Masidi (right) and Joanna (left) inspecting a beautiful handmade bead bag at the museum yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Bead makers in Sabah have been urged to explore the potential of marketing their product outside of the State.
“We have to look at the potential outside of Sabah when we are in business…we need to go beyond our border and it is a natural progression to expand our business,” said Tourism, Culture and Environment minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, in his speech yesterday at the launch of the 2015 Borneo Bead Carnival held at the Sabah Museum Complex near here.
He also said that Sabah bead works were popular with West Malaysians, and this signified the potential of the Sabah beads to be marketed in Peninsular Malaysia. He added that he will be having a meeting with the board of directors of the Sabah Tourism Board to look into ways to expand their marketing forays into West Malaysia.
“The domestic market is still under exploited…it is the opportunity for us to expand the bead business, which is sought after by West Malaysians,” he said.
In his speech, Masidi also called on bead makers in Sabah to forge networking with their counterparts from other parts of the Borneo isle. He urged them to acquire some knowledge from bead makers of Kalimantan.
At the same time, he also commented that the State Museum needed to do more to attract visitors to visit the facility.
“Perhaps the museum could be more creative in promoting its exhibits,” he said.
He added that there were not many people visiting the museum and urged Sabahans to adopt the ways of Europeans, who visit museums for knowledge and to learn about past histories of the local inhabitants.
Meanwhile, State Museum director, Joanna Kitingan, said that the carnival was a collaboration between museums in Borneo and was in line with the SOSEK Malindo or Malaysia and Indonesia Social Economy Cooperation.
She added that the carnival was the fifth programme carried out and that the focus was on bead artefacts.
A total of 200 exhibits comprising of bead artefacts in various motifs, colours and use would be showcased at the museum until next year.
“In this year’s carnival, a total of seven ethnic groups are involved in creating the bead works. They are the Rungus from Kudat, Murut Timugon from Tenom, Dusun Tambunan from Tambunan, Lundayeh from Sipitang, Dusun Ranau from Ranau, Dusun Malapih from Papar and Murut Tangala from Tongod,” she said.
Aside from the exhibits, seminars and workshops will also be held to provide students and members of the community to learn how to create bead works, she said.