JOHOR BAHRU, 13 November 2016 – The Centre for the Study of Built Environment in the Malay World (KALAMUTM) will start a collaboration with the Persatuan Peranakan Cina Kelantan (PPCK) , a non-governmental organization.
PPCK in one of the key organisations supporting socio-cultural and economic activities of Chinese Peranakan community in Kelantan. Two agreements, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) are to signed by both parties on 13 November 2016.
The purpose of the MoU is to establish a basic understanding for bilateral cooperation between PPCK and KALAM, UTM for a period of five years. The objective of this MoU is to formulize long-standing cooperation between the two parties. UTM and PPCK have been working together in research projects, student exchange, community services and commercialization over the last few years. In summary this MoU will tighten the collaboration in five areas : education and research, research grant and scholarship, commercialization, transfer of knowledge and community service as well as information exchange.
In the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), a collaboration to establish Galeri Komuniti Peranakan Cina Kelantan would be sealed. PPCK will provide RM 50,000.00 in the form of a research grant for KALAM to assist PPCK undergoing research for the production of the exhibition material for the gallery.
The gallery will be the first gallery in Malaysia to showcase the culture and heritage of Chinese Peranakan of Kelantan who often associated with their unique mixed culture of Hokkien Chinese, Kelantanese and Siamese. The gallery located in Tanah Merah is planned to be inaugurated in 2018.
The content of the gallery comprises three main sections which are history, culture and identity of the Chinese Peranakan of Kelantan. Examples of interesting exhibitions in the gallery will be unique traditional architecture of Chinese Peranakan of Kelantan with its elevated floor and curvy roof, the interesting traditional shadow puppet show with Tok Dalang from Peranakan Cina Kelantan, the unique fusion of spoken language ‘Hokkien Kampong’ influencing by Malay grammar and borrowing vocabularies from Siamese and Kelantanese Malay dialects.
The establishment of this gallery is very important as it will be a platform for young people and general public to appreciate this unique culture resulting from the process of cultural adaptation and identity adjustment.
The ceremony was held at the Main Meeting Room (BMU) with UTM was represented by Prof. Dr. Muhd Zaimi Abdul Majid, Senior Director of UTM Institute for Smart Infracture and Innovative Construction (ISIIC) and President of PPCK, Lim Kham Hong.