Juma’ani tries her hand at the weaving machine. – Photo courtesy of the CMO
KUCHING (Jan 27): The Sarawak government, through Old Kuching Smart Heritage (OKSHe) together with the Malaysian Prisons Department will jointly develop a new Songket Workshop on an area of 2.5 acres at Puncak Borneo Prison.
OKSHe in a statement yesterday said the project, once completed by the state Public Works Department, would see 100 weaving houses producing a large number of quality songket products.
It added this would also provide opportunities for prison inmates to learn weaving skills in order to generate their own income after detention and rehabilitation at Puncak Borneo Prison.
OKSHe said another agency collaborating on this project is Centexs Commercial Services Sdn Bhd (CCS) which will commercialise and promote the products under the Sarapride label at Songket and Keringkam Gallery in Jalan Masjid. CCS will also sell the products through digital platforms.
A memorandum of agreement (MoA) was signed yesterday at Auditorium Sri Kenyalang of Sarawak Prisons Department office to forge this strategic collaboration.
Signing on behalf of the state government was Deputy State Secretary (Performance and Service Delivery Transformation) Datu Dr Sabariah Putit while Malaysian Prisons Department was represented by its commissioner-general Datuk Nordin Muhamad.
The Chief Minister’s wife Datuk Amar Juma’ani Tuanku Bujang who is also patron of Sarawak Heritage Innovation Project: Songket and Keringkam was present to witness the event.
“Collaboration through this project is expected to produce more highly skilled weavers to make Sarawak songket, as well as giving skill certification to the inmates.
“This will elevate the art and heritage of Sarawak to the world stage through large-scale product, branding, packaging and effective marketing through smart collaborations between manufacturers, researchers, marketers and government agencies in promoting the songket weaving industry,” said OKSHe in the statement.
It said the collaboration with state Prisons Department and Puncak Borneo Prison in the production of songket products began after a meeting between Juma’ani and the Raja Permaisuri Agong at the Astana on June 26, 2019.
According to the statement again, the collaboration with Puncak Borneo Prison is the seventh such project nationwide initiated by the Queen in the development of weaving workshops.
There are 38 weavers working at the Sarapride workshop in the prison since 2020.