Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

NST Online: StreetsJohor

Posted: 15 Jun 2011 11:25 AM PDT

CENTENNIAL JOY

2011/06/15
By Jassmine Shadiqe

One of Johor's oldest Hindu temples, the Arulmigu Rajamariamman Devasthanam, celebrated its 100th anniversary recently

The temple was officially reopened to the public and devotees on Sunday after undergoing a major renovation that cost RM2.5 million.

More than 20,000 devotees including tourists from Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand and Australia were at the temple as early as 7am.

Among the temple's main attraction is its five-tiered, 22-metre high rajagopuram (deep vertical fissures that is built on the main tower). It is the tallest rajagopuram in Johor.

The statues in the temple are sculpted from a single granite stone and they also have the Goddess Periyachi, who is an aspect of the Divine Mother known as Amman.

The Goddess, who is also known as Periyachi Amman, is the protector of children. Families offer special prayers to Periyachi Amman after the birth of a baby.

From its humble beginnings in 1911, the temple is now one of the major landmarks in the state.

The temple was built after the former Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Abu Bakar gave the temple founder, Kootha Reumal Vandayar, an acre of land in Jalan Ungku Puan and RM500 to build it.

The temple's first consecration ceremony or maha kumbabishegam took place on Dec 8, 1911. In 1949, the temple was registered under the Society Ordinance as Rajamariamman Kovil. Along the years, several refurbishments including replacing the pandaram or priests who perform the poojas and weddings.

No major renovations were made to the temple for the next 51 years.

However, in 1977 a decision was made to rebuild the temple. Renovation works started in 1979 and it took six years to rebuilt the temple and its name was changed to Arulmigu Rajamariamman Devasthanam.

Statues of deities such as Sri Rukyumani and Sri Vairan were incorporated as well as the rajagopuram and a kodi maram (flag staff).

Several kumbabishegam and maha kumbabishegam were done.

Kumbabishegam has to be performed for temples once in 12 years, where holy water is sprinkled on the tower and shrines in the temple. Kumbabishegam recharges the spiritual energy in the temple.

The benefit of witnessing a kumbabishegam is enormous. Even those who don't
THE Arulmigu Rajamariamman Devasthanam celebrated its 100th anniversary on June 12.

visit temples can derive the same spiritual merit of regular worshippers just by witnessing a consecration ceremony which is said to be powerful.

Present at the consecration ceremony were MIC president Datuk G. Palanivel, Johor Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman M. Asojan, Johor MIC chairman Datuk K. Balakrishnan and Kahang state assemblyman R. Vidyanadhan.

The temple committee's honorary-secretary N. Venugopal said they had appointed several renowned priests from Sri Lanka to conduct the maha kumbabishegam.

He said June 12 was an auspicious day based on the position of the stars and sun.

"Most of the priests who are here today had performed over 1,000 kumbabishegam, but this is the first time they are conducting the prayers on a temple's anniversary," said Venugopal.

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Ex-soldier shares his service memories

Posted: 15 Jun 2011 09:27 AM PDT

Ex-soldier shares his service memories

2011/06/16
by Sinnasamy Narayanasamy

I LIVE in Taman Universiti, Skudai, but I was born and grew up in Chenderiang, Perak.

My primary education began during the Japanese occupation in 1940, in a government English school in Tapah. I rode the bus to school daily.

One day, Japanese soldiers bombed the Tapah bridge and damaged the road. I was nearby when one of them on a bicycle had a tyre puncture. When he saw I had a bicycle, he took it and cycled away.

I told my father about it and he immediately took our family to hide in an estate not far from our home where we lived in a shed for a few weeks.

When the situation had calmed down, we returned home.

My father continued to run his toddy shop, but my school in Tapah had closed, so my father enrolled me into a Malay school in Chenderiang where I learned Jawi, Malay, and Japanese until 1945.

It was an explosive period in history. My family had heard stories of a famous soldier, Subash Chandra Bose, from the Indian Army, who had recruited young Indian men and women for training in Thailand to fight British soldiers.

Meanwhile, some British soldiers, who were hiding in the jungle were training the communists to aggravate the Japanese soldiers.

I was too young at the time to understand what was happening, the realisation came much later.

In 1952, after I finished my Standard 8 Junior Cambridge, an officer in my neighbourhood's resettlement scheme encouraged me to be a P.S.I. (Permanent Staff Instructor) in the Home Guard.

I was sent for training at the Ipoh headquarters of the Home Guard in the Tambun Camp.

After a month's training, I came back to Chenderiang to form a special squad for operational purposes. During my tenure there, the special squad killed three bandits.

I was later recommended to join the first Federation Regiment, a multi-racial regiment in Taiping. I went for the interview and passed the tests.

By that time, I had obtained a certificate for my services, and the assistant State Home Guard officer in Batang Padang, C. E. Parker, told me that I would have better prospects in a newly-formed army battalion.

My pay was at the time was 50 dollars a month. I enlisted into the Army on Sept 17, 1953, as a training recruit for six months.

After training, I was promoted to the rank of lance corporal and the pay was 60 dollars per month.

I went for another two months of training in jungle warfare and survivor skills.

After the training, I was posted to "C" company in Taiping.

The company's jurisdiction covered the jungles of Sungai Siput and Kroh in Perak, Kepala Batas in Penang, and Kulim, Gurun, Sungai Petani and Kuala Nerang in Kedah.

While I was in Kroh, the company was asked to escort former Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general, Chin Peng and his deputy Rashid Mydin from the jungles of Klian Intan to attend the talks with Tunku Abdul Rahman in Baling, Kedah in 1955.

I remember Chin Peng had assured Tunku Abdul Rahman that there would be a truce until the talks were over at the school in Baling.

After the historic talks, we escorted Chin Peng and Rashid back to the spot where we had fetched them earlier -- by a road beside the jungle. Later, "C" company was posted to Bukit Serampang, Tangkak, for operational duties.

It was moved to a new camp in Sungai Udang, Malacca after that.

Three years after, I served in the First Malayan Special Forces, which was sent for peacekeeping missions in the Congo and other African nations.

I left the army with the rank of warrant officer in 1971, and later worked in the Singapore civil service, before retiring in 1987.

Upon retirement, I received about S$200,000 (RM250,000 at that time) from the island republic's Central Provident Fund, which I used to buy my family house in Taman Universiti, Skudai.

Looking back, I realised that it did not matter how much the Home Guard and army were paying me.

My comrades and I served with dignity, integrity, and loyalty because it was our duty.

We shared the benefits as a team, and suffered together in the thick jungles of Kedah, Perak and Johor.

I am now 79 years old. I have difficulty walking as the result of a stroke. It is hard to make ends meet on a monthly welfare allowance of RM200. My wife is also sickly and my son has to care for his own family.

Sinnasamy Narayanasamy, 79, is a former warrant officer who served in the Home Guard during the Malayan Emergency.

Interview by Ahmad Fairuz Othman

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Khamis, 16 Jun 2011