Taking lion dance to greater heights
Petition in place to list high pole performance as an intangible cultural heritage
The Chinese community is initiating a public petition for all Malaysians to come together to put the local high pole lion dance into the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Unesco.
The online petition aims to amass a million signatures to support the application to include the dance as a Unesco-certified heritage.
“It has been a decade since the high pole lion dance was endorsed by the Government as a national heritage in 2007.
“With this application, we will be taking an important step to bring our local high pole lion dance globally,” said deputy education minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon at the campaign launch at SJK (C) Chung Kwo in Pudu yesterday.
Chong said the application required cooperation from various parties, including other countries with a similar form of intangible cultural heritage.
“We need cooperation from China which also has the lion dance. Good relations between us and China must be looked after,” he said.
Also present was National Heritage Department heritage registration unit director Mohamad Muda Bahadin, Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association chairman Leong Lik Thong and Han Culture Centre Malaysia president Datuk Goh Hin San.
The application, which was initiated by the Kun Seng Keng association, was proposed by the Han Culture Centre Malaysia with the support of the National Heritage Department.
Mohamad Muda said the department highly encouraged the application and there were also plans to include other local Chinese cultural heritage such as chingay (street parade) on the list.
“This year, we have also nominated three intangible cultural heritage for consideration by Unesco and we are hoping to hear good news next year,” he said.
The three nominations are for the wangkang festival, pantun and dondang sayang. Goh said the initiative was important to ensure the cultural heritage of high pole lion dance could be passed down to the next generation.
“Malaysians must unite to support this application, which must be completed by March 31, 2018,” he said.
Leong said the application would sow the seeds of success for the preservation of the high pole lion dance, which is a revered local heritage. Kun Seng Keng has amassed 78 national and 68 international titles since the association was formed in 1988. To join the campaign, log on to the Kun Seng Keng Facebook page.
We need cooperation from China which also has the lion dance. Good relations between us and China must be looked after.
Datuk Chong Sin Woon