A Malay musical titled “Langkat Muazzam” was staged on 22 September 2012 at the Kallang Theatre as part of the society’s Cultural Night. Spearheaded by a group of students from the NUS Malay Studies Society (MSS), this initiative involved a total of 60 youths ranging from those in primary schools to tertiary institutions. It was based on the history of the Malay Sultanate, aimed at creating awareness about the rich history of the Malay Sultanate.

The former President of MSS, Nur Diyana Abdul Kader,  a fourth year Malay Studies major, said that intensive research was done in order to replicate as close as possible the feudal life of the Malay society during the golden age of the Sultanate.

Diyana, who was also the producer, mentioned that the audience was impressed that the MSS was able to successfully execute the production, especially considering that they are a very small student society to begin with. Members from the audience also encouraged MSS to continue this effort as classical Malay productions are rare in Singapore.

Putting together a production of this magnitude was no easy feat and the biggest challenge facing the society was funding, which affected their plans in getting training spaces as the project was tight on budget. They are definitely proud of the fact that they managed to successfully pull it off! It was their first production and they have made quite an impression by garnering rave reviews from members of the audience as well as getting positive coverage from Berita Harian.

The organising committee was thoroughly satisfied after the production and they were encouraged by the large turnout, about 1,200 tickets were snapped up. It was beyond their wildest expectation as many queued and bought tickets at the door. They are hoping to make Cultural Night an annual event. The Malaccan Sultanate is the most famous of the Malay Sultanates but there were scores of other Sultanates throughout the history of the Malay world as well. The Society wants to educate the public on these different Sultanates and plan to present the different Sultanates in future musicals.