Bumi Berlantai Permata II

BUMI BERLANTAI PERMATA II (THE BEJEWELLED LAND II)

Ticket prices: RM30 (Adults) / RM5 (Students or Senior Citizens)

Photos of actual show held on 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th July 2011 at Bukit Timbalan:

Photos of actual show held last year 2010:

“In fact the present state of affairs in the Malay Peninsula is…..that the richest part of it is in the hands of the lawless and turbulent and, with the exception of Johore, it is only in those states dependent in a certain degree on Siam that order is preserved.:

Sir Harry Ord, Colonial Office Governor in a letter in 1873 to Lord Kimberley, the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Gladstone administration

The above words appropriately describe the special position of Johor in the lawless and turbulent period in the 1870s. The play explores the reason why Johor was in this unique position, set apart from the other Malay states.

Set in the period of Sultan Abu Bakar who was a personal friend of Queen Victoria of England with Dato’ Ja’afar Muhammad as the Chief Minister (circa 1860s), and with the Chinese migrants under the Kangchu system, it traces the story of how Sultan Abu Bakar and his wise and trustworthy Chief Minister used diplomatic strategies to avoid colonisation and built Johor’s thriving economy of those days.

Steering Johor firmly in the direction of modernity, economic growth and law and order and with the support of its people, the Malays and the Chinese pioneers of the state, was seen as the best form of resistance to the “grasping”and “greedy” designs of the British in their attempts to encroach into Johor. It was a strategy that brought success to the Sultan, Dato’Jaáfar and ultimately the people of Johor. When the British did finally come into Johor, it was only by way of a General Adviser to the Sultan in 1914.

This is a story of the beginning of modern Johor…..the success that is the story of Johor., the bejewelled state.

The Production Team:

After two successful productions of musical dramas SI BONGKOK TANJUNG PUTERI & KASIH TEJA DI MUARA MUAR at the previous JB Arts Festivals, the Johor Society for the Performing Arts (JSPA) in collaboration with Alpha Consult and Lee Wushu Arts Workshop will once again present another musical drama – BUMI BERLANTAI PERMATA (THE BEJEWELLED LAND).

The play is written by Rahimah Muda and directed by Deen Manas with co-direction by Lee Swee Seng with choreography by Shaque Saini.