PENANG'S iconic and tallest landmark - Komtar was the centre of entertainment recently with a starring comedian show and the annual language arts festival - showcasing children from all over the state.
Established in 1985 and renovated in 2015, as the seat of the Penang administration and a commercial enclave, Komtar comes alive every Saturday and Sunday as an entertainment hub.
On Saturday evening, Kuala Lumpur-based comedian Harith Iskandar made a comeback to the state after his last public appearance in 2018.
Despite his six-year plus absence which was also triggered by the pandemic, Harith showed that he has not lost his zeal to make laughter infectious here.
A nearly full house crowd of some 1,000 people came to The Top in Komtar to enjoy the string of jokes, including the infamous CSI episode where he poked fun at how policing was conducted both in the US and here.
Harith thanked the Top founder Tan Sri Richard Koh for taking the initiative to woo him back to Penang, which the former arguably says is the best food haven ever.
Earlier, the founder and principal of the Arts Language workshop, Sue Sudarak held the 11th edition of the popular Language Arts Festival at Level 5 auditorium of Komtar.
And her guest of honour was none other than the 95-year-old Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat, the architect behind the building in the heart of George Town.
Many of her students were born after Komtar, but they had fun in learning about communicative skills, driven by the content they absorbed both online and in traditional settings of school classrooms.
The Thai-born Sudarak, who is better known as the mother of the talented pianist Vincent Ong, regarded as one of Malaysia's bright talents in the classical instrument, had parents of the young participants in stitches, as her some 200 young charges bravely displayed what they learned or taught for the past year.
Sudarak has a unique concept where her students upon graduation from schooling, would be incorporated as interns into her language workshops and she applies performance arts and cultural skills into teaching English and other languages.
"It becomes a fun outing for the students, who are encouraged to converse in English but to also access performance arts skills in such linguistic field."
The performers spoke excellent conversational English at the event.
The children were also exposed to media literacy and roped into publishing their inhouse magazines, as well as to acquire skills in basic writing under the backdrop of what Sudarak defines as integrated arts skills.
She also launched the media literacy club, helping the members to grasp what good journalism is about, and to take the extra effort to distinguish between what is factual and what is fake in online content. - September 29, 2025.
