Dear Friends,
Sutra Foundation’s staging of Meniti Cakerawala 2.0 at the Permaisuri Zarith Sofia Opera House, Johor Bahru, was met with an outstanding reception – a tremendous triumph for both Sutra Foundation and the presenter, Yayasan Sultanah Rogayah (YSR).
The prestigious Royal Command Performance was attended by DYMM Permaisuri Agong, herself, Tuanku Zarith Sophia together with Che Puan Mahkota Khaleeda Johor and the Board of YSR under the chairmanship of Dato’ Sugumaran Raman.
Sutra was most appreciative of the organising committee of Yayasan Sultanah Rogayah (YSR) with Dato’ Sugumaran Raman and his charming wife, Datin Annytha. Their warm hospitality and the smooth and elegant presentation of this production will be hard to match by other presenters.
YSR must be congratulated for the successful launch of its funding portal by Tuanku Permaisuri Zarith Sophia which would financially secure YSR’s many charitable drives. YSR is determined and serious in its support of the Johore Indian communities to help them steer out of Life’s tribulations and unpredictable challenges.
YSR brought in the full force of the professional Indian communities of Johore, exhorting them to be more proactive in the efforts to uplift the underprivileged through the various YSR drives. Sutra hopes to be there to simultaneously cultivate YSR endeavours where Arts & Culture are concerned. The presence of healthy appreciation of Arts & Culture is an indicator of the human development index of JB’s Indian community. Verily, a cultured community that loves Arts & Culture, will also strive to be a community that want to see the enrichment in every aspects to improve its quality of life.
Tuanku Permaisuri Zarith Sophia was gracious enough to grant audience to both Astrophysicist, Tan Sri Mazlan & Artistic Director, Datuk Ramli Ibrahim after the performance, remarking how much she enjoyed the performance.
Clearly, the audience too appreciated Sutra’s performance of Meniti Cakerawala. Sutra artistes sensing this enthusiasm responded by giving the audience their best. And so did Tan Sri Mazlan, who gave a sublime performance, proving the wholistic and complementary perspectives of arts and science, rightly noticed by Tuanku Zarith when she commented to Tan Sri Mazlan, “You are a scientist who can sing so well, too!”
It will be a matter of time that Permaisuri Zarith Sophia Opera House will be appreciated as one of the superb venues in Malaysia, especially for dance and theatre. In future, Sutra hopes to once again grace this state-of-art theatre.
Now that Johore has a beautiful theatre that Johoreans can be proud of, what stops Klang or Ipoh, each to have one, too?
In fact, there are still several big cities in Malaysia that do not have proper cultural centres where the rakyat can have a shared venue – a proper theatre where the rich heritage of the people can be appreciated by all regardless of race and creed…
Meniti Cakerawala will next make its appearance in Klang, the royal capital of Selangor. And next, we will stage it in Penang. At both venues we are fortunate to be able to perform this program at the Soka Gakkai Malaysia, as there are no available theatre venue in both cities that can take on Meniti Cakerawala!
Ramli