Category: Culture

The Malay Wedding The activities that take place during a Malay wedding come from the diverse cultural traditions –indigenous, Hindu and Islamic–that have together served to shape traditional Malay culture. The numerous activities constitute a Malay wedding may be conveniently be divided into three groups representing three stages. The first group of activities, all of which precede the actual wedding ceremony, consist of (a) the investigation (merisik), (b) the engagement or approach to formalise the arrangement (meminang), and (c) the hantaran or the sending of gifts and part of the amount of money (wang belanja) for expenses (wang belanja) which the boy’s family give to the girl’s side that will be incurred by the girl’s family. The wang belanja is usually an amount of several thousand ringgit. It is different from the dowry (mas kahwin) which is also paid by the man to his future wife. The amount of the mas kahwin is usually fixed by the Islamic Religious Council in each...

Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Omar Ali The eastern seaboard of Borneo was charted, though not settled, by the Portuguese in the early 16th century.  The area of Sarawak was known to Portuguese cartographers as Cerava, and by the early 19th century, Sarawak had become a loosely governed territory under the control of the Brunei Sultanate. According to the Salasilah Raja-Raja Brunei, the Pengiran Muda Tengah Ibrahim Ali Omar Shah, better known as Raja Tengah, accepted the offer by his elder brother, the Sultan of Brunei, to be the Sultan of Sarawak in 1598.  He brought along 1,000 warriors and a coterie of nobilities to help him administer the new country. In 1599, while returning from Pahang, Sultan Tengah’s storm-lashed ship ran aground in Sukadana in West Kalimantan, Indonesia.  He stayed and married there.  On his return to Sarawak, he was killed by one of his followers at present-day Kampung Batu Buaya in Santubong. At the beginning of the 19th century, Brunei’s Sultan, Omar Ali...

The History of Architecture in Sarawak before Malaysia John H.S. Ting 2018 (ISBN 978 967 16003 0 6) This is the first comprehensive description and history of buildings in Sarawak before 1963 and its thoroughness is impressive. For anyone interested in notable buildings in the State, described and usually illustrated in one document, this is essential reading. It describes many structures which have been demolished. They are now revived somewhat in words and pictures, not permanently forgotten. In addition to architecture, the book aims to reconstruct a picture of the changing government from the pre-1840’s, then the Brooke era till the 1940’s and finally the post 1946 British Colonial period to 1963. The author John Ting is an architect originally from Kuching, now teaching at the University of Canberra, Australia. His research, amongst other things, focuses on prefabricated timber buildings in nineteenth century colonial south east Asia. Sarawak has many examples of this form of construction described in the book. Prefabrication sounds very modern but...

BORNEO – for many outsiders the name has been synonymous with a forbidding and isolated wilderness, a steamy rain-soaked place, dangerous and forlorn. While it was among the first lands in Asia to be visited by Europeans, it remained among the last to be mapped. Kayan women tattooing, 1890s. Borneo is the third largest island in the world. Six major, and numerous minor, navigable rivers traverse the interior and function as trade and communication routes for the indigenous peoples who live here, namely the Dayak. Dayak, meaning “interior” or “inland” person, is the term used to describe the variety of indigenous native tribes of Borneo, each of which has its own language and separate culture. Approximately three million Dayak – Ibans, Kayans, Kenyahs and others – live in Borneo. Most groups are settled cultivating rice in shifting or rain-fed fields supplementing their incomes with the sale of cash crops: ginger, pepper, cocoa, palm oil. However several hundred Penan, nomadic hunter-gatherers, continue to...

Abdul Hadi (right) shares some points with Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and others during the minister’s recent walkabout at SCV. KUCHING: The upgrading and renovation works at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) in Damai have been completed ahead of schedule in time for this year’s Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) on July 12 to 14. Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) group general manager Abdul Hadi Abdul Kadir said the works were started last month, and most of them have been completed ahead of schedule. “We have also included improvement works to cover the Internet connectivity and wider coverage for the nearby Damai Central, which will provide convenience for those who will be patronising the three-day festival,” he said. Abdul Hadi urged the public to arrive early to the festival venue to avoid traffic jam and parking woes especially on the road leading to the village, which will be experiencing a hike in the number of vehicles...

Saksikan audition Bakat Kamek 2019 pada 24 dan 25 Ogos 2019 di TV Sarawak. ...

KUCHING: Passengers take a scenic ride on the Sarawak River in a traditional boat known as ‘perahu tambang’. Entrepreneurs are now offering travellers the opportunity to cruise the river using perahu tambang. The boats are a quick and economical way to cross the river for locals who have used them for generations. — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi [Source: "Sarawak’s gondolo" published by BorneoPost Online]...