This December 4th, the golden city of history and legend will once again resound with music!
Melaka Classics is proud to present 𝗔𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗸𝗸𝗮,
a lecture-recital featuring music composed during the period of the height of Dutch influence.
Performed by the Kuala Lumpur Chamber Project, the evening will bring listeners back in time, echoing bygone strains off the walls of the iconic Christ Church Melaka.
Seats are extremely limited due to strict SOP adherence, so make sure you reserve your tickets today!
The upcoming Malakka Dutch Festival will hold its on-site programming at The Stadthuys building in historical Melaka. Photo: Filepic/The Star
Family histories are central to the upcoming Malakka Dutch Festival, a hybrid event which will take place online and on-site in Melaka from Nov 28 to Dec 4.
The Dutch Eurasian Families Of Today photo exhibition at the festival is a community effort featuring interviews, images and oral histories recorded with six participating families - Westerhout, Klass, Skelchy, Fredericks, Minjoot and De Witt clans - who will revisit and share their Dutch lineage in this project.
This unique photographic exhibition is about today's Malaysian and Singaporean families who can trace their Eurasian heritage back to a time known as "Dutch Malakka".
Dutch Malacca (1641-1825) was the longest period that the historical Melaka was under foreign control.
“The exhibition was born from the question ‘what did the Dutch leave behind?’ to which Melaka-raised author/researcher Dennis De Witt (who has Dutch ancestry) said ‘they left people like him behind’. It will hopefully be something interesting, engaging and relatable, an exhibition for Malaysian families to learn about the history and heritage of the Dutch who were in Melaka, told through the stories of modern day Dutch Eurasian families who have roots from Melaka,” says Melissa Chan, The Bendahari director and one of the key coordinators of the Malakka Dutch Festival.
Organised by cultural and creative arts hub The Bendahari together with Nottingham University Malaysia’s Faculty of Computer Science, the Dutch Eurasian Families Of Today photo exhibition is one of the festival's highlights.
Chan adds that the pandemic lockdowns have helped expand the reach of the families who are part of this project. The Malakka Dutch Festival was initially planned in March this year, but it had to be postponed due to the pandemic situation.
“The lockdowns gave more time to cover more ground and present the information well. Because of this, we could interview families based in Britain and Singapore,” says Chan.
The Malakka Dutch Festival, which starts on Nov 28, is organised by Tourism Melaka and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands here.
“Despite the pandemic affecting our travels, we are thankful in this digital age to be able to still share our beautiful city with the world through the online exhibition component, and to see local visitors at our physical event at Stadthuys (situated in Melaka's Dutch Red Square)," says Saari Basiron, general manager of Tourism Melaka.
“We are happy to research and showcase the Dutch cultural heritage in Melaka and how this heritage manifests today. You can find out more by taking a virtual tour around amongst others St Paul’s Church and ‘The Stadthuys’ to learn more about the Dutch presence in Melaka,” outlines a statement from the Dutch embassy.
Besides the photo exhibition, other events include music events (The Music Of Dutch Malakka: Echoes Of The Past and An Evening In Dutch Malakka), tours and walks (A Stroll Through Heeren and ‘The Streets Of Dutch Malakka': Virtual Tour), a forum (Bridging The Past To The Present), a food bazaar with Dutch and Dutch Eurasian cuisine, and traditional cultures.
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After 26 years of operating Indah Sayang Restaurant, Peter and his wife are thinking about selling the business.
MELAKA: At lunch-time on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon this week, places were set, cutlery and crockery shining, but the seats were empty.There were no customers at the Nyonya restaurant in Melaka Raya town, only an elderly couple dusting and cleaning.
The restaurant used to be perpetually full with customers from noon to night, said the 71-year-old man, who wanted to only be known as Peter.
But those were the days before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The lunchtime crowd has disappeared and the dinner clientele seem to be staying away, even though restrictions have been lifted and dining-in is allowed again, for the fully vaccinated. Now the couple close up for the night at 7pm, where they used to stay open until late.
“I don’t know where my customers went. I think some might have died,” said Peter in jest. He has very few to no customers, as evidenced by the lull when FMT visited.A recent visit by FMT found tourists roaming the streets of Melaka city again. (Photo by Muhaimin Marwan)
Those who do come would usually opt for takeaways.
The much-awaited reopening of interstate travel has done little to help, with just a slight improvement in the number of customers on weekends.
After operating the business for 26 years now, Peter and his wife of 31 years, who does the cooking, are thinking about selling it off.
If someone is keen, I will sell it off. But the buyer must be enthusiastic. If they can’t take over the business and do it well, what’s the point? I might as well shut it down myself.”
Indah Sayang’s owners are among hundreds, if not thousands, of small-time traders and business operators in Melaka who are in this predicament. Like Peter, they have yet to see any semblance of an economic recovery, despite the return of tourists to the historical state.
Even the impending state elections has not helped.
Outside the iconic Christ Church Melaka, 57-year-old trishaw rider Ah Chai told FMT that he was getting enough customers to barely survive. By that evening, he had only earned a meagre RM55 with his Doraemon-themed trishaw.
Ah Chai greets potential customers with a big thumbs up on his Doraemon-themed trishaw. (Photo by Muhaimin Marwan)
But the jovial “Uncle” said it beat life under lockdown, which had forced him to resort to collecting discarded cardboard boxes and tin cans for recycling, just to make a few bucks to sustain himself and his wife.
The couple had even relied on food aid packages to survive.Thankfully, he said, things are a little better on weekends, with the revival of Jonker Walk a big help for Ah Chai.
Having been a rider of the colourful Melaka trishaw for 38 years now, he sees no other way to earn a decent income, adding that “as long as I can still cycle, I will cycle”.
Things are looking up, though, for caricature artist Shahril Anuar who has been plying his trade by the Melaka river near the Stadthuys for 10 years now. He can earn up to RM400 on a good day and nearly double on weekends.
The thought of another lockdown brought a look of dread over Ah Chai’s usually cheerful outlook. (Photo by Muhaimin Marwan)
The lockdown turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him, as it forced the 42-year-old to venture into setting up a nasi minyak stall. Now, he runs both businesses with the help of some friends.
“It’s like Covid-19 gave us the spark to start another business, instead of sticking to just one,” he said.
While Shahril seemed less concerned about the elections, as he can fall back on his food business should restrictions be re-enforced, Peter and Ah Chai are holding out hope that it would not lead to another surge of Covid-19 cases or, worse, another lockdown.
Shahril Anuar has been churning out caricatures of tourists for the past 10 years, but the lockdown proved to be a blessing in disguise for him, as he started a nasi minyak stall as well. (Photo by Muhaimin Marwan)
Ah Chai said another movement control order would be very hard to deal with, adding that he had already been forced to borrow money from friends during the last lockdown.
“If they announce an MCO again, it will be hard to make a living. If my trishaw breaks down, I’ll have no money to fix it up. If my motorcycle breaks down, it will be even worse,” he said, his smile turning into a frown.
Nur, from Cheras, was glad to be out and about with her family again. (Photo by Muhaimin Marwan)
Nur, a tourist from Cheras, also hoped any lockdown could be prevented through stringent SOPs during the polls, since Putrajaya has only just started allowing interstate travel and domestic tourism.
“We don’t want what happened in Sabah to be repeated. The state elections caused a lockdown of the whole of Malaysia eventually,” said the mother of one, who was glad to finally be out and about with her family again.
