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Kopitiam service for the dearly departed - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sarawak - News 2 Sarawak

Kopitiam service for the dearly departed - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 12 Aug 2014 12:16 PM PDT

by Raymond Tan, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on August 13, 2014, Wednesday

SIBU: Tea or coffee?

This is what customers are asked in the hospitality industry, like in an aeroplane or hotel restaurant where customers are pampered.

And this is how Er Par Hwang Temple treated its 'VIP guests' during the Hungry Ghost Festival, serving hungry ghosts kopi-O and teh-O in coffee-shop cups and saucers.

The offering of the Malaysian favourite beverages was placed on a long table in front of the temple together with steamed rice, roast duck and chicken, and even organic pork that cost slightly more.

The temple also served Chinese white rice wine to toast departed souls.

Temple chairman Yeo Kheng Teck said: "Although the Hungry Ghost Festival ceremony is thousands of years old, we are hosting it Malaysian style because our ancestors had chosen to settle here and fallen in love with this land."

He said apart from serving food the Malaysian Kopitiam style, the temple also burnt a paper junk.

Yeo noted this was a culture developed by the Chinese in South East Asia where descendants burn boats for their ancestors to symbolically let the early settlers make a homeward bound journey to their birthplace.

For more than a decade, the paper junk Er Par Hwang Temple is the biggest burnt item in Sarawak for the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Yeo said: "The boat measures 43 feet long, 30 feet high and 12 feet wide. On the two sails were calligraphic writings to bring blessings to the people."

The chairman said the boat burning was to raise funds to build their new temple. They burnt the paper junk at 9.30pm.

In the temple's Hungry Ghost ceremony, leaders offered prayers apart from food and drink.

Hundreds took part in the offering ceremony conducted in the Temple at Deshon Road.

Other offerings brought by worshippers were vegetarian food ranging from bean products to green vegetables and fruits.

The temple gave out rice to the worshippers as a sign of goodwill after the ceremony.

Among the visitors were two tourists from Holand Eline Veerbeek and Thys Grievink brought in by local tour agent Ling How Kang.

The two were fascinated to find ancient Chinese cultural practices in Sarawak.

They said this was the first time they had seen the oriental customs practised. They will cherish their experience as well as the friendship of the people in Sarawak.

The two youths are travelling through Sarawak for the first time.

"We have touched and fallen in love with the tropical rain forests," they said.

The two have been to Batang Ai Longhouse Resort.

After Sibu, they will proceed to Mukah and also visit Bakun.

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5,500 runners expected at Kuching Marathon 2014 – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 12:35 PM PDT

by Antonia Chiam, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on August 14, 2014, Thursday

KUCHING: About 5,500 runners from around the world will converge on this city for the inaugural Kuching Marathon 2014 this August 17.

The marathon is co-organised by Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) and Kuching Marathon Association (KMA). It will be flagged off at the Padang Merdeka early Sunday morning by Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.

There are four categories in the event; namely the 42KM (full) marathon, 21KM (half) marathon, 10KM marathon and 5KM fun run.

The full marathon will be flagged off at 3am, followed by half marathon at 5am, 10KM marathon at 6am and the fun run at 7am.

DBKU mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai said the runners are not only from within the state or country but from 30 countries including Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Great Britain, Australia, United States of America, Kenya and others, who have registered their participation online.

"We want the event to take off smoothly so we are looking into every aspect of safety to comply with international marathon standards.

"We want to provide the best experience of Kuching to the participants and I call upon the people of Kuching to come out and support the event. We hope residents along the routes that the runners will be passing are able to wake up early and light their streets with 'lampu raya' to provide a festive and friendly atmosphere.

"For those who may be inconvenienced by the closures of some roads during the event, we hope they will be able to bear with it this one time and cooperate with the officials on duty. After all, it is not every day we organise such a big-scale event," he told a press conference at his office yesterday.

Abang Wahap said the event is part of the plan to make Kuching more liveable and friendly.

"This event involves participation and cooperation between DBKU, KMA, the police, the army and various other agencies as well as volunteers.

"There are a total of 1,200 working personnel from various agencies and 300 volunteers during the duration of the marathon," he said.

Meanwhile, KMA secretary Liew Tang Chieh said runners can pick up their race packs starting today until Saturday.

"The runners can collect their race packs, which will have their vests, bibs with timing devices and other goodies, from Level 3 of Plaza Merdeka anything between 11am and 6pm on Thursday and Friday and 11am to 8pm on Saturday.

"For those who cannot make it on those days, they can pick up from the Drop Zone Counter at the Padang Merdeka from midnight onwards just before the marathon.

For more information, the public can log on to the website www.marathonkuching.com

Also present at the press conference were Kuching police chief ACP Roslan Bek, District Traffic and Public Order chief DSP Amihizam Abdul Syukor, Army representative Capt Dr Ahmad Tarmizi Abu Bakar and KMA president Wong Chen Yi.

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