My tribute to Yap and Suzie

For 15 consecutive years up to 2018, the annual Johor Arts Festivals brought exciting events and talents to the live stage to entertain, educate and enrich us with the finer points in art, music, culture and heritage.

Organised by the Johor Society for the Performing Arts (JSPA), the annual Arts Festival in Johor Baru was one of the longest running festivals in the nation and one of the most highly anticipated arts and cultural events in the state.

In addition to the Johor Arts Fest, the JSPA also organized fringe festivals as well as festivals for Jazz, Film, Indigenous, Classical Music, Piano, Writers & Readers, and other stand-alone events.

In March 2019, the highly acclaimed musical drama, Bumi Berlantai Permata, first staged at the 2009 Johor Arts Festival, was re-staged in a royal command performance to commemorate the official birthday celebration of His Majesty the Johor Sultan.

This popular drama that showcases a piece of Johor history featured local musical artistes and actors in a Malay-English script, teamed with the pugilistic skills of wushu artistes, had enjoyed several runs in past arts fests.

The finale in the musical drama, Bumi
Berlantai Permata, performed at Bukit Timbalan

It was certainly a feather in the JSPA’s cap to present a command performance for His Majesty.

I had the privilege of working with JSPA founder, Yap Siong Cheng, and his wife Suzie Yap, who was also Festival Director, and have fond recollections of our time together to share pre-event stories and publish pieces about the arts fest.

Besides sharing features in Johor Streets, the Southern section of The New Straits Times (NST) and The Iskandarian, the official newspapers of Iskandar Malaysia, I was also proud to feature the Johor Arts Fests and other JSPA culture-heritage events in the weekend issues of Life & Times, a section of the NST which enjoyed nationwide distribution.

Over the years, Yap and Suzie have become synonymous with the Johor Arts Festival and for their passion and commitment to creating a vibrant arts scene here, they were honoured at the inaugural Iskandar Malaysia Social Hero Awards (IMSHA) in 2014.

The Johor Society for the Performing Arts was acknowledged in the Arts, Culture and Heritage (Organisation) category while Suzie Yap, the driving force behind the festivals, clinched the award in the Arts, Culture and Heritage (Individual) category for her relentless passion for promoting arts, culture, and heritage here.

It all started in 1998 when Yap and Suzie, along with a bunch of creative minds got together to do something to stir up some excitement in Johor Baru.

In 2000, they registered as JSPA, a non-commercial organization with a mission to encourage, develop, support, advance, create awareness and instil an appreciation for the arts in Johor through cool and relevant projects across a wide spectrum of artistic disciplines and genres.

2010 Poster for Bumi Berlantai Permata 

Both Yap and Suzie were untrained and unlearned in the arts, and often faced doubts on their credibility or the right to do arts but their commitment to the arts saw them through the years.

In the face of daunting circumstances, Suzie did well in leading, motivating, training and inspiring their team to forge ahead in organizing festival after festival. 

I observed how the Yaps worked hard to knock down walls and build bridges to link up with the various communities to get them involved in the many fests organised by JSPA.

With the annual Arts Festival to look forward to and other festivals organised by JSPA, art connoisseurs here breathed a collective sigh of relieve because Johor was finally no longer a cultural desert!

The interesting line-up of artistes in each arts festival thrilled Johoreans and was an opportunity for many to watch live performances by renowned artistes who have made a name for themselves in the international arts and music scene.

For 15 years the JSPA presented various music, art and cultural events and as they brought talented artistes literally to our doorstep, they also provided opportunities for local artistes, music schools and cultural groups to showcase their talents at these festivals.

Yap and Suzie were instrumental in opening our eyes to the talents out there and I for one, am ever grateful for the privilege to enjoy live performances by groups like Akasha who perform fusion music from our multi-cultural community.

At the height of their popularity, fans of local stand-up comedians from the (now defunct) Malaysian Association of Chinese Comedians, had the opportunity to enjoy the laughs when these talents performed live here.

I had the joy of meeting the dynamic partnership of Tok Dalang or master puppeteer, Muhammad Daim Othman better known as Pak Daim, and Tintoy Chuo and shared the story of their Star Wars inspired wayang kulit show dubbed Peperangan Bintang, a fusion Kelantan traditional shadow puppet show.

The Johor Baru: International Festival City (JB:IFC) initiative was shared during the 12^th Johor Arts Festival, and we heard about how JSPA and JB:IFC aimed to position JB as a festival city in the region with a calendar of arts, musical, cultural and lifestyle events.

Thanks to JSPA and JB: IFC, I had the pleasure to enjoy a rare live performance of Japanese Bunraku and Teochew “iron-rod” puppets in an Asian Traditional Puppet Exchange event here.

Then Yap and Suzie brought the Johor Arts Festival to the next level when Johor princess, Yang Amat Mulia Paduka Puteri Tunku Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, became the royal patron of the Johor Arts Festival.

Akasha presenting a show at Johor Art Festival

The annual arts fest had certainly come a long way since its early days of using he open carpark next to the former Puteri Pacific Hotel as the event venue for the 6^th Johor Arts Fest in 2009.

The 7th Johor Arts Festival in 2010, found a new home in the grounds of Bukit Timbalan where shows were performed on a temporary stage to the stunning backdrop of the majestic Sultan Ibrahim Building.

For the first time in history, the public were welcomed onto the hallowed heights of Bukit Timbalan and this was the venue for the next three arts festivals on the hill: the 8^th in 2011, the 9^th in 2012 and the 10^th in 2013.

A scene from Star Wars inspired shadow
puppet show, Peperangan Bintang

In 2014, the 11^th Arts Fest was held at Dataran Bandaraya Johor Baru, still within a temporary shelter but the next festivals moved into various venues – all of them buildings with halls that were modified for presentations, shows and exhibitions.

As Iskandar Malaysia was developed with new destinations, the 12^th Arts Fest in 2015 was centered in the Mall of Medini.

I remember Yap being upbeat about the new venue at the Mall at Medini which provided the space for a range of events including visual and performing arts.

When the hip and happening places in the city’s rejuvenated heritage quarter begged to be rediscovered, the 13^th Arts Fest in 2016 were held in interesting venues like cool cafés and even the back lanes.

It was my pleasure to be among the local writers invited to speak at Write; Post; Share, a fringe event of the 13^th Arts Fest which received a very encouraging response, held in a cool venue along Jalan Dhoby.

The festival programme then gradually developed with more music, dance, theatre, film, comedy, culture-heritage, visual arts and even fashion.

Perspective: The Runway, a fashion show for wearable art, made its debut in 2016 at the ballroom of DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Baru and this venue continued to host its series of shows in 2017 and 2018.

In early 2019, Suzie invited me over to share with me about the royal command performance of the musical drama, Bumi Berlantai Permata, and our meeting ended with a tasty mee rebus lunch that she recommended.

I last met Suzie at the show which was presented at the Persada International Convention Center in March 2019.

Not long after that, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. And on 17 October 2019, Suzie Yap lost her battle to cancer.

Her passing was a great loss that was felt, not only by her family but all the people in the arts community whom she had impacted.

At her wake, I saw proof of this from the multi-racial groups of people gathered to pay their last respects to her.

That was the last I met with Yap and family as well as their daughter, Chloe, who had been actively involved with the arts fests since 2013.

Chloe may have started as a coolie doing odd jobs to help her mother, but she grew into her role as Festival Administrator – Liaison.

This was an unenviable job of liaising with government departments, sponsors, partners, vendors, suppliers and artistes and being responsible for a great deal of work behind the scenes at every arts fest.

I remember the times when I used to drop by at the Festival Village and Suzie would tell her young team – who included Chloe – to respectfully say “Hello” to Aunty Peggy.

She became familiar with me and I remained Aunty Peggy to Chloe, ever since.

Then in March 2020, the nation went into lockdown with the Movement Control Order (MCO), and we obeyed the strict orders to stay home to stay safe.

It was not long after Suzie’s passing in October 2019, when Yap became ill and in early February 2020, he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML).

To go to his chemotherapy treatment more conveniently, Yap stayed with his sister in Singapore.

Over the next few months, Yap fought the battle valiantly but sadly, his leukemia did not respond to the treatment.

On 20 March 2021, Yap passed away peacefully in Singapore.

Mr & Mrs Yap Siong Cheng, with Permaisuri Johor at an art show in the Mall of Medini

The law fraternity may have lost Yap, a lawyer by profession, but the passing of Yap and Suzie has left a huge vacuum in the arts scene here.

Their departure has also left big shoes for likeminded individuals and organisations to step into, to rise to the challenge in bringing back a form of the arts fests and to showcase Johor as a destination with its own cultural identity in this region.

With Yap’s wake and funeral arranged in Singapore on March 24, those of us in Johor and Malaysia who wished to pay him our last respects are prevented from doing so because the border between Singapore and Malaysia, remains closed.

While Yap and Suzie may have left us, they are fondly remembered forever for their commitment and passion for promoting arts, culture, and heritage in Johor.

You are dearly missed, Yap and Suzie. Thank You for encouraging us to live the arts!