Meet-up with Friends of the Museums in JB

 

In late December 2023, I received a message from Susan Chong in Singapore who said:

 

With Friends of the Museum, Singapore, in
Johor Baru for their study tour on Johor Chingay

“Hi Peggy, I am bringing a group of docents from Friends of the Museums to experience Chingay festival in Johor Bahru, from February 28 to March 2. Your books have been an inspiration to learn more of Johor history. Would you be able to meet with my group for lunch or dinner?”

 

At that time, February 2024 was still a while away so before I replied Susan’s message, I did a bit of online research (www.fom.com.sg) to understand more about the Friends of the Museum in Singapore.

 

I then learnt that Friends of the Museums (FOM) was a volunteer organization for the National Museum in Singapore. Started in 1978, it initially focused on Study Groups and lectures to build expertise on Singapore’s and the region’s history and culture.

 

I shared a sumptuous lunch with the FOM group
on the first day of their stay in Johor Baru

FOM holds Monday Morning Lectures, a lecture series open to public or members-only, that focuses on the history, art, religion, philosophy and culture of Asia, both held in-person or on Zoom, in the case of international speakers.

 

With eight to nine study groups that ran concurrently throughout the year, the first docent training programme was established in 1980 and after the participants graduated in 1981, the first docent guided tours were launched.

The FOM now provide guided tours at 10 heritage institutions including the Asian Civilisations Museum, National Museum Singapore, Gilman Barracks and Changi Chapel among others, and with the Urban Redevelopment Authority in Chinatown and Kampong Gelam. 

 

The FOM has some 1500 members made up of 50 nationalities, with Singaporeans as the largest nationality group who are museum guides.

 

The FOM group visited destinations in
downtown Johor Baru

Since its first study tour to Melaka in 1979, the FOM had organized over 150 study tours to overseas destinations including Northern Pakistan, Sarawak, Egypt, Japan and Inner Mongolia.

 

Susan explained that she was part of the study tour group and have brought docents to destinations in Malaysia like Penang, Melaka, Terengganu and now to Johor.

 

At end February 2024, Susan and her FOM group have plans for a stay experience in Johor to witness the Chingay festival, a temple tradition unique to Johor Baru that will mark the close of the annual Chinese New Year celebrations here.

 

The FOM group on board a visitor
tour truck at the Desaru Fruit Farm

Through my correspondence with her, I learnt about their stay itinerary in Johor so I responded with relevant information and advice particularly for their comfort and convenience to best experience the Chingay evening parade held in Johor Baru on the 21^st night of the first lunar month.

 

[They took my advice to stay in a downtown hotel because many roads will be closed for this festival and it will be challenging for the group to coordinate transport in the crush of the crowd gathered to watch this annual street parade.]

 

Susan went on to say that her sister-in-law (my friend, Nali) who lives in Johor Baru, introduced my books to her and reiterated that My Johor Stories were a great inspiration to her personal quest into Johor history.

 

So after the 15 days of Chinese New Year festivities, I got in touch with Susan again and she replied, confirming that she and her group were all set for their adventure in Johor.

 

The FOM group had an
experience of the floating
village in Kukup

On the morning of February 28, this FOM group travelled across the Johor Straits by train and coach to start their stay in Johor Baru, beginning with a visit to popular destinations in the heritage quarter and Johor’s Street of Harmony.

 

My stories on heritage traders like Hiap Joo Bakery, Sin Keng Wah mattress-makers, Mee Rebus Haji Wahid, Kerala Restaurant, Mee Ho Seng Kee and the Desaru Fruit Farm, who are still doing the businesses started by their forefathers, are among those documented in My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People.

 

Johor’s Historic Hills and Palaces, Old Markets and Bus Terminals as well as our Street of Harmony are among the Johor culture and heritage stories documented in my 2017 MPH Non-Fiction Bestseller, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.

 

I was pleased that this group had arranged a local tour guide with transport to take them from the heritage quarter to see major landmarks and palaces in and around the city before meeting me for lunch.

 

Archive photo: Wong Peng Soon
with the Thomas Cup trophy 

With so much to see and do, I expected the usual delays so I was well prepared to be flexible with my time. True to my anticipation, I was already outside the restaurant when I received two message updates from Susan to reschedule our meet-up time. 

 

It was a pleasure to meet the FOM group made up of three Singaporeans, Candice Yeo, Azra Moiz and Mohandas Menon, Gisella Harrold from Germany, Jonathan and Helen Garner from the United Kingdom, Shiv and Roopa Dewan from India and Susan who is Malaysian, from Terengganu and now based in Singapore.

 

Shiv Dewan invited me to sit next to him and with Candice seated on my other side, I was warmly welcomed to join them for a sumptuous lunch.

 

The cover designs of the three books for
the trilogy of My Johor Stories

While Susan may have told them about My Johor Stories, it was my pleasure to share a brief introduction about my journey to My Johor Stories that went from newspaper columns to a series of books.

 

While lunch was served, conversation flowed freely and I was happy to discover that Jonathan Garner had in fact, read My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage, and was familiar with stories about my mum and dad, and Johor’s culture and heritage.

 

[My books are dedicated to my mum and dad who shaped my thinking and outlook in life. I had the privilege to share about it in a recent interview broadcast by BFM Radio station, a day ahead of January 31 when His Majesty the Sultan of Johor ascended the throne as Agong or King of Malaysia.]

 

Throng of devotees along with 
dragon dancers performances at Xin Kong

Readers are familiar with my family stories which they fondly dubbed, Grandfather Stories because I also shared about life in Johor Baru in a bygone era, going to school at the only Convent school in Johor Baru, and our family’s passion for badminton.

 

When I talked about our grandfather, four-time Johor state badminton champion in the 1930s and who trained the Wong brothers in their early years, Mohandas was quick to connect the dots because he was familiar with Wong Peng Soon, who earned the prestigious reputation as one of the greatest badminton players of all time.

 

Chinese opera actor in full
costume, ready for the show

Wong Peng Soon – grandmother’s cousin – went on to achieve greatness in his badminton career as a member of Malaya’s first team who won the inaugural Thomas Cup challenge in 1949. He was also the first Asian to win the All-England title in 1950 with subsequent victories in 1951, 1952 and 1955.

 

In the course of conversation, I reminded the visitors that Johor and Singapore had a unique relationship.

 

In a history long before Singapore gained independence in 1965, Singapore and Malaya were in fact, one country that shared a special bond through geography, economy and family links where many families have relatives and homes on both sides of the Causeway.

 

It was my privilege to share briefly about the Johor Chingay which is a temple tradition of the Johor Old Temple that was built on land gifted by the Johor ruler.

 

Susan was close to the main stage and caught
the JB Drums troop posing for a group shot

It is also known as the Temple of Unity because this temple uniquely houses the deities worshipped by the five main Chinese dialect groups here, namely the Hokkien, Hakka, Hainanese, Cantonese and Teochew, all under one roof.

 

For the annual Chingay festival, the deities will be taken out of the temple and placed in a temporary shrine known as Xin Kong, the next day, February 29.

 

This was also a destination for the FOM visitors to witness the excitement as devotees thronged this area to worship and enjoy live entertainment presented in traditional Chinese opera and music.

 

View of a section of Chingay parade
from hotel on Jalan Wong Ah Fook
 

After her experience at Xin Kong, Gisella shared her photos with me because she even managed to go backstage to observe the actors while they dressed up in their elaborate costumes to perform the traditional art of Chinese opera.

 

She also shared her observations at the Xin Kong that included prayer rituals, dragon dancers, drummers drumming and hundreds of people armed with joss-sticks while three of the five stages set up here presented live Chinese opera shows.

 

“I have never seen so much action in my life,” declared Gisella.

 

The Xin Kong was where the Chingay parade will kick off the following evening, March 1, in an annual street parade through the city that went uninterrupted for more than 100 years except once during the Japanese invasion in World War Two.

 

Admiring the strength and skills
of this acrobat who wielded a
giant flag pole in the parade

During the pandemic years and enforced lockdowns, this temple tradition continued under strict conditions where the deities were placed on board lorries and taken on their annual street parade but without any spectators.

 

This year, as the world celebrates the lunar Year of the Dragon, the FOM visitors in Johor were in for a treat because the Chingay parade will feature more dragon dancers and floats designed with the dragon motif.

 

Gisella told me that she then discovered that the Johor Chingay was not just a religious event but an enormous parade where various organisations/brands sponsored the decorated floats. [She also identified her favourite float that night.]

 

She had her most memorable moments when she met someone who told her where to get the festival T-shirt and kindly explained its significance to her, a Caucasian visitor.

 

Gisella declared that this was her
favourite decorated float that night

And when he saw her again on Saturday, March 2, while the deities were being returned to the Johor Old Temple, he insisted that she should join them to capture photo and video mementoes with their group bearing the deity.

 

For the night parade, I reminded the FOM group to keep their eyes on the main stage set up at the JBCC Mall on Jalan Wong Ah Fook because there will be live cultural performances for the Johor Royal Family, this year represented by His Majesty the Regent of Johor, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail, and VIPs seated there.

 

After Susan witnessed the 24 Festive Drums’ dramatic art of drumming by the JB Drums troop, I received her text message that read, “Such a powerful performance!”

 

I am familiar with the drummers because I had the privilege to document the story of the 24 Festive Drums, an art of drumming that was founded in Johor Baru, in My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now, the third and final instalment that completed the trilogy of My Johor Stories.

 

Devotees carrying a deity on
sedan chair on its return to the
Johor Old Temple at the close of
the Chingay festival in Johor Baru

While some of the FOM group watched the parade from the comfort of their hotel (upstairs!) which overlooked Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Susan said that she went on the street to immerse herself into the festive atmosphere for the full experience of the Johor Chingay.

 

“I can feel the vibe and witnessed how the people shouted Daulat Tuanku with passion,” said Susan who observed the interaction between the rakyat and the Regent of Johor who was seated on the main stage with his two older children and other VIPs to watch the parade.

 

Susan thoroughly enjoyed her experience of the Chingay festival right up to the final part the next morning when she watched the deities being returned to the Johor Old Temple where they will stay until the festival held for the next lunar new year.

 

The FOM group left for Singapore that afternoon, bringing with them fresh insights into Johor culture and heritage after their brief stay to experience something different in an exciting itinerary that explored sites in Johor Baru, Iskandar Puteri and Desaru, with the Johor Chingay as the highlight of this study tour.

 

P.S. Following this visit by the FOM group, I am honoured to receive an invitation to do a lecture on My Johor Stories at their Monday Morning Lectures held in-person at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore or via Zoom. We are considering dates now…more about this later.

Photo Credits to Susan Chong and Gisella Harrold. Thanks very much!

NOTE: My Johor Stories books are available from MPH bookstores nationwide and on line from mphonline. In Johor Baru, my books are available from JARO and YSpace.