The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Thousands throng St Paul’s Hill church for celebration
- Preparations under way for bigger and better festival
- Proboscis monkeys losing habitat
| Thousands throng St Paul’s Hill church for celebration Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:19 PM PST MALACCA: Close to 3,000 Catholics from all over Malaysia and Singapore, including many local and outstation non-Christian devotees and pilgrims, thronged St. Paul's Hill church ruins in the heart of Malacca Historic City to commemorate the feast of St. Francis Xavier. Two mid-morning Eucharistic services presided by Frs. Bernard Wong, Michael Mannayagam, Moses Rayappan and Deacon Anthony Chua were conducted at a specially erected elevated altar at the rear of the saint's empty tomb within the church sanctuary ruins. The ruins stand on the site of a former chapel built in 1521 dedicated to 'De Nossa Senyon de Oiteru' (Our Lady of the Hill, in Portuguese). The hilltop religious commemoration held on the last or first Sunday in November or December (closest to the actual feast date which falls on Dec 3), sees the 1845-built Church of St. Francis Xavier along Jalan Banda Kaba as principal organisers. For Steven Ayaidurai, 72, among the many Catholics making the steep hilltop climb to partake in the religious rituals, coming to St Paul's Hill for the Feast Day event is a pilgrimage undertaken faithfully annually for the past 25 years. Now residing in Perth, since leaving his hometown in 1994 upon retiring from the then Malacca Municipal Town Council, he considers St. Francis Xavier as the patron saint of Malacca and has a special prayer devotion for this missionary priest born of a noble family in Navaree, Spain in 1505. "It was through his intercession that I have received and still continue to gain God's blessings following my wedding in 1963. Coming to the hill as long as I am able to make it, is my way of repaying the Almighty's mercy" said Steven whose wife Christine passed away in Australia in 1997. Described as the 'Apostle of the East' and 'Patron of the Missions', St Francis Xavier spent nearly 11 years of his missionary life in Asia making five visits to Malacca between September 1545 and May 1552. History records that following the saint's death on Sancian Island off mainland China in 1552, his body was temporarily laid at St. Paul's Hill before being shipped to its final resting place at Goa's Basilica Bom Jesus, in India. St. Paul's Church now in ruins atop a hillock was regarded as the missionary headquarters of St. Francis Xavier who used Malacca as a base for his travels to Indonesia and the Far East including Japan. Presently the St. Paul's Hill complex, which was included in Unesco'sWorld Heritage List in October 1998, is a major landmark destination drawing tourists both local and overseas all the year round. The Malacca Museums Corporation in 2000 undertook an extensive restoration and beautification works costing around RM1mil which involved the upgrading of footpaths, shoring up of weak points along specific locations surrounding the hill, landscaping and night time illumination. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Preparations under way for bigger and better festival Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:20 PM PST MALACCA: The Wangkang festival is back. Yong Chuan Tian temple Lai Poon Ken said a mammoth procession is expected to take place in Banda Hilir during Chap Goh Mei in February next year. "Visitors can expect decorated floats, lion and dragon dance troupe from a number of clans and guilds, stilt walkers from Batu Pahat including the char yong classical troupe from Muar." Lai added that supporting performers would include Chingay flag bearers and Big Head Puppeteers from Johor Baru. "The procession is scheduled to begin at 7.30am and end at 4.30pm, covering a distance of about 20 kilometres, paying homage to the various temples along the way but no stopping due to time constraint," added Lai. A royal barge, he said, would be ferried along Taman Melaka Raya to Pulau Melaka for the final ritual before it is set ablaze on its final journey to the Kingdom of the Saints. Mosaic expert Goh Kok Hin was given the task of building the barge which took him nearly three months to complete. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam is scheduled to visit the temple tonight and officiate the launch of the Wangkang festival on Facebook for Internet users. Lai also appealed to the members of the public including tourists to cooperate with the ushers, security volunteers and the police not to simply park their vehicles along the route of the royal barge. A Cho Cheo prayers will be conducted Feb 1-6 before the procession. "In short, the Wangkang festival is all about 'shipping out the evil spirits' and bring peace and harmony to the rakyat of all walks of life." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Proboscis monkeys losing habitat Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:21 PM PST KINABATANGAN: Sabah's proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) population is declining due to habitat loss as riparian forests are continually destroyed to plant oil palm while mangrove areas are reclaimed for development. "Proboscis monkeys, or monyet Belanda as they are more commonly known in Malay, are declining in numbers because we have plantations planting oil palm all the way down to the river banks. "In areas closer to towns, we have also seen their habitat being lost as the mangrove areas they occupy are reclaimed and built upon," said a very concerned director of the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), Dr Laurentius Ambu, in a press statement "To make matters worse, only an estimated 15% are living within protected areas, which means preventing the conversion of non-protected areas is also crucial. "The palm oil industry does not have to plant all the way down to the river edge. "They should leave the riparian forests that border waterways with a buffer of preferably 1km for wildlife and also as a measure to protect our waterways, as the water is also used for human consumption," he said. "The state government is committed to reforestation and we are working closely with community groups, NGOs and even private companies, but the palm oil industry on the whole has been very slow to replant riparian areas although they talk a lot about it." He also vented his frustration at seeing areas that are unsuitable for oil palm plantations due to semi-annual flooding being planted with the crop and then destroyed by floods. "These marginalised land, which you see in the Lower Kinabatangan, particularly areas close or adjacent to Lots 3 and 6 of the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, should be replanted by palm oil companies with native species of trees that survive floods instead of just being abandoned and the soil washed out into the river during flooding," he said. The SWD estimates there are only 6,000 proboscis monkeys left, with five viable populations in Sabah. "We have one population on the West Coast, one in the South and three on the East Coast including the Lower Kinabatangan where the palm oil industry has had a dramatic effect on a variety of Sabah wildlife, including this large-nosed monkey," said Laurentius. Monitoring carried out by the NGO HUTAN under the Kinabatangan Orang Utan Conservation Programme (KOCP) from 2008 to 2010 along a 15km stretch along the Lower Kinabatangan found the area losing 10% of the proboscis monkey population each year. A similar pattern has been observed in the vicinity of SWD's Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC). "This is why we have been continuously pushing for forest corridors, particularly along riparian areas. They are crucial not just for primates, but all wildlife, particularly in the Lower Kinabatangan, which is heavily broken up between protected and non-protected areas. "The proboscis monkey is at direct risk when riparian areas are lost as they are mainly confined to riversides within swamp, mangrove and lowland forests. "These same forest types are also the most threatened, not only in Sabah, but within the whole of Borneo, which is the only place they are found in the wild. "The only way to stop this decline and to ensure the survival of the eco-tourism industry that also benefits the local community is to stop all forest conversions even if it is a small area and continue with the various tree-planting projects," he added. Like the orang utan, the proboscis monkey has been listed as endangered since 2000 under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. The Red List also puts the figure for proboscis monkeys in Sarawak at 1,000 individuals. This means Sabah, besides being the stronghold of the Malaysian orang utan population, is also the stronghold for the proboscis monkey population — Bernama. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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