Tunku Azizah signs the plaque to mark the official opening of the Songket and Keringkam Gallery at Jalan Masjid in Kuching. Looking on are Juma’ani (left) and Sabariah. — Information Department photo
KUCHING (March 29): The Songket and Keringkam Gallery at Jalan Masjid here would serve as a sales-marketing platform for these traditional garments as well as other related crafts from various communities throughout Sarawak.
In stating this, Deputy State Secretary Datu Dr Sabariah Putit said the products would also include the ‘Sarapride’ songket (traditional hand-woven fabric of the Malays) from Puncak Borneo Prisons.
According to her, the gallery has four sections, with the first functioning as the sales section for original songket and ‘keringkam’ (intricately-embellished scarf, usually square-shaped, worn by Sarawak Malay women), ready-to-wear attire, women’s accessories such as shoes, bags and clutches, as well as souvenirs.
“The second section is the demonstrations on songket-weaving and keringkam embroidery; the third is the gallery and history of songket and keringkam; and the fourth is the pictorial section,” she said in her speech at the gallery’s opening ceremony yesterday, where Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah officiated at the event.
The Queen is currently on an official visit to Sarawak, which concludes tomorrow.
It is informed that the gallery is managed by CENTEX Commercial Services – a subsidiary under the Sarawak government.
Adding on, Sabariah said for now, Sarawak had 120 songket weavers and 246 keringkam embroiderers.
“Of the 120 weavers, 37 are from Kuching, Gedong, Rajang, Kota Samarahan, Limbang and Lawas; 38 are inmates of Puncak Borneo Prisons, and 45 graduates from Centexs (Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak).
“The 246 keringkam embroiderers consist of 32 from Kuching and Padawan, and 214 Centexs graduates,” she said, adding that the Sarawak Songket and Keringkam Heritage Innovation project was established in 2017 under the patronage of the Premier of Sarawak’s wife Datuk Amar Juma’ani Tuanku Bujang.
“In August 2019, the Sarawak government, through Old Kuching Smart Heritage (OKSHE), channelled an allocation of RM50,000 as a start-up for the development of the Sarapride weaving workshop conducted in the Puncak Borneo Prisons, as well as to purchase the equipment needed for weaving.
“For the purpose of heritage skills development, OKSHE partnered with Centexs in training the instructors at Puncak Borneo Prisons,” she said.
According to Sabariah, among the main objectives of the Sarawak Songket and Keringkam Heritage Innovation project led by OKSHE are to develop an integrated and sustainable ecosystem, to improve the socioeconomy of the locals, to generate employment opportunities for the locals, as well as to protect, preserve and conserve these valuable heritage products.
She said in January this year, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by the Sarawak government and the Prisons Department, regarded as a landmark joint development of the songket industry in Sarawak.
“The Sarawak government and the Malaysian Prisons Department, through the OKSHE-Puncak Borneo Prison Heritage Project, are currently in the process of building a new songket-weaving workshop at an area of 2.5 acres, which should be able to accommodate 100 weaving houses.
“The implementation period for the works (on this workshop) undertaken by the Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak is 18 months, with construction expected to begin in June this year and set for completion in December 2023,” she said.
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