SPECIAL REPORT For septuagenarian Tan Swee Hoon, the festival of Chinese gods at the Hu Fu temple in Kampung Sungai Jawa in Pengerang, Johor, has been the most anticipated event for the past 70 years.

As she recalled, that was the time when the Kampung Sungai Jawa folk led their lives without television and Internet, which made temple stage performances a precious entertainment.   

In mid-December this year, the Hu Fu temple committee held its annual gods festival together with a number of other Chinese temples in Pengerang.

What makes their festivals unique is that the committee of each temple will ‘invite’ deities from the other temples to join in their celebrations...