After last year's hiatus, large-scale panjut reignited in Kampung Ribu

PADANG RENGAS: The activity of lighting up panjut (oil lamps placed on structures made of bamboo or wood) in a large scale, to celebrate the upcoming Aidilfitri in Kampung Ribu here, is held again after it was not allowed due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) last year.

The setting up of panjut has been the tradition here since the 1990s however starting 2014 it is carried out on a major scale on the 27th night of Ramadan by locals who work together to enliven the Aidilfitri celebration.

The village's panjut enthusiast association chairman Amiruddin Mohd Lazim said this year the construction of panjut on a large scale can be continued again after getting permission from Kuala Kangsar district police headquarters.

"Last year it can be said that the association's members were very disappointed due to the MCO and we could not make panjut on a large-scale. The Kuala Kangsar police only permitted panjut on a small-scale.

"Alhamdulillah this year the police had given the approval to light up panjut on a big-scale but only until 12 midnight," he said when met by reporters here.

For this year the association has chosen the theme 'Melaka Strait Mosque' for the panjut to reminisce the glory of Melaka as a major Islamic civilisation in the peninsular.

He said they used wood and bamboo and over 2,000 oil lamps for the four-storey panjut tower.

A teacher, Siti Rohana Yunus, 38, who hailed from Melaka, expressed her excitement and happiness for the return of the big panjut.

"I come to see the panjut every year since becoming a teacher in Perak. It is only here that I can watch a large-scale panjut and I am amazed at the way it is constructed because in Melaka we only light up oil lamps," she said, adding that she feels nostalgic every time she looks at the oil lamps and panjut in the village.

Interestingly, although Kampung Ribu is located in the interior part of Padang Rengas, and visitors need to pass through a narrow road, many still come to admire the residents' magnificent panjut structures.

--BERNAMA