TRAINING SKILLED MANPOWER: Louise Macul from FoSM training docents. She will be leading a tour of the Sarawak Museum on Saturday. — Photos courtesy of FoSM.
FoSM guides to enliven visits to museum, unlock treasure chest of secrets
KUCHING: Little known facts and interesting secrets will soon be unlocked to visitors of the Sarawak Museum, thanks to a new organisation called Friends of the Sarawak Museum (FoSM).
Speaking to The Borneo Post, FoSM pro-tem chairman Tony Sebastian gave an example of a story one might hear at
the Sarawak Museum once their docent programmes are underway.
In the Natural History section are two orang utans, a long-time exhibit mounted in old-fashion cabinets made of wood and glass.
ENLIGHTENING: Researcher Paul Sochazerski will talk about Alfred Russel Wallace in a lecture called ‘A Hero’s Journey through Southeast Asia’.
“The story is that the Rajah shot them,” said Tony, referring to James Brooke, the first of the White Rajahs who ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak.
Brooke had his kills packed in ice and shipped to Britain, where they were mounted, placed in
their exhibition cabinet and shipped back to Sarawak. In the 1900’s, it took about three months for a ship to sail that distance one way.
INTERESTING SPECIMEM: FoSM protem chairman Tony Sebastian examining a specimen in the Sarawak Museum wet specimen archive.
“That place is chock-full of stories. You cannot expect the museum, with its huge job, to tell those stories. This is where ordinary people can come in and enhance the experience,” Tony said.
FoSM is in the process of training docents or guides, who can change how visitors experience the museum by offering guided tours. Although it is kicking off in English, they plan on expanding it to offer it in Malay and Mandarin as well.
“The first thing is to get the training module together so we know what kind of information to pass on to the docents. They need training not only in knowledge, but in how to interpret, and how to talk to tourists.”
With docents in place, the society will be able to offer guided tours on fixed hours, some tours for free, and others for a fee that will go to FoSM as a means of income to fund their operations.
“We can also make those tours available to tour operators who can build it into their packages, so they can sell a tour to the museum without having to sacrifice one of their own guides. They just link with us.”
These tours will greatly benefit the museum itself in terms of boosting their visitors, and thus increasing their profile.
However, there is still much to be done first.
FoSM was registered in Sarawak on Sept 25 this year. Their first task is to get a house to act as their base, start opening up for membership, and then hold an AGM early next year to elect a proper committee.
“As a civil society organisation, the FoSM is independent of the museum in terms of registration, but is very closely linked,” he said, adding that the organisation exists to support the museum in terms of providing a link between the community and the institution.
“Friends of the Museum (FoM) is a worldwide phenomena. There are FoMs in almost all major museums of the world. These are the people who bridge civil society with the institution. It is a great opportunity for ordinary people to come get closer to the museum, to either contribute something of themselves, or learn something from the museum. It works both ways.”
Kuching is home to a museum with so much to offer and yet so little-explored, which is something FoSM aims to change.
Tony pointed out that museums were the most central institutions in any country and in any city, a place where everything comes together.
“It is a one-stop place where a visitor to a country or city can get a window into the history, culture, wildlife, and everything about that place within a day or several days.”
He named several of the most visited museums in the world – The Louvre in Paris, National Museum of London, Tate Gallery, and Museum of Modern Art in New York.
“They bring a lot of culture and suave to a city. That’s why every city that has an old museum is a lucky city,” Tony said.
“Kuching is a lucky city, but we don’t realise it. It’s one of the most iconic old buildings in Kuching, sits on its own hill, got its own garden around it. It’s one of the oldest buildings in the city, and everybody in Kuching drives past it every day. It’s got so much history.”
Museums are definitely more than what is being displayed in the visitor area.
“It’s like an iceberg. The displays and visiting areas is just the tip,” said Tony.
“Museums are archives. Their job is to preserve history and culture. They have priceless artifacts and specimens. It’s a treasure hoard that sits right in the middle of town. And the treasure hoard is not open to the public, for many reasons. Some are so fragile. If you start showing it to people, you’ll destroy it.”
Visiting scientists, researchers and archaeologists can request research access to the archive, but ordinary people are not able to do this. However, some have an interest and would like access. That is where FoSM comes in.
Their first event, co-organised with Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is called ‘Wallace and The Sarawak Museum’, which will highlight the life and contribution of naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and take visitors on a tour of the Sarawak Museum.
It will be held this coming Oct 20 from 3pm to 6pm. Registration starts at 2.30pm at Dewan Tun Abdul Razak. The event is broken down into three parts – a talk and two tours.
Published Wallace researcher Paul Sochazerski will talk about the naturalist in a lecture called ‘A Hero’s Journey though Southeast Asia’.
This will be followed by the ‘Wallace and The Sarawak Museum’ tour, led by Louise Macul from FoSM.
The other tour is entitled ‘The Museum’s Secret Rooms’, a guided tour of the natural history collection that is closed to the public. At RM30 per person and a limit of 25 persons, the tour is already fully booked.