Reliving nostalgia with 1,500 oil lamps shaped like Ubudiah Mosque
Bernama
April 29, 2022 15:31 MYT
April 29, 2022 15:31 MYT
KUALA KANGSAR: A total of 1,500 oil lamps shaped like the Ubudiah Mosque in Simpang Penaga here adorned the royal town of Kuala Kangsar to usher in Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The Ubudiah Mosque, located in Bukit Chandan near Istana Iskandariah here is dubbed the most beautiful mosque in Malaysia and a symbol of pride and faith of Muslims in Perak.
Standing at nine metres in height and 14.6 metres in width, the oil lamp (panjut) installation was mounted by 40 staff of the Kuala Kangsar District and Land Office as well as Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council which was completed within just a week.
According to a staff of the Kuala Kangsar District and Land Office Mohd Termizi Mohd Yassin, the configuration resulted from the cooperation between the two parties in conjunction with the Panjut Competition between villages in the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary constituency.
"Personnel from both departments have given good cooperation to complete the panjut although it was quite challenging as we were all fasting during the day, in addition to tonight's process of lighting thousands of oil lamps," he said when met by Bernama at the competition's launching ceremony last night.
He said the panjut activity was a much-awaited event in the royal town, adding that everyone was excited for the event to unfold.
Meanwhile, the Kuala Kangsar Member of Parliament Datuk Mastura Mohd Yazid said the Panjut Competition 2.0 aimed at reliving the nostalgia of bygone days and reviving the tradition of the Malays in the district, who used to decorate their villages with oil lamps.
The Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister's Department (Special Functions) said she decided to organise the competition beginning last year on a large scale as she found the tradition was slowly moving into obscurity and might be forgotten forever.
She said a total of 14 villages took part in the competition to win cash prizes amounting to RM15,000 where the champion will receive RM5,000, the first and second runner ups will bring home RM3,000 and RM2,000 respectively while the fourth-place winner will be entitled to RM1,000 and RM500 will be given to the fifth to twelfth place winners each.
The results will be posted on the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary office's official Facebook page on May 7.
-- BERNAMA