A Memorable SGM Goodwill & Cultural Night

My wife and I were invited to “Malam Muhibah & Kebudayaan Sempena Ulang Tahun Ke-20 Penubuhan Pusat Kebudayaan Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM)” at the SGM Cultural Centre, 11 km Jalan Cheras, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening, 14/06/2008.

The event was held to commemorate the 24th Anniversary of the formation of SGM (or NSM as was known by registration with the Registrar of Societies on 15/06/1984 and was reregistered as SGM on 30/08/1991), the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of this Cultural Centre in Cheras, as well as the 20th Anniversary of the first visit by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda to Malaysia (from 02/02/19988 to 07/02/1988).

An exhibition entitled “In Pursuit of Peace” was concurrently held at Dewan Pameran Chang Feng at the same centre where guests were invited to view and understand the history of the struggle of Soka Gakkai movement before the event began at 7.30pm.

(Picture on left shows Mr Koe Teng Hong (3rd from right) and Mr Choo Kong Fei (2nd from right) applauding Daisaku Ikeda's tree-planting at the compound of the then newly-built SGM Cultural Centre back in 1988)

I must say from the bottom of my heart that the performances of the night were spectacular, mesmerizing and totally entertaining! It was understood that there were all together 900 performers made up of SGM's 3rd generation young members and Tadika Seri Soka’s children. I am proud that my eldest son Wai Kit also participated as a stage crew member involved in helping around throughout the 5 nights of performances (including the rehearsal on 13/06/2008) and he has to travel to and fro between his hostel in Setapak and the Cultural Centre in Cheras.

The performances included Silat show by an invited Malay society, performances of brass band, choir, orchestra, drum-beating, Malay and Indian folk dances, Chinese dance, creative dance, aerobic dance and gymnastics etc.

The only comment, if I may make, is perhaps the inclusion of a dance to be choreographed in such a way that dancers wearing different traditional costumes of all races of this country would simultaneously perform on the same stage. This I believe will definitely lift the multi-racial goodwill spirits to a greater height among the multi-racial audience.

For those who are interested to catch a glimpse of this memorable cultural event, here are some photos taken by me on the night and others on the previous night of rehearsal taken by my 3rd son Wai Yu (who was a SGM brass band member last year).

As a footnote, I wish to put on record my heartiest gratitude to Mdm Katherine Chui, PRO of SGM, for extending the invitation to my wife and me, and Mr Tan Kok Leong (the de-facto “Education Minister” of SGM) for having personally delivered the invitation card to my house.

(At the finale of the event, Mr Choo Kong Fei, Director-general of SGM (pic left wearing a yellow long-sleeve batik shirt) and Tan Sri Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Ismail Hussein, Ketua Satu Gabungan Persatuan Penulis Nasional Malaysia (GAPENA) and the night's guest-of-honour (pic left standing next to Mr Choo) joined the performers in bidding farewell to the audience.)

I also had the privilege of having sat just behind SGM President Mr. Koe Teng Hong and occasionally chatted with him. Interestingly, I had taken a shot of him snapping photos (this was the first time I saw him using a camera in public SGM functions) from behind.

Syabas and Well-done, SGM!