again gave the house a quick mop before readying myself with preparing the fruits for worship. I settled down for the tedious task of glueing strips of red paper around all the fruits. But my wife reminded me that we did not have to do so this year as custom dictated that during the first year of my father-in-law's demise, we need not celebrate Chinese New Year in the usual manner. Thus, no strips of red paper gummed around the fruits. In fact, she told me that we shouldn't even hang the traditional red cloth banner over the front door too. Well, it's fine with me although I have my own opinion about this. Not having to deal with the fruits meant that my task was considerably lightened. Nevertheless, I really didn't know where my time went because soon enough, it was time to prepare the altars for worship. Deadline as 11pm as we Chinese believe that a new day begins daily at this time. So soon afterwards, we commenced with our worship. And suddenly all around us, households were letting off their fireworks and fire crackers to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. Happy Chinese New Year!

Fire

My kitchen has received a new coat of paint. The wall and exhaust fans have been replaced. The only remaining jobs in the kitchen yet undone is the replacement of a few pieces of kitchen cabinet tiles and well as some cabinet doors. The reason for this spruce up? Not because of Chinese New Year next week, that's for sure, although the urgency to have all these things done quickly was a factor. Rather, these activities were a result of a gas explosion in the middle of the night on the 10th of December last year.

We were upstairs sleeping when three or four muffled explosions woke us up at about 2.30am. At first, we thought nothing of it but then, something told me to go downstairs to investigate. The first thing I saw was the curtain at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen in flames on the floor. I skipped into the kitchen and found a rattan lampshade in flames. Also on the floor, some plastic bags were burning. I rushed back into the living room, picked up the remain piece of curtain, wetted it and then doused the flames which by then were burning down. The only good sign was that there was no smell of gas. Nevertheless, I glanced at the gas cylinder tank and decided to remove the regulator cap immediately. It was warm and the hose that connected it to a standalone stove had melted in part. 

We were shaken by the event and spent the next hour outside the house. After we were sure that it was safe to go in, we tried to go back to sleep. As if sleep was still possible. The next morning, the full extent of the explosion was clear:

• Gas cylinder tank blackened by soot on one side
• Gas cylinder regulator cap damaged
• Gas hose half-melted
• Wooden chopping board placed on top of the gas cylinder burnt halfway
• Marble tiles for kitchen cabinet top and wall found sooted, cracked, loosened and/or bent out of shape
• Certain floor tiles stained with burnt marks
• Paint on frame of back door burnt black and peeled
• Exhaust fan completely destroyed
• Gas stove (one burner) completely destroyed
• Window curtain completely burnt
• Six pieces of wooden doors for kitchen cabinet damaged
• Blades of table fan melted out of shape
• Rattan lampshade completely burnt
• Wooden stool partially burnt
• Blades of wall fan melted out of shape
• Casing of ceiling fluorescent light damaged
• Plaster ceiling cracked and peeled
• Doorway curtain completely burnt
• Kitchen walls and kitchen ceiling darkened with burnt marks
• Kitchen plants destroyed
• Flower pot in kitchen found cracked and broken

I quite marveled at the relatively small extent of the explosion and fire. The damage was quite contained within the kitchen; I would suspect thanks to the curtain that separated the kitchen from the living room. If not for this curtain, the gas could have escaped into the living room and any flame could have consumed the living room too. Gas being light, the flames had scorched the upper part of the kitchen walls and the plaster ceiling.

I remembered that we had taken an insurance policy on the house. So we contacted the insurance company and was put in touch with the insurance adjuster. First thing asked was whether the fire brigade was called. No, we said, because the damage to the kitchen was not extensive and it was practically over by the time I had come downstairs. We were advised to place a Police report then, which we did on the same day. One or two days later, the adjuster came to the house to inspect the kitchen and told us that the insurance could not cover non-fixtures. Okay, far enough, because that was the policy we had bought anyway. But I need a note to remind myself hat I would have to buy a separate policy to cover the movable items in the house. In the meantime, I had to get quotations to repair the damage to the kitchen - painting the walls and ceiling, replacing the damaged kitchen cabinet doors, replacing too the cracked marble tiles of the kitchen cabinet.

And so it has been a traumatic month for us, the fire coming 12 days after my wife fractured her little toe. It's been six weeks since her accident. Her fracture is healing well according to the orthopaedic surgeon and she can go about her business without any more pain. I can only hope that there won't be any more unpleasant surprises to come.

All that remained of the curtain that separated the living room from the kitchen

Cracked flowerpot in the kitchen. All my plants destroyed.

My destroyed rattan lampshade bought from Vietnam three years earlier

Blades melted beyond redemption

The marble tile next to the gas cylinder tank was singed black with soot and cracked in separate parts

Chopping block partially destroyed

Stove top destroyed

Li Chun (立春), 2023

Li Chun (立春) or the Coming of Spring comes around but once a year and for this year, it will arrive upon our doorsteps, or rather, our rice bucket, at 10.44am on 4 February 2023. This will correspond with the 14th day of the first Chinese lunar month. The Hokkien and the Baba Nyonya communities in Penang will invariably refer to this first day of Spring as Jip Chun instead of Li Chun. 

But what's so special about Jip Chun or Li Chun? It has no religious significance but we Chinese acknowledge this date as the day when the sun crosses the 315° longitudinal line in the sky. Of course you don't see this imaginary line but it is there, all right. For astronomical and perhaps astrological purposes as well, this longitudinal line has always been there.

Right after this time on Jip Chun day, it is traditional for me to paste a new Chun (春) character on the rice bucket and then fill it up to the brim with rice to signify abundance for the coming year. 

This year, however, I had to really clean out my rice bucket to rid it of the rice weevil and its eggs. The last packet of rice must have been really infested with the eggs because although I didn't see any sign of any weevil at all when I purchased it from the supermarket. But soon enough, I noticed that the rice was gradually being attacked and the weevil came crawling to the surface whenever I opened the lid. It reached a stage where we decided to throw away the rest of the uncooked rice. To my horror, the bottom of the bucket was coated with a thick crust of rice dust. So everything went off into the washroom where I gave the bucket a good wash followed by drying it out under the sun and subjecting it to a good vacuum subsequently. Hopefully, my new stock of rice will be spared this infestation.

By the way, I've been writing diligently about Jip Chun in this blog since Year 2007 and if anyone wants to find the historical dates and time, the information is all here:

Li Chun, 2022
Li Chun, 2021
Li Chun, 2020
Li Chun, 2019
Li Chun, 2018
Li Chun, 2017
Li Chun, 2016
Li Chun, 2015
Li Chun, 2014
Li Chun, 2013
Li Chun, 2012
Li Chun, 2011
Li Chun, 2010
Li Chun, 2009
Li Chun, 2008
Li Chun, 2007

Audience with the Raja

Everyone looking their best with an OFA necktie. Seated to the right of the Raja of Perlis: Alex Tan and Andrew Lim. Seated to the left of the Raja Muda of Perlis: Enrique Tan and Raman. Standing, left to right: See Liang Teik, Roy Chai, Lo Liang Kheng, Ezuan, Quah Seng Sun, Barathkumar, Ivan Ooi (from OFA KL and Selangor) and Cheng Soon Keong.

At the entrance into the Royal Gallery

The Old Frees' Association is 100 years old in 2023, having been established on 17 April 1923. Last year, I was invited to join an OFA Centenary committee that was formed to look into ways of marking this once-in-a-lifetime occasion. On Monday last, a joint contingent comprising members of the OFA Centenary committee and the main OFA management committee was granted an audience with the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail. 

Tuanku is an Old Free - I had described him as our Royal Alumnus - and has been the Royal Patron of The Old Frees' Association since 29 May 2002. His father, the previous Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail, had also studied at Penang Free School and it is to be noted that so did his son,  the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail. 

The purpose of the audience was to invite the Raja of Perlis to grace the OFA's Members' Night on 17 April 2023 during which time the OFA Centenary celebrations would be launched. I am happy to say that Tuanku was very happy with the invitation but as he could be recuperating from a minor surgery, he suggested that the Raja Muda would be his representative.

While waiting for the two Tuanku's to arrive

We had a very pleasant one-hour private audience with their Royal Highnesses at the Royal Gallery in Arau, Perlis. The Raja was informed about our Centenary activities and especially, about an intended golf tournament and a bicycling event around George Town. The Alma Mater was never far from his mind and he wanted to know about the school's progress.

Then came an interesting question. He asked about the sports houses we all were in at school and it turned out that Wu Lien-Teh House was in the majority. By a coincidence, both the Raja and the Raja Muda were also from this house. Myself, quiet all this time, could not resist piping up to tell him that since 2012, there exists in Penang a Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society which seeks to promote the name of this good doctor around the globe. And having already opened my mouth, I also blurted out that the PFS student leadership workshops have been conducted since 2017 and they stopped only for the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. All mentioned rather spontaneously, I must reiterate. I wouldn't have said all these if not for that Wu Lien Teh House moment!

Anyway, we were invited to join their Royal Highnesses for a royal luncheon at the Royal Gallery. Dome-style nasi hidang but there was also a plate of ikan jenahak pangang topped with a special sauce. An excellent dessert came and went, followed by coffee which proved undrinkable unless one had a very, very, very sweet tooth. As for me, one small sip was all I was brave enough to have.

After lunch, we were invited to tour the Royal Gallery which housed Tuanku's family's personal effects as well as gifts and decorations that had been presented to him. We were told that the exhibits in the gallery comprised maybe only about a fifth or sixth of what could be displayed. The impression is that only the most significant was on display here. Among them we found that the copy of Hutchings Times that was presented to Tuanku during the Penang Free School Bicentenary celebrations had been framed and mounted in the gallery. 

The Hutchings Times properly framed for display in the Royal Gallery

A framed water colour painting of the OFA building by artist Khoo Cheang Jin which was presented to the Raja of Perlis