A BESPECTACLED elderly woman clad in a dark green baju kurung takes her place on the woven mat alongside her two friends. The women seem unperturbed by the presence of our large media group at the house in Kampung Pengkalan Abai, Kota Belud. Their fingers, marked by age, are continuously moving as they gracefully weave strips and strips of dry Serdang leaves.
On the table behind them, an array of colourful crafts of varying sizes is on display. The colours — violet, yellow, green and pink — are unique to the Bajau community. It’s in this age-old house that a 73-year-old Bajau woman by the name of Idah Jilang spends most of her time working on the traditional craft that is the pride of the Bajau people in Kota Belud. The craft is an important source of income for women in the village looking to supplement their family’s income.
Pulling on the dried leaves almost methodically, Idah speaks in a language so foreign to us. Soon a young woman in a traditional yellow Bajau satin blouse joins them. Smiling at us, she introduces herself as Sharifah Artini Ajmain, Idah’s daughter.
Serdang handicraft have been produced in Kota Belud, Kuala Penyu and Papar districts in Sabah for a long time. However, it wasn’t until 2004 that Malaysian Handicraft recognised this project as a One District, One Industry project, with its base in Kota Belud. Idah and Artini’s small enterprise was chosen to be one of the participating artisanal enterprises.
This year, once again, their craft has been chosen as the signature product for another Malaysian Handicraft initiative called Kraf Kampungku project, an initiative aimed at rebranding and increasing the production of the craft and at the same time helping the entrepreneurs to improve and produce higher quality products. Kota Belud is the second location for this project and involves about 379 crafters from 20 villages.
EXQUISITE LOCAL CRAFT
We’d arrived in Kota Kinabalu around noon. After a hearty lunch, we make our way to the village where Idah’s and Artini’s humble home is located, about one and a half hour’s drive from the capital. Our van effortlessly navigates through a narrow kampung road and slows down at the sight of a herd of cows blithely crossing ahead of us.
We finally reach the house which is hard to miss as there’s a large brown signboard (brown signboard usually indicates a tourist destination) in front that reads Kg Pengkalan Abai, Anyaman Serdang.
There’s a workshop next to a single-storey house which is painted in striking purple. The workshop was awarded to the duo by Malaysian Handicraft to give the mother-daughter enterprise more space to work and display their crafts.
Their products, which cost between RM3 and RM300 depending on the level of difficulty, size and shape, have penetrated the local market as well as overseas.
The process of making Serdang products is similar to that of mengkuang (pandanus) crafts, but the end products differ. Serdang leaves are much tougher and, therefore, can only be woven into tight strips while mengkuang can be woven into lattice patterns.
“We collect the leaves in the forest by the river. It’s not an easy task though because the trees are high and thorny,” shares Artini, adding that the trees which resemble palm trees can be found in many forests here.
Once the leaves are collected, they will cut them in strips and boil for about two to three hours before they’re dyed in colours and dried under the sun. It may look easy to make, but it really does require a lot of passion and patience. Needle, scissors, and thread made from a sack strap or raffia rope are all that’s needed to make the craft. There are no machines or state-of-the-art tools.
“My mum has been weaving since she was 12. I’m the third generation of weavers in my family. I started learning since I was 14. It’s not as easy as it looks. When I was younger, I helped my mum a lot because of the upah (reward). You know lah how willing children can be if it involves money,” recalls Artini with a chuckle.
In the olden days, serdang leaves would be woven to make the tudung saji (food cover), or tenduang in the Bajau language, something that continues to be used today. Nowadays, more items can be created, including jewellery and decorative boxes.
“So it’s a tudung saji? Saya ingatkan topi (I thought it was a hat)!” quips one of the photographers, bringing the group to laughter.
He’s not the only one to think so. It’s easy to mistake it for a hat due to the shape.
“Every kenduri (feast) or Hari Raya, people will use it to cover the food. Some even say that the food will be fragrant if covered with this tenduang,” shares Artini, holding one of the colourful food covers in her hands.
Is there any pantang larang (taboo) to be observed when making this? I ask Artini. She smiles before turning to her mother and exchanging rapid words in Bajau. “The one that we know of is that you can’t walk over the leaves, or they’ll break when you weave them,” shares Artini, before telling us that the leaves also can’t be woven at noon or they’ll break.
PRESERVING TRADITION
Although the Bajaus are the second largest indigenous people in Sabah, no one actually knows their precise origins. Peoples of the World Foundation (www.peoplesoftheworld.org), a non-profit organisation whose mission is to provide education for, and about, indigenous peoples, states that the Bajau community has been a nomadic, seafaring community for most of their history.
Many Bajaus still practice the same lifestyle of yore, such as making a living from fishing, which explains why they’re still commonly called “sea gypsies”.
Meanwhile, there are those who began living entirely on land about 200 years ago. Many of them can be found in Sabah. Those who abandoned their seafaring lifestyle became farmers and reared cattle. Their local nickname, “cowboys of the east”, was accorded to them in a nod to their marvellous horse-riding skills.
The Bajaus are known as colourful, festive and musical people with many traditions and heritage worth saving. And their handicraft are part of that. Malaysian Handicraft has been working tirelessly to preserve this heritage. The involvement of Malaysian Handicraft in promoting and selling the Bajaus’ Serdang crafts has helped to boost the growth of the production of this intricate woven craft. Malaysian Handicraft also offers opportunities for local craft entrepreneurs to improve their skills and those interested to learn by providing management, promotion and marketing courses.
As for Idah, she’s lucky to have Artini to continue the tradition as not many young people are willing to learn this craft. Smiling at her mother, Artini vows to not let this heritage dies.
“I’m the only young woman doing this craft. Others are all above 40. In three villages in this area, I think there are about 10 people who are doing this craft. It’s also hard to find men who can weave,” she confides.
As we prepare to bid farewell to the mother and daughter team, Artini, a young mother-of-three herself, shares her hopes with us. “Maybe through the initiative being taken by Malaysian Handicraft, more people will know about our craft heritage and in turn be interested to learn and continue it so that it can be preserved for generations to come.”