Broga Hill is a popular hiking destination, but I had never heard about a Sak Dato temple in Broga , until Aric suggested to visit this temple, as it was famous for its monumental statue of the Monkey King.

It’s about a one hour drive from KL Broga Hill is located in Selangor, but the village and the temple are situated in Negri Sembilan.

The temple is a Datuk Kong temple, where Chinese devotees worship not a Taoist deity, but the “spirit of the land”. The tradition started in the 19th century when Chinese settlers arrived in the country. Often Datuks were once humans who were greatly respected by society. After their passing away, people started to worship their spirits for protection. Often they were Muslim Malays. Interesting about this temple is that Sak Dato was an Orang Asli. He supported the Chenese tin miners in the 1860s and probably became a Taoist himself. See also the appendix

Here is the entrance of the temple. Most Datuk Kong temples are smaller, often even just shrines. This is a large complex , apparently very popular, although it was quiet during our visit.

Climbing the steps, we soon reached the statue of Guan Yin, the goddess of Mercy.

A large hall is dedicated to her.

Climbing further we arrived at the Sak Dato hall.

The interior is simple without images. Inside the hall we noticed a picture of the former PM Mahathir, handing over a National Temple Beautification Award.

There is another Sak Dato shrine in a cave next to the hall. Probably the original one. There is also the grave of the Sak Dato. It was originally located inside the cave, but has been relocated to its present position..

Climbing highere there is a split.To the right leads to a hanging bridge, we first explored the left side which took us to a kind of park with an intriguing collection of art works and statues. A very enjoyable place.

A dragon-turtle is pulling a cart with treasures and a bit further on there are the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Of course we had to take pictures with our Zodiac signs,

The park must be a popularr destination for families. There is a wishing tree but you can also hang your wishes here. Everywhere benches donated by devotees. There is also a stall, but it was closed during our visit.

Finally we went to the suspension bridge and walked to the hill qwhere the statue of the Monkey King is located. Quite a steep climb up.

A warning sign for dogs, but the dogs we met were peaceful and sleepy.

I am sure all Chinese know about the Monkey King, one of the main characters in the 16th century novel Journey to the West. For those who don’t know this wonderful folk tale, you can download it here .The statue of the Monkey KIng is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Recirds as the tallest one in Malaysia. It is quite impressive. The other picture shows the monk Tripitaka and his other helpers.

Aric had brought his drone to take video and pictures. Here are a few.

In the hall inderneath the statue, walking around three times is supposed to bring luck.

After visiting the Monkey King, we had to walk down and cross the bridge again.

After our visit (about 1.5 hour) we drove to Semenyih for dinner.

Nice food, steamed cuttlefish with lemon and garlic, paku belacan and deep fried tilapia

Nice, relaxed atmosphere

And a beautiful sunset

A perfect outing.

Appendix

Although the Sak Dato temple in Broga is a popular destination, with numerous hits when you Google for it, it was not easy to find background information.

I found useful information about the Sak Dato temple in this scholarly publication ( page 209-211).

The Temuan, an Orang Asli group, were the earliest inhabitants of Broga. Because of rich tin ore, Broga was settled in the 1850s by Hakka miners from Huizhou, China.

Broga became prosperous, first because of tin, later rubber.

During the Japanese Occupation (1941–45), many shops in Broga were burned by the Japanese and many villagers fled. In 1950, the British colonial government resettled the Chinese in the area in Broga New Village.

The Sak Dato Temple in Broga is one of the oldest Datuk Gong temples in Malaysia.
The temple still holds many old plaques; the oldest one was offered by a devotee Li
Yuchang to Sak Dato in 1904

Since 1910 , the Sak Dato procession at Broga has been held annually, even during the Malayan Emergency. After the establishment of Broga New Village in 1950,entry and exit were strictly controlled, so the villagers brought the spirit tablet of Sak Dato to a small new shrine in the New Village. Following the end of the Emergency, the villagers returned the spirit tablet, and renovated the old temple in 1965. In 1991, the temple was renovated again, at a cost of MYR700,000.

Also useful is the inscription next to the grave of Sak Dato

.So the original shrine in the cave is old, the worship of Sak Dato started in 1868. His bones were relocated a few times (?) after the temple was rebuilt in 1991 and finally put in the present grave only last year (?)

Finally here is a very readable travelogue, written in 2013, where renovation of the Guan Yin timple is still going on.

So the Sak Datu temple is old , but the enlargement and extension are recent.

I found confirmation by looking at the historic imagery of Google Earth, This screenshot shows the sutuation in 2010. I have marked the places where I took pictures. There is not yet a park, and there is no suspension bridge. They are working on the Monkey King

Here the situation in 2022

The Sak Dato temple committee has been very successful in developing the temple to attract more visitors.