Move to boost Peranakan community in Terengganu

Tun Ahmad Faisal (third from left) and Low (second from right) with T-shirts featuring Mek and Awang batik swatches at the press conference to announce this year’s Peranakan festival.

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCCI) is intensifying efforts to have the state’s Peranakan community recognised on a wider scale in this year’s Peranakan festival.

Known as Mek and Awang, the community has assimilated with locals in Terengganu, similar to how the Straits Chinese in Penang and Melaka adopted and assimilated with the ways of the locals in those states.

“The community here has worked tirelessly to introduce their culture to outsiders through the annual event,” said Terengganu Tourism Department director Tun Ahmad Faisal Tun Abdul Razak.

He said the festival, which is now in its fifth year, has become an iconic event in the state’s tourism calendar.

TCCCI president Datuk Low Wan Cheong said in the past four years, the community has managed to raise greater awareness about the existence of the Mek and Awang community.

“In the next four years, we want to work on sharing our unique culture by commercialising products made by the community,” he said.

Low, who heads this year’s festival organising committee, hopes to see an increase in visitors to this year’s event.

The festival attracted about 100,000 people last year and the organising committee hope to see this increase to about 130,000 this year.

“We are thankful that we have received the support of the state government and we hope this will continue to help showcase the Mek and Awang culture to a wider audience,” he said.

The Peranakan festival is scheduled for August 17 to 22.

-thestar online.