[The Big Move]
1. Having just come back from the ASEAN Meetings in Manila, I had not intended to attend the opening ceremony of the new Lorong Tua Pek Kong Temple which was late in the evening. But the Chairman, George Peh, would not take 'no' for an answer, especially when he knew that I lived less than five minutes away.



2. I was glad I went. It was a wonderful ceremony, full of ritual and excitement. Excitement because all the statues had to be carefully fork-lifted into the right places within a few hours. The main tua pek kong statue weighed a ton! Amidst all the shouting and gesticulation, the fork-lift driver was cool as a cucumber. I think he should get a medal for the night's effort. Visibility was not very good because of the thick smoke from joss sticks.

3. The new temple looked resplendent with some two thousand lights and all the gold. It was surely an auspicious new beginning. Shifting all the idols from the old temple by the sea to the new building was a huge effort. It was described as: The Big Move. It was a very big move indeed which was executed like clockwork.



4. The new temple has, on the side, a site for stones from the old keramat, and a new temple for ganesha. Before ganesha was fork-lifted into position, it stopped before tua pek kong to pay respect. What a gesture! Someone said that the combination of the two was very powerful. But the official enthronement of ganesha would only be on 16 September.



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