Melaka: Planetarium

Many months ago, while I was stopping in front of the traffic light at Ayeh Keroh, I saw the electronic sign board announcing the soon opening of a planetarium in Melaka. When Vince asked me if I would like to visit there last weekend, I was interested to find out what it was like.

As Vince knew better the location of the planetarium, I went with his car yesterday afternoon. When we were at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) compound, he said, "This is the one." I glanced at the back of a white building while we were turning to look for the access. It was like a mosque more than anything else! When we finally stood at the parking in front of the planetarium,

I was still not convinced that it looked like an adventure science centre.

Vince was wondering why there were almost no other cars. Based on my experience at Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN, I was not expecting a big crowd. A Chinese man brought two little girls to enter the building while we were taking pictures. But they came out immediately and were walking down. I was planning to go to the flute music festival at Mahkota Parade in case the visit was not available. When I asked the man, he confirmed it was open.

So we went to the reception. The tickets cost RM15 for adults and RM8 for students, children and elderly at 65 and above. I guessed the man must have left disappointed with his daughters after finding out the total entrance fees too high for his whole family. I also imagined some sixty-year-old people, after sweating and breathing hard to climb so many stairs up there, were stunned to learn that they were not even qualified to be considered golden aged to have discount.

As soon as we paid, we were led by a receptionist to a theatre with a 250 seating capacity. I told her inside the lift, "The entrance fees should be lowered." She answered, "Ya. We have received a lot of feedback like this."

When we entered the theatre, Vince said, "Luckily I didn't come here alone." I thought the same. At Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN with Kimly, although the cultural show was performed for two of us only, at least it was an open space and dancers were human beings. In this dark and close theatre with half-lying seats like lazy chairs, we were waiting for a 3D documentary on the universe to start in ten minutes. Different images were projected on the 15m internal dome. When I photographed the screen with my camera, their colours were more highlighted.

It was as if we were lying on the ground to watch the night sky to witness the mysteries of the universe revealed one after another.

Two Malay guys also entered the theatre after awhile. The documentary began with an introduction of the way Egyptians worshipped the sun. We felt some real life movement experience when it was showing the inside of the pyramids. Later, it talked about the planets, the solar system and also stated that the beginning of the universe had taken place approximately 13 billion years ago.

The previous day, I had started reading the volume 8 of the creation science series by Dennis Linsay which I had bought after attending a related seminar at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) last year. It was about the birth of planet Earth and the age of the universe. To me, it was obvious that this documentary had been made by evolutionists. However, the truth of the matter was that the time measurement was made on the basis of assumptions which could not be tested or proven, no matter how sophisticated the technique those scientists claimed to have. As a believer of the Creator God, I rather supported the theory based on the biblical accounts that our universe was a recent creation of about 6 thousand years' old.

The two guys sitting in front of us were apparently bored with the documentary in English. They started to play with their cell phones and left a few minutes before it ended. Despite the content which gave me no inspiration, I quite enjoyed the technical part.

The ground floor was the exhibition of the history of the astronomy, famous astronomers, modals of equipments, stars and planets in satellite pictures and "spacecraft" machines to experience driving into the space. There was also a board showing that the universe had probably begun with a "big bang". As photographs and video were not allowed, I kept my camera in my bag even though I had a lot of opportunities to take pictures secretly since Vince and I were the only visitors there and nobody was watching us.

When I came out from the Planetarium, I still firmly believed the Bible that the "big bang" would come at the close of time rather than at the beginning. That is when our Lord Jesus Christ comes to this young Earth again with all the glory for the Judgment Day.