Preserving the Prohibited Cultural Performances in Kelantan,

Malaysia: The Way Forward

Nurulhuda Adabiah Mustafa, Nuraisyah Chua Abdullah

Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Intangible, Cultural Heritage, Legal Framework.

Abstract: Menora, Main Teri and Makyung in Kelantan have been prohibited by the State Government of Kelantan on

the ground that these performances violate the basic principles of Islam. The grounds of prohibition are

expressed in the Kelantan Entertainment Control Enactment (the State Enactment) of 1998. Wayang Kulit is

the only permissible old traditional performance beginning 2003 when it is modified that it no longer

contains prohibited rituals and fulfill all the requirements laid down in the State Enactment. The aim of this

paper is to highlight the grounds of prohibitions by the Kelantan State Government and the possibility of

preserving the prohibited old traditional performances by taking an example from Wayang Kulit. The

essential result of the study is that protection of belief is a paramount consideration within the Malaysian

Malay community compared to the preservation of old traditional performances. This study uses qualitative

research method, where a doctrinal research is conducted. This paper contends that preserving old

traditional performances rests with the State Government as a legal guardian of Islam. It can only be made

possible when modified and fulfill all the requirements laid down in the State Enactment.

1 INTRODUCTION

After some political changes in the 1990’s, the State

Legislative Assembly of Kelantan passed a law to

control entertainment activities, and it leads to the

prohibition of some traditional performances for

among the Malay Muslims. This prohibition has

become an issue among the performers, the state and

the Federal Government since then.

The establishment of the 2003 UNESCO

Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible

Cultural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as the ICH

Convention) had led to the amendment of the Ninth

Schedule of the Federal Constitution in 2004 to give

Parliament a jurisdiction to make law with regard to

heritage. As a result, in 2005, the National Heritage

Act [Act 645] (the NHA) was created that gives

more power to the Federal Government to preserve

intangible cultural heritage. Although a new legal

framework was established to assist the preservation

of intangible cultural heritage on top of other

classifications of heritage, the federal Government

faces a challenging task to preserve these traditional

performances within local context particularly in

Kelantan.

Wayang Kulit is the only permissible old

traditional performance beginning 2003 when the

performance is modified that it no longer contains

prohibited rituals and fulfil all the requirements laid

down in the State Enactment. However, others

remained prohibited for among the Malays Muslims

in Kelantan. The aim of this paper is to highlight the

grounds of prohibitions of the prohibited

performances by the Kelantan State Government and

the possibility of preserving the prohibited old

traditional performances by taking an example of the

Wayang Kulit. The study proposes that while it

appears that the protection of religion is the

paramount consideration of the government of State

of Kelantan as compared to the preservation of old

traditional performances, however, cultural

performance can be modified and preserved within

the limits of the Islamic teachings especially when it

brings socio-economic benefits to the society. This

includes latest technology.

Mustafa, N. and Abdullah, N.

Preserving the Prohibited Cultural Performances in Kelantan, Malaysia: The Way Forward.

DOI: 10.5220/0010051400240029

In Proceedings of the International Law Conference (iN-LAC 2018) - Law, Technology and the Imperative of Change in the 21st Century, pages 24-29

ISBN: 978-989-758-482-4

2 BELIEF SYSTEM IN MALAY

TRADITIONAL

PERFORMANCES IN

KELANTAN

Malay performing arts went through numerous

stages in its evolution, and is largely influenced by

Malay-Polynesian belief systems with a strong

animistic base. Malay performing arts is described

having influences from religions and cultures which

entered the Malay Peninsula from Asia and the

Middle East at various times from about the 1st

century (Ghulam Sarwar, Y., 2004). The earliest

forms of Malay music, dance and theatre developed

out of the indigenous healing rituals. Even among

the Malays in Kelantan, there are still trails of such

practices being carried these days particularly for

healing purposes. (Aziz, A. S. & Olalere, FE, 2013)

The most popular traditional performance in

1977 onwards was Wayang Kulit (originally was

referred to Wayang Siam /Wayang Kulit Kelantan).

From then onwards, these performances were

allowed to be performed without the possibility of

compromise between the pre-Islamic belief and the

true Islamic. Wayang Kulit Kelantan has gone

through the Islamisation process since after

independence. It was until 1991 when the new-

ruling government of Kelantan decided to give total

ban on these performances in public.

It is primarily because of some Hindu elements

inherent in it that was somehow impossible to be

translated into a new version of traditional

performances that complies with the true Islamic

precepts. The present authors are of the view that

purging Hindu elements was not a sole matter in the

prohibition of these traditional performances

because there are other elements that might violate

Islamic principles such as believing other

supernatural beings (animism). Islamic ways of

doing things are totally different from what was

practised in pre-Islamic days. The era of change

from being indigenous who believe various natural

forces to the era of religions from Hindu, and

Buddhism to Christianity and Islam altogether make

a blend of beliefs among the Malay people.

It is known that Wayang Kulit was also once

prohibited in Kelantan for the similar reason of all

other prohibitions pertaining to old traditional

performances involving Menora, Main Teri, and

Makyung. However, the prohibition was already

lifted by the State Government of Kelantan after

being satisfied that a new version of Wayang Kulit

manifesting some Islamic values was created. (Aziz,

A., & Shamsul, A. B., 2004). Wayang Kulit

performance was described as involving influence of

Hinduism and its close connections with Islamic

teachings after Islam came to the Malay land.

(Wright, B. S. (1981) With regard to the nature of

Islamic character of the Muslim Malays in Kelantan,

Barbara highlighted a contention made by a

renowned British resident, Maxwell who described

the Malays after the British intervention as being

more Islamic than before aside from not really

Islamic according to the what has been revealed and

conveyed by the Prophet Muhammad saw on the

basis that the Muslim Malay at that time were still

influenced by the pre-Islamic belief.

Further cause for religious displeasure with

Wayang Kulit (Wayang Siam) at that time was the

presumed immorality of its performers. This

objection was not specific to Wayang Kulit, and

includes all actors, actresses, singers, dancers,

musicians, and puppeteers in Kelantan. Dalangs

were rumored to be irresistible to some women, and

to take advantage of it. The Religious Council of

Kelantan was also worried about the morality of the

audience, and in 1922 issued an ordinance to

separate the sexes at all public entertainments

(Sweeney, 1972: 14). This was never obeyed. The

Imam of Kota Bharu expressed his displeasure with

Wayang Kulit in the same terms. He objected to men

and women mingling both in the audience and on the

screen. If male and female puppets on screen, and

male and female people in the audience were

separated, then he thought there would be no

objection to Wayang Kulit from the religious

quarter. (Sweeney, P. L. Amin, 1972)

3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR

THE SAFEGUARDING OF THE

TRADITIONAL

PERFORMANCES IN

KELANTAN

The conceptual definition of intangible cultural

heritage does includes traditional performances in

Kelantan as they were discussed by available

literatures as well as the ICH Convention. (Sani, N.

A., & Ahmad, Y.) Preservation of intangible cultural

heritage is one of the goals of protecting human

rights and cultural rights as evident in a number of

scholarly works on the basis of Western

Jurisprudence. Malaysia is one of the State Parties to

this Convention where the federal government of

Malaysia makes a stand to preserve intangible

Preserving the Prohibited Cultural Performances in Kelantan, Malaysia: The Way Forward

cultural heritage including Malay traditional

performances via the NHA in line with measures

provided by the ICH Convention. (Mustafa, N. A., &

Abdullah, N. C., 2013).

The philosophy behind the establishment of the

ICH Convention is to safeguard the intangibles of

community. This line of philosophy that gives

community the right to preserve their cultural

heritage does extend the human right dimension of

giving rights to individuals as per Article 27 of the

Universal Declarations of Human Rights (UDHR) ,

the International Covenant for Civil and Political

Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant for

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

(Lenzerini, F., 2011) (Lixinski, L., 2013). These

international documents are similar in a way that

they were constructed outside the scope of Islamic

principles that have become a sole ground for

prohibitions in the State of Kelantan which are

somehow referred to by the Federal Government of

Malaysia to preserve its intangible cultural heritage.

The ICH Convention aims to provide measures

for state parties to provide inter alia a better legal

framework for the protection of individuals, groups

and communities rights to preserve their intangible

cultural heritage. The ICH Convention, as the

Western-African-Asian norm for the preservation of

intangible cultural heritage is a tool for

empowerment of local communities. (Manyanga

Munyaradzi, 2005)

Taking this idea to the need of preserving some

traditional performances in Kelantan has been a

challenging task. This, undeniably in line with

Article 160 of the Federal Constitution that define

‘Malay’ as one professing the religion of Islam. The

existing legal framework in Kelantan is rightly put

for the Muslim Kelantanese if Islamic narrative is

taken into account. It is a matter of looking from

different perspectives but modifications can be done,

for the purpose of harmonizing the various

jurisprudential narratives within Malaysia context.

In Malaysia, particularly in Kelantan, Islamic

narrative has to be analysed together with the

Western-Asian-African jurisprudence. It was

recommended that provisions in Cairo Declarations

of Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) and Universal

Islamic Declarations of Human Rights (UIDHR) are

adopted alongside the existing provisions within the

UDHR and other Western-Asian based conventions

in order to effectively bridge the lacuna and

deficiency in the latter with regard to providing laws

on human rights as understood in Islam. (Olayemi,

A. A. M., Hamzah Alabi, A., & Hidayah Buang, A.,

2015). These two documents need to be analysed

together with other international documents with

regard to the preservation of intangible cultural

heritage in Malaysia, particularly in Kelantan.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 International Participation by the

Federal Government to Preserve

Malay Traditional Performances

The preservation efforts are in line with the

international norm for the preservation of intangible

cultural heritage pursuant to the ICH Convention.

Malaysia ratified the ICH Convention on the 27

July 2013 and also become a member of the

International Information and Networking Centre for

Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific

Region (ICHCAP) (Republic of Korea).

Malaysia should continuously proactive in

participating in international and regional

programmes on the basis of promoting Malaysian

identity via intangible cultural heritage on the basis

that Malay traditional performances are part of the

intangible cultural heritage worth of preservation. It

has become a mechanism to revitalise some old

traditional performances in many countries. An

example is when the government nominated

Makyung as part of the national heritage as well as

nominated it to be inscribed on the UNESCO

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural

Heritage of Humanity (originally proclaimed in

2005). This is a great approach to at least

acknowledge the historical and cultural aspect of the

Malay identity in Malaysia via traditional

performance.

4.2 Moving Forward

While cherishing the various jurisprudential

narratives within Malaysia context, there is a need

for Malaysia to see examples from countries that has

successfully establish a strong legal framework for

the preservation of their intangible cultural heritage.

Japan and Korea are leading the other developing

countries with the establishment of Asia/Pacific

Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) and

International Information and Networking Centre for

Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific

Region (ICHCAP) respectively in providing

mediums of sharing and training for the purpose of

realizing the intention of the ICH Convention.

iN-LAC 2018 - International Law Conference 2018

Besides international and regional cooperation,

modification is one way to revitalise the Malay

traditional performances. Taking Wayang Kulit as

an example, these traditional performances can be

reformed into a somewhat Islamic kind of

performance. The ban was lift up in 2003 when the

state government was satisfied that the new version

of Wayang Kulit did not incorporate what it had

deemed as unIslamic. (Jane Ritikos, Friday, May 09,

2003) The authors agree with the view that both

Federal and State Government can take a ‘middle

path’ to preserve other traditional performances in

Kelantan with some modifications and innovations

with the aim to safeguard Malay identity to them.

(Ab. Aziz Shuaib, and Raja Iskandar Raja Halid,

2011) This suggestion is made for the preservation

of Makyung by allowing its public performance

locally and may also be applied to other traditional

performances.

As for Makyung, legal measure may still be

possible by taking Wayang Kulit as an example.

Makyung performance may only be performed by

men, in a shortened period of time, cut off

unacceptable rituals and adjustments to the stories. It

may take sometimes to actually modify this

performance because it needs cooperation from

various interested parties. However, it is still

possible with some concerted efforts from all

stakeholders. The present authors are of the view

that, legalisation of a modified version of Wayang

Kulit in Kelantan has lead the art industry to bloom

via latest technology and this has also contributed to

the development of scholarly literatures across

various disciplines.

Aside from modifications in order for the

traditional performances to be allowed in the State

of Kelantan. One of the approaches that the authors

think appropriate is a newer version of normative

approach involving a legislation that allows the

manifestations of old traditional performances

among the Siamese people in Kelantan who are not

Muslims. (Sooi-Beng, T., 1988).

As a minority in Kelantan, the Siam-Kelantanese

deserve rights to practise Menora as it directly

influenced by Buddhism and the Thai-Kelantanese

have a very close connection with the performance

as it also relates to their origin. (Johnson, I. C.,

1999). It may also be allowed to survive among the

Chinese community because they are also basically

Buddhist who may have interest in the preservation

of those prohibited performances on the ground of

Islamic principles. (Sooi-Beng, T., 1988). If

preserving original characters of old traditional

performances really matters, this is the best option

for state government to allow its survival within the

non-Muslim community that exist in Kelantan.

(Johnson, I. C., 2013). This is also in line with

Article 3 of the Federal Constitution that allow the

practices of other religion in peace and harmony and

a great application of the NHA for the safeguarding

of intangible cultural heritage.

On the other hands, if legal protection to

preserve the old traditional heritage find no better

solution, technology may allow for their survivals.

This is already evidenced in the evolution of a new

version of Wayang Kulit in the form of animation.

(Ghani, D. A., & Ishak, S. B. A., 2012) This may

also be applicable to other traditional performances.

A study had reviewed the critical situation of

Wayang Kulit Kelantan in Malaysia and giving

solutions via arts. This is followed by the study of

the use of modern technology including Computer

Graphics (CG) to capture the traditional Wayang

Kulit play. (Kia, K. K., & Chan, Y. M., 2009,

August). It may also best apply it to other

performances such as Makyung, Menora and Main

teri. It is also found that Wayang Kulit preservation

is moving forward via electronic games. (Ghani, D.

B. A. (2015, January). This latest technology would

attract more youth enthusiasts in traditional heritage.

(Azman, F. Z. R., & Kamaruzaman, M. F., 2016,

December). Animation and engineering style of

preservation is another new preservation style in this

era. Animation character design of wayang kulit

would beat the popular anime of Japan. (Ahmad, J.,

& Jamaludin, Z., 2014, September). The art industry

had already into creating animation related to

traditional performances for an example the Disney

style of animation and wayang kulit. (Ghani, D. A.,

& Ishak, S. B. A., 2012); (Jernigan, D. K.,

Chansavang, A., Martin-Rall, H., Hock-Soon, S.,

Lim, D., & Johan, H., 2013). This idea is regarded as

one of the modern approach in the preservation of

intangible cultural heritage. (Cohen, M. I. (2016). It

is also becoming one of the recommendations to

safeguard the heritage using latest technology and

digitalising Wayang Kulit. (Mahmoud, D., 2017).

5 CONCLUSIONS

The authors suggest that while it appears that the

protection of religion is the paramount consideration

of the government of State of Kelantan as compared

to the preservation of old traditional performances,

cultural performance which can be modified and

preserved within the limits of the Islamic teachings

should be preserved especially when it brings socio-

Preserving the Prohibited Cultural Performances in Kelantan, Malaysia: The Way Forward

economic benefits to the society. This includes some

technological influence in the modifications of these

traditional performances such as animation which

might be a legal way to revitalise some traditional

performances in Kelantan. Some modifications to

these traditional performances gives opportunity for

the local community to share their outstanding

uniqueness while attracting more tourists.

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