Malaysia's Gravity-Defying Lion Dancers Brought Down to Earth by Pandemic

Members of Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association, demonstrate a traditional Chinese lion dance at a training center, during an interview with Reuters, in Muar, Malaysia February 5, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association, demonstrate a traditional Chinese lion dance at a training center, during an interview with Reuters, in Muar, Malaysia February 5, 2021. (Reuters)
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Malaysia's Gravity-Defying Lion Dancers Brought Down to Earth by Pandemic

Members of Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association, demonstrate a traditional Chinese lion dance at a training center, during an interview with Reuters, in Muar, Malaysia February 5, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association, demonstrate a traditional Chinese lion dance at a training center, during an interview with Reuters, in Muar, Malaysia February 5, 2021. (Reuters)

During normal Lunar New Year celebrations, one of Malaysia's leading lion dance troupes puts on gravity-defying performances by leaping in full costume between poles, to the beat of drums and crashing of cymbals and gongs.

The traditional Chinese lion dance has long been part of the festivities in the southeast Asian nation, but this year the Kun Seng Keng Lion & Dragon Dance Association has been brought down to earth with such public spectacles halted by the pandemic.

"We are badly affected because, as a lion dance troupe, our main income comes from Lunar New Year, which helps to cover our expenses for the year," the group's deputy, Lim Wei Khang, told Reuters.

"But, given the pandemic is bad and the government has banned the lion dance, we will heed its advice and hope for a better next year."

Malaysia managed to rein in the virus for much of last year, but recent months have seen a spike in cases, with more than 240,000 infections and 872 deaths.

Chinese are Malaysia's largest ethnic minority, making up just over a fifth of its 32 million people, and the Lunar New Year holidays are one of the country's biggest holidays.

But the government said on Sunday that only up to 15 family members within a radius of 10 km (6 miles) can gather for traditional reunion dinners.

"If the pandemic continues for another one or two years, I hope the government and private sectors will support the Chinese culture," said instructor and troupe head Tang Puay Sen.

"We need to stay optimistic because the movement control order is good for our family, our troupe members, and for everyone," added Tang, saying he hoped the troupe could still perform later this year.

"Once the pandemic is over, every day is New Year."



Penguin Memes Take Flight after Trump Tariffs Remote Island

A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
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Penguin Memes Take Flight after Trump Tariffs Remote Island

A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP
A waddle of King penguins, some of the only inhabitants of the Australian territory of Heard Island -- which is among those targeted by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Matt CURNOCK / AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC DIVISION/AFP

Donald Trump's tariffs have become a black and white issue on social media, where penguin memes have gone viral after he targeted an island inhabited by the flightless birds, but no people.

One widely shared image on Thursday showed a penguin in place of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office during his recent row with the US president and Vice President JD Vance.

Another meme showed US First Lady Melania Trump gazing up at an emperor penguin -- in place of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- while Trump looks askance.

Trump's announcement of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday certainly received an icy reception in many countries.

But there has also been bafflement about why some of the most remote parts of the world have been targeted.

A case in point: why would Trump slap 10 percent tariffs on all exports from the Heard and McDonald Islands, a barren sub-Antarctic Australian territory without a human population, but four different species of penguin?

"The penguins have been ripping us off for years," Anthony Scaramucci, who was Trump's former communications chief for 11 days in his first term and is now a vocal critic, joked on X.

"Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin," posted US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fact that Russia was not on the US tariff list.

The White House said sanctions on Russia over President Vladimir Putin's war on meant that there was no "meaningful" trade on which to impose tariffs.

Trump also caused puzzlement with his 29 percent tariff on Norfolk Island, a tiny Australian territory in the Pacific with a population of a little over 2,000 humans.

"I'm not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Britain's remote Falkland Islands -- home to one million penguins, and most famous for a 1982 war fought by Britain to repel Argentinian invaders -- was hit by 41 percent exports even though the UK only faces 10 percent.

Trump's tariffs have however been no laughing matter for global markets, with US stocks suffering their worst day since the Covid pandemic in 2020.