Latest news with #SGM
The Star
21-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Perak-born artist's Chinese ink paintings on display in Bayan Lepas till June 1
A COLLECTION of Chinese ink paintings by artist Hon Peow depicting local nature is on display at the Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) branch in Bayan Lepas, Penang. The exhibition, titled 'Depicting the Beauty of Nature' features dozens of masterpieces created by the 86-year-old artist using expressive brushstrokes and delicate ink dabs. While most are individual paintings, some come in a set. The works, displayed throughout the Buddhist organisation's building, highlight Hon Peow's deep connection to Malaysia's natural beauty. 'The ink paintings are a blend of natural landscapes, native flora and local culture. A 'guzheng' performance at the exhibition launch at the Soka Gakkai Malaysia branch in Bayan Lepas. 'I'm grateful to have the opportunity and platform to share my works with the public,' he said during the exhibition's launch by Human Resources Minister Steven Sim, who praised Hon Peow's unique approach. 'Chinese ink paintings traditionally have simple zen strokes. 'There are a lot of details and originality in Hon Peow's intricate works,' said Sim. He also stressed the importance of making art accessible to all Malaysians, regardless of background. 'We need to continue to interact person to person, art to art. And I hope that there will be more interaction between different communities when it comes to art in Malaysia, to create a harmonious multiracial society,' said Sim. Hon Peow (right) showing the exhibition catalogue to Sim while curator Tan Chin Joo looks on. 'Penang is not just a centre for development of art and culture but also a democratic space to bring together multiracial diversity through the arts,' he added. Also present were SGM (Penang branch) chairman Low Siew Kee and Penang Chinese Brush Painting Art Society president Loh Kooi Loong. Born in Manong, Perak, in 1939, Hon Peow is a graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), where he studied Western painting. Despite his broad foundation in both Eastern and Western styles, he chose to dedicate himself to the discipline of Chinese ink painting. A former art director at Hua Lian Private High School in Taiping, Perak, Hon Peow has spent decades nurturing young artists and promoting art education. The exhibition, which runs until June 1, is free and open to the public from 10am to 4pm daily.
The Star
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Weekend for the arts: 'Ethereal Echoes' exhibition, 'I Love Perak' film series
EXHIBITION: LAI LOONG SUNG'S 'ETHEREAL ECHOES' Venue: Wisma Kebudayaan Soka Gakkai Malaysia, Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL Date: ends June 8 Ethereal Echoes: Sketches And Recent Works, an evocative solo exhibition that traces the four-decade artistic journey of Selangor-born veteran artist Lai Loong Sung has taken over the Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) art gallery space. It offers the public a rare opportunity to engage with over 80 deeply reflective works — including manuscripts, oil paintings, and ink pieces — created by Lai between 1986 and 2024. Rooted in both philosophical insight and personal revelation, Ethereal Echoes draws inspiration from the ancient Chinese text Zhuangzi, where 'Tianlai' (Heavenly Sound) refers to the 'unspoken word' — the soundless sound that echoes from the universe and the depths of the human soul. As Lai shares, 'Ethereal Echoes is a melody from the heavens and a sound born within humanity.' This exhibition represents the culmination of Lai's ongoing reflections on the complexities of contemporary life — from war and environmental degradation to the impact of rapid technological advancement — woven together with intimate expressions of the inner self. The show is divided into three sections, each part of the exhibition invites viewers on a deeply contemplative journey. Free admission exhibition. Open: 11am-5pm. Closed on Mondays. More info here. DANCE: 'THE QUIET IS SO NOISY' Venue: Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC), Empire Damansara, Petaling Jaya Date: May 10 and 11 Need a break from the hustle and bustle? Presented by Kongsi Petak, this solo contemporary dance performance offers an alternative to the usual weekend rush — an invitation to experience sound and silence through movement. Created and performed by Gabriel Wong, an award-winning dancer based in Sabah and Paris, The Quiet Is So Noisy is solo performance that merges physical poetry with emotional depth. Drawing on the language of contemporary dance — the work delves into the emotional contradictions of silence: its capacity to soothe or suffocate, to heal or estrange. Through intricate choreography and raw, embodied movement, Wong navigates themes of mental health, loneliness, and resilience, offering a visceral exploration of what it means to be alone with one's thoughts in an increasingly noisy world. More info here. FILM SCREENING: 'PERAK I LOVE YOU' Venue: Centre For Film's Research & Appreciation, Alam Budiman, Shah Alam Date: May 10, 8.15pm Tonight, the Wayang Budiman series is hosting "Perak I Love You", a special screening featuring two short documentaries highlighting the unique charms of the Malaysian state of Perak. Uthaya Sankar SB's 2025 film Kenangan Di Lorong B is a heartfelt love letter to Taiping, the town he grew up in, while Ansell Tan's The Forgotten Railway Of Kinta Valley (2024) explores the overlooked history of the Ipoh–Tronoh railway branch — once the vital artery of the Kinta Valley's booming tin mining era. The screenings will be followed by a sharing session with the documentary directors and a Q&A session, moderated by Amir Muhammad. Established in 2014, the Centre For Film's Research & Appreciation serves as a dedicated community space for the study, preservation, and appreciation of cinema. More info here. Esther Geh's 'The Peranakan Kitchen: The Kamcheng (watercolour on paper, 2022), which is part of the group exhibition at Harta Space. Photo: Artemis Art EXHIBITION: 'MORE MEN (AND A WOMAN) WITH PLANTS' Venue: Harta Space, Ampang, Selangor Date: ends May 30 Continuing its ongoing collaboration with Harta Space, Artemis Art presents More Men (And A Woman) With Plants, the latest iteration of a thoughtfully evolving exhibition series by Penang-based artists who draw inspiration from, and pay homage to, one of nature's most enduring yet often overlooked presences: plants. Featuring works by Ch'ng Kiah Kiean, Cheah Meng Kwok, Esther Geh, Fuan Wong (also the series co-founder), Howard Tan, IMMJN, and Thomas Howell, the exhibition goes beyond the conventions of botanical art. Here, plants are not merely subjects of study, but vessels of memory, emotion, and time — rendered in a range of mediums from ink and photography to glass and mixed media. Each work offers a distinct lens into the ways flora can reflect inner states, cultural imprints, and our ever-evolving relationship with the natural world. This also marks the third instalment of the Men In Plants exhibition series, following earlier editions in George Town. Keep an eye out for workshops and artist-led tours happening throughout the exhibition period. More info here. A view of Tan Zi Hao's installation series 'You Again' (steel and stainless steel, 2022) at the group A 'Colloquy' exhibition. Photo: Wei-Ling Gallery EXHIBITION: 'A COLLOQUY' Venue: Wei-Ling Gallery Kuala Lumpur Date: ends May 17 Wei-Ling Gallery is showing A Colloquy, a group exhibition featuring eight contemporary artists whose practices investigate the complexities of language and typography as forms of expression. Among the highlights are the Malaysian debuts of Kameelah Janan Rasheed (United States) and Cian Dayrit (Philippines), both internationally recognised for their critical engagement with text-based art. On view through May 17, the exhibition spans the entire gallery space in Brickfields and includes works by Choy Chun Wei, H. H. Lim, Ivan Lam, Marcos Kueh, Tan Zi Hao, and Yin Yin Wong (Netherlands). By employing diverse approaches - ranging from installation and painting to print and mixed media - the artists examine typography not merely as a vehicle for clarity, but as a mutable, expressive medium shaped by cultural and technological shifts. More info here. A view of 'The Plantation Plot' group exhibition at Ilham Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Ilham Gallery EXHIBITION: 'THE PLANTATION PLOT' Venue: Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur Date: ends Sept 21 The Plantation Plot is an art exhibition featuring the work of 28 artists from South-East Asia and the Americas, showing how plantations shaped the world we live in today. The exhibition, curated by Lim Sheau Yun, looks at plantations, which were big farms that grew just one kind of crop, like sugar or rubber, to sell across the globe. These farms were part of European empires that grew wealthy by using people's labour to harvest crops. The exhibition takes inspiration from Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter, who thought of plantations not just as places, but also as stories about power and control. Plantations needed a lot of workers, many of whom were forced to travel far from their homes. For example, workers from India and Sri Lanka were sent to harvest tea, while people from the Amazon were made to collect rubber on land they already owned. Many of these workers were treated as less important than the crops they were forced to grow, and their lives were changed forever. This exhibition is a collaboration between Ilham Gallery and Kadist, a global non-profit arts organisation. This weekend, Filipino multimedia artist Cian Dayrit will be speaking about his art practice and its intersections with activism, colonial histories, and critical geography in an artist talk (May 10 at 3pm), followed by a hands-on cartographic workshop (May 11 at 2pm), both held at the gallery. More info here.
Telegraph
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
In move to modernise English rugby, RFU has poked the bear
Nothing, it seems, is certain except death, taxes, and an RFU revolt. The guns may still be only cooling from the last confrontation, the special general meeting held at the end of March with the aim of forcing out the governing body's chief executive, Bill Sweeney. Sweeney prevailed, yet it seems that hopes of a permanent peace remain faint, judging by the reaction to the Rugby Football Union's revelation on Wednesday of radical proposals to overhaul the organisation's governance, including axing of its 63-strong council. The RFU was quick to insist that the review had been led by an independent group set up by the council, and the board and executive, including Sweeney, had not been involved 'apart from being part of general consultation so far in some cases'. It is also true that the 'Governance and Representation Review' was not a result of the SGM but had been ongoing since September 2023. Yet the perception of a land grab to dismantle the body that has harboured fierce critics of both Sweeney and the board – a revolt before Christmas culminated in the resignation of former chairman Tom Ilube over the bonus scandal – did not take long to take root. The fact that the RFU only released the papers to the council via a Zoom call at noon was interpreted as an indication of the lack of trust and an alarming sign of dysfunctionality between the executive and the council. 'These proposals are a blatant attempt to reduce the influence of members and scrutiny of the board and executive,' said one source. 'It is like the government trying to abolish parliament.' Within hours, the Whole Game Union, the organisation representing around 250 clubs that led the call for the SGM in March, had been sparked back to life, issuing a statement that while the role and composition of the council was 'sorely in need of reform ... the proposals would reduce the scrutiny of the Board and executive, two bodies that have brought the RFU to its knees'. The phoney peace looks to be over, at least for another few months until the RFU's annual general meeting on June 30. A counter proposal to the RFU's plan, which has been signed by Chichester RFC and Nottingham RFC, has already been lodged and calls for 11 rule changes to make council members more accountable but also calling for key decisions, such as the RFU's strategic plan, to be approved by the council, not just the board. 'The objective is to ensure that members regain a meaningful role in shaping the union's strategic direction and provides a platform that enables the RFU to be restructured into a well-led, well-governed, and high-performing National Governing Body (NGB) that serves the needs of all its members,' the letter states. The RFU proposal in contrast wants to replace the council with 'a smaller national advisory group' or replacing those members with game representatives who would be embedded within all the decision-making bodies, 'including in suggested regional growth boards'. It has now begun a nationwide consultation 'seeking views from across the rugby community'. Proposals also include 'accelerating ideas to develop a genuinely devolved regional system so those in the game can feel closer to and can influence the decisions which impact them directly'. Emboldened by the feedback from the roadshows held in the run-up to the SGM, and by winning a second vote promising a governance review, including devolution of powers to the regions, by an 80 per cent majority, the RFU clearly see this as a moment to press ahead with a new structure. But the concern is that by being too radical, it has merely poked the bear. The WGU, in reaction to the vote at the SGM, said that it would hold off calling another one only if the RFU delivered reform. With two governance proposals now set to go to a vote of the clubs in June, the concern for the RFU is that it will not meet the 66 per cent threshold needed for its proposal to be accepted. And that is before the issue is addressed of council members voting like turkeys for Christmas. Those with long memories will know that we have been here before, several times. The last major revolt at the top of the RFU in 2011 resulted in a review, carried out by Slaughter and May, that proposed reducing the council to just 25 members. That even had the support of the then sports minister, Hugh Robertson, but was ultimately kicked into the long grass. The hope must be that a way forward can be settled upon, for what is certain is that the status quo cannot remain, something at least the two parties agree on. The game is still hurting from the traumatic months that followed the disclosure of the RFU's annual report last November revealing the extent of the largesse of salaries and bonuses. It cannot afford another public squabble. What is also clear is that those who see the dismantling of the council as a move that will strengthen Sweeney's hand are misplaced. The wounds from the last battle revolt are still too fresh.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Old farts' to be axed in radical RFU shake-up
The Rugby Football Union Council, once described by former England captain Will Carling as '57 old farts', is likely to be abolished as part of a radical shake-up of English rugby's governing body. Barely a month after Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, survived a vote of no confidence at a special general meeting, a proposal has been announced in which the council, the traditional conscience of the English game, will be scrapped. Advertisement The Governance and Representation Review Group, chaired by Malcolm Wharton CBE, proposes two new governance models which include no place for the traditional council. In the first model, 'game representation' would be embedded within all decision-making bodies and in the second a 'national advisory group' would be established, although its role towards the board would be purely advisory. This would leave the RFU executive, headed by Sweeney, and the board in complete control of the English game in what amounts to a stunning power grab. As well as surviving the vote of no confidence by 66 per cent, Sweeney won a second vote at the SGM promising a governance review, including devolution of powers to the regions, by an 80 per cent majority, which has been interpreted as a mandate to press ahead with radical reform. The RFU will now launch a nationwide consultation with its members on Wharton's report which has been published after a year-long fact-finding mission. The report found that the current governance model was 'overly complex' and suffered from 'slow decision-making', lacked transparency, was not sufficiently diverse and representative, created more administration and was ambiguous on the power split between board and council. In the foreword to his report, Wharton wrote: 'I believe few in the game would dispute that the RFU's current decision-making structure is complex, slow and, at times, frustrating. A review of the RFU's governance and representation is, therefore, both timely and essential. It presents an opportunity to create a more progressive, inclusive and agile governance structure with enhanced transparency.' Advertisement The consultation period will last until June 30 at which point the review group will make its final recommendations to go to the 63-strong council, which could effectively approve its own demise. Even if it rejects the proposal, the RFU board is likely to demand an SGM, which would be a requirement of such a governance change anyway. One member of the review panel, Ed Warner, who is the chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and a former chair of UK Athletics, also wrote in support of the proposal, describing the current model as a 'dysfunctional framework, effectively established back in the 19th century, that is clearly unfit for the modern era.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
RFU in major shake-up as Bill Sweeney abolishes council
The Rugby Football Union Council, once described by former England captain Will Carling as 57 old farts, is likely to be abolished as part of a radical shake-up of English rugby's governing body. Barely a month after Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, survived a vote of no confidence at a special general meeting, a proposal has been announced in which the council, the traditional conscience of the English game, will be scrapped. The Governance and Representation Review Group, chaired by Malcolm Wharton CBE, proposes two new governance models which include no place for the traditional council. In the first model, 'game representation' would be embedded within all decision-making bodies and in the second a 'national advisory group' would be established, although its role towards the board would be purely advisory. This would leave the RFU executive, headed by Sweeney, and the board in complete control of the English game in what amounts to a stunning power grab. As well as surviving the vote of no confidence by 66 per cent, Sweeney won a second vote at the SGM promising governance review, including devolution of powers to the regions, by an 80 per cent majority, which has been interpreted as a mandate to press ahead with radical reform. The RFU will now launch a nationwide consultation with its members on Wharton's report which has been published after a year-long fact-finding mission. The report found that the current governance model was 'overly complex and slow decision-making', lacked transparency, was not sufficiently diverse and representative, created more administration and was ambiguous on the power split between board and council. In the foreword to his report, Wharton wrote: 'I believe few in the game would dispute that the RFU's current decision-making structure is complex, slow, and, at times, frustrating. A review of the RFU's governance and representation is, therefore, both timely and essential. It presents an opportunity to create a more progressive, inclusive, and agile governance structure with enhanced transparency.' The consultation period will last until June 30 at which point the review group will make its final recommendations to go to the 63-strong council, who could effectively approve its own demise. Even if it rejects the proposal, the RFU board is likely to demand an SGM, which would be a requirement of such a governance change anyway. One member of the review panel, Ed Warner who is the chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and a former chair of UK Athletics, also wrote in support of the proposal, describing the current model as a 'dysfunctional framework, effectively established back in the 19th century, that is clearly unfit for the modern era.'
