Introduction\n\nIn Malaysia, there is a living traditional art where a storyteller develops the oral\ntradition, otherwise known as oral literature.\nOral tradition is the original source of Malay literature and translated into\nwritten literature. One of the practitioners of this oral tradition is known as\n'Awang Batil'. Apart from specialised storytellers such as Awang Batil, there are\nother transmissions of oral literature throughout the country, especially in\nvillages through folk stories or stories of elders that are collected, rewritten and\nmade into collections for children to read.\n\nAwang Batil\n\nAwang Batil is a storyteller who provided entertainment and education to the\npeople, especially to the villagers and local community. Awang Batil entertains\nand educates the community through many classic stories that he inherited.\nThrough those stories, the community is entertained and educated.\nOnce upon a time, Awang Batil functioned as a story book, novel, radio,\ntelevision, movie or video as it is now. He would travel from house to house,\nvillage to village, state to state including the state of Kedah, Penang and some\nareas in the Southern Region of Thailand, especially the Setol Region.

'Sepak Raga' is a traditional game played in the Malay states and neighbouring coutries. 'Sepak' is Malay for "kick" and 'Raga' is the ‘rattan ball’ used in the game. Traditionally, sepak raga was played by forming circle to kick, shoulder or head a rattan ball to the opposing players much like the current Volleyball drills.\nThe Objective was for the players to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. The game can played as a team, group, or even solo.\nLater in 1945, the net was introduced and the game it is played today came into being. The first official competition with the net and new rules was held at a Swim Club of Penang on May 16, 1945. It was the called Sepak Raga Jaring or Snwith reference to the addition of the net. Sepak raga jarring spread quickly throughout the rest of the Malay Peninsula and South East Asia. In 1965, The South East Asia Peninsular Games Committee eventually agreed that the sport would be known as "Sepak Takraw". Takraw is the ‘woven ball’ in Thai.\nFor Sepak Takraw, two opposing teams of three players each play the game, each team is permitted to hit the ball three times before it must cross the net, rather like in Volleyball. The difference is that it can be hit three times by some player.\nKicking is the most crucial factor in deciding the outcome of the game, a fluid overhead acrobatic kick to smash the ball.

'Sepak Raga' is a traditional game played in the Malay states and neighbouring coutries. 'Sepak' is Malay for "kick" and 'Raga' is the ‘rattan ball’ used in the game. Traditionally, sepak raga was played by forming circle to kick, shoulder or head a rattan ball to the opposing players much like the current Volleyball drills.\nThe Objective was for the players to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible. The game can played as a team, group, or even solo.\nLater in 1945, the net was introduced and the game it is played today came into being. The first official competition with the net and new rules was held at a Swim Club of Penang on May 16, 1945. It was the called Sepak Raga Jaring or Snwith reference to the addition of the net. Sepak raga jarring spread quickly throughout the rest of the Malay Peninsula and South East Asia. In 1965, The South East Asia Peninsular Games Committee eventually agreed that the sport would be known as "Sepak Takraw". Takraw is the ‘woven ball’ in Thai.\nFor Sepak Takraw, two opposing teams of three players each play the game, each team is permitted to hit the ball three times before it must cross the net, rather like in Volleyball. The difference is that it can be hit three times by some player.\nKicking is the most crucial factor in deciding the outcome of the game, a fluid overhead acrobatic kick to smash the ball.

Ghazal Parti is a combined performance of music, songs, dance and comedy that obtained its influences from the Middle East. Its songs have elements of Arabian rhythm with lyrics in Arabic and Malay. The word ‘Parti’ means the ‘merriment of the ghazal performance’. This arts form expanded in the states of Penang Island, Kedah and Perak in Peninsular Malaysia. Ghazal Parti is often performed at wedding events in the village and at official ones in the city. In wedding events the performance starts from early evening to midnight and sometimes stretches to dawn. A performance in a wedding event is inside a reception hall that faces the newly-wed couple’s house so that the couple’s family members and guests can watch the show. There are eight to 12 musicians depending on the availability of musical instruments that are an accordion, two violins, an oud, a flute, bass guitar, drum, hand-held drum, bongo, tambourine, and maracas. The singers possess academic background in Arabic; some studied at private or public religious schools. The songs are Arabian in Arabic rhythms originating from Egypt. In the beginning the dancers were men in ladies’ clothing wearing scarf, batik sarong and baju kurung with thin make-up, as ladies were not allowed to become dancers. In the 1950s there appeared dancers among the transgender. Another component in Ghazal Parti is comedy that functions to fill in the break time of the musicians and singers. In a performance they rest twice to thrice and it is at this juncture the space is utilized by the comedians bringing themes of current issues.

Introduction\n\nIn Malaysia, there is a living traditional art where a storyteller develops the oral tradition, otherwise known as oral literature.\n\nOral tradition is the original source of Malay literature and translated into written literature. One of the practitioners of this oral tradition is known as 'Awang Batil'. Apart from specialised storytellers such as Awang Batil, there are other transmissions of oral literature throughout the country, especially in villages through folk stories or stories of elders that are collected, rewritten and made into collections for children to read.\n\n\nAwang Batil\n\nAwang Batil is a storyteller who provided entertainment and education to the people, especially to the villagers and local community. Awang Batil entertains and educates the community through many classic stories that he inherited. Through those stories, the community is entertained and educated.\n\nOnce upon a time, Awang Batil functioned as a story book, novel, radio, television, movie or video as it is now. He would travel from house to house, village to village, state to state including the state of Kedah, Penang and some areas in the Southern Region of Thailand, especially the Setol Region.

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 33 is 'Village Guardian Rituals and Communities.'

ICH Courier is the quarterly magazine on ICH in the Asia-Pacific region issued by ICHCAP since 2009. Every issue has its own theme under the title of the Windows to ICH, and the theme of the Vol 43 is 'MASK DANCE.'

ICHCAP published the book Living Heritage Series – Traditional Musical Instruments in collaboration with the ICH NGO Forum’s #HeritageAlive.\n\nProven from a long history, music shares thoughts and emotions among community members who play the instruments and enjoy it. This book was made with the contributions of fifteen writers from countries across the globe. The authors describe the current status of traditional music and provide insight on how to revitalize these traditions based on the 2003 Convention.

The Conference on exploring and safeguarding shared ICH in East Asia jointly organized by ICHCAP and the UNESCO Beijing Office and hosted by the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, was held on 10 September 2021.\n\nThis report is composed of eight case studies of East Asian Member States—namely China, Japan, Mongolia, and ROK.