Kampung Ribu lights up large ‘pungut’ again
PADANG RENGAS: The activity of lighting up ‘‘panjut’’ (oil lamps placed on structures made of bamboo or wood) on a large scale to celebrate the upcoming Aidilfitri in Kampung Ribu here is held again after it was not allowed due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) last year.
The setting up of ‘panjut’ has been the tradition here since the 1990s, and starting 2014 has been done on a major scale on the 27th night of Ramadan, by locals who work together to enliven the Aidilfitri celebration.
The village’s ‘‘panjut’’ enthusiast association chairman Amiruddin Mohd Lazim said this year, the construction of ‘panjut’ on a large scale can be continued again after getting permission from Kuala Kangsar district police headquarters.
“Last year it can be said that the association’s members were very disappointed due to the MCO and we could not make ‘panjut’ on a large-scale. The Kuala Kangsar police only permitted ‘panjut’ on a small-scale.
“Alhamdulillah this year the police had given the approval to light up ‘panjut’ on a big-scale but only until 12 midnight,” he said when met by reporters here.
For this year the association has chosen the theme ‘Melaka Strait Mosque’ for the ‘panjut’ to reminisce the glory of Melaka as a major Islamic civilisation in the peninsula.
He said they used wood and bamboo and over 2,000 oil lamps for the four-storey ‘panjut’ tower.
A teacher, Siti Rohana Yunus, 38, who hails from Melaka, expressed her excitement and happiness for the return of the big ‘panjut’.
“I come to see the ‘panjut’ every year since becoming a teacher in Perak. It is only here that I can watch a large-scale ‘panjut’ and I am amazed at the way it is constructed because in Melaka we only light up oil lamps,” she said, adding that she feels nostalgic every time she looks at the oil lamps and ‘panjut’ in the village.