Unwavering passion for beauty craft

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Renowned ‘tukang hias’ now a rare breed in a trade that few among the younger generation have shown interest in, let alone embrace

Kazuliah Mohamad Taufek – A ‘tukang hias’ for over six decades.

I CANNOT help admiring her graceful appearance and poise as she poses with ease in front of my camera. At age 80, the charming octogenarian is such a natural at it. It just clicks in my head that beauty has no boundaries and has not much to do with age.

An idea also springs to mind – artistic photography on elderly women, which is a real food for thought for a photography enthusiast like me.

Kazuliah Mohamad Taufek’s photogenic demeanour has just inspired me to do portraits on elderly women and delve into their beauty.

Earlier on, I have been told that she is one of the most prominent ‘tukang hias’ (a Sarawak Malay term for bridal make-up artist) in Kuching who is known for her authentic Malay wedding costumes. I was asked to interview her on her classic collection for a book on Sarawak Malay traditional textiles that I had been assigned to do.

There is more to ‘Kak (Sister) Kajuk’, as she is fondly known, than meets the eye. Besides her grace and charm, I find her story interesting in that it can be a source of positive thought for women at any age. A ‘tukang hias’ for over six decades, she is still in love with the beauty craft and is still into it.

Unwavering passion

The saying: ‘We are shaped and fashioned by what we love,’ couldn’t be truer. It is not so much of what she is passionate about, it is her unwavering passion for what she loves. Perhaps this explains the timeless beauty in the woman – she has a life and simply in love with it.

Her family background is equally noteworthy. Born to a Japanese father, Seiji Kuno, who took the name Mohamad Taufek when he embraced Islam, and a Malay mother, Ejah Rais, Kak Kajuk also takes pride in her Japanese roots.

“My Japanese name is Kazuko. I used the name ‘Kazuliah’ when I went to school for the sake of convenience. Many found it hard to pronounce my Japanese name,” she explains.

Browsing through old photo albums, she enlightens me on her Japanese roots. Her father was one of the Japanese immigrants who came to Sarawak before the war and assimilated well into the local community through intermarriage. Kuno, a sturdy and fine-looking young man who was a member of the Samurai House, arrived in Kuching in 1910 together with a group of enterprising Japanese to start a rubber plantation.

He was converted to Islam after being fostered by Kajuk’s maternal grandfather, who later arranged for him to marry his daughter Ejah. Kak Kajuk’s mother was 16 when she married her father. They had eight children and the youngest was Kak Kajuk, who was born during the war.

Having a Japanese father

Taking pride in her Japanese roots, Kak Kajuk during her visit to Japan.

Her father was already fluent in local Malay then, albeit with a bit of Japanese accent. He could also read the Quran in Arabic as well as write in Jawi (system of writing based on Arabic alphabets and numbers) and even taught religious classes.

Because of his fluency in Malay, he became an interpreter to Japanese officials during the Japanese occupation. However, after the Japanese surrendered in 1945, he was detained by the British, although he was merely an ordinary Japanese civilian and not a war criminal.

While being detained, he received a lot of support from Malay community leaders who appealed for his release claiming that he was a devout Muslim and a defender of the local community against Japanese aggression during the Japanese Occupation.

During the internment of Japanese civilians, the British disregarded any form of demonstrated loyalty to the local populace or assimilation that had taken place. Consequently, all Japanese civilians in Sarawak were repatriated to Japan by 1946, and Kuno was no exception. But later, he managed to return to Kuching and be reunited with his family.

“My father lived and died in Kuching,” says Kak Kajuk.

Many years after his death, Kak Kajuk, who speaks a spattering of Japanese, and her siblings still remain in touch with their cousins and other close relatives from their father’s side in Japan. Her last visit to the country of her father’s origin was in 2019.

Inherited trade

Even as a ‘tukang hias’, Kak Kajuk is easily identified with both her parents’ sides, taking pride in her collection of traditional Malay and Japanese bridal costumes. Flipping through her well-kept albums, she shows me photographs of some of the brides and wedding ceremonies whom she had attended to as a ‘tukang hias’.

She also keeps photographs of brides dating back to her mother’s time in the 1950s-1960s – the beautiful faces that her mother had adorned. Her mother, fondly known as ‘Hajah Ejah’, was a popular and reputable bridal makeup artist at the time.

There were not many ‘tukang hias’ then. It was her grand-aunt who passed down the beauty craft to Kak Kajuk’s mother.

Her grand-aunt was a bridal make-up artist long before World War II. Apparently, Kak Kajuk is the only one from the third generation of her family line to continue with the family tradition. Her two older sisters were also bridal make-up artists, but not for long.

Like her late mother, Kak Kajuk has been passionate about the craft since she was a little girl. Even then she had been following her mother to many Malay villages, watching and helping her adorn brides. She became an apprentice ‘tukang hias’ from a very early age.

“My mom was a passionate makeup artist. I remember her using ‘Max Factor’, which was a very famous cosmetic brand then. Her toner, cream, basic foundation, face powder were mostly from the same brand, which she bought at Kwong Heng Lee, a famous outlet among beauty enthusiasts during that time,” she recalls.

Nurse on weekdays, ‘tukang hias’ on weekends

Graceful and poised, Kak Kajuk strikes a pose wearing a ‘keringkam’ scarf.

Most of the weddings normally took place during weekends and so Kak Kajuk was able to join Hajah Ejah even when she was a student at St Teresa’s school where she had her primary and secondary education. It was a worthwhile apprenticeship for the young Kak Kajuk, who after graduating from high school, left for New Zealand in 1962 to take up dental nursing for schoolchildren under the Colombo Plan Scholarship.

When she came back two years later and began her career as a school dental nurse with the government dental department, she took over Hajah Ejah’s place as ‘tukang hias’ as the latter had decided to retire from the job. That made her a dental nurse on weekdays, and a ‘tukang hias’ on weekends.

As a school dental nurse, she had worked in a number of schools, including St Thomas’ and St Joseph’s, while her passion for bridal make-up lingered on. After 20 years as a dental nurse, she resigned from the job to care for her aged mother who was not able to walk anymore.

She would continue to be a ‘tukang hias.’

Today as she remains true to her vocation – it amazes me to know how much she has contributed to the Malay community and towards the perpetuation of Sarawak’s rich cultural heritage with her lifelong passion for bridal makeup.

For one thing, the work of a ‘tukang hias’ is not just adorning the bride. She performs the traditional ritual baths for the bride and bridegroom, including preparing the traditional herbal drink for them before proceeding to the make-up session. After that, she skilfully does the traditional ‘sanggul’ (hair bun) for the bride.

She assists the bride and bridegroom with their wedding costumes and accessories, usually provided by her, to present them as ‘Raja Sehari’ (King and Queen for The Day) at the ‘bersanding’ ceremony (an awaited moment where the couple are seated side by side on a decorated dais during the wedding reception).

The ‘tukang hias’ is also needed for the ‘belulut’ ceremony – a custom usually held prior to the wedding reception after the ‘akad nikah’ (solemnisation ceremony). It is a session where the bride will be donned in different attires for photo-taking normally witnessed by relatives and close friends.

Kak Kajuk has been to almost all the Malay villages in Kuching for her work. She has been attending to daughters of local dignitaries and ministers alike for their weddings and all of her nieces and grandnieces were adorned by her when they got married.

She has adorned brides whose mothers she had adorned before as brides, and she also attends to brides whose mothers had been adorned by her late mother during their weddings.

There were also cases where three generations of women from the same family had been adorned by Hajah Ejah and her daughter, respectively.

Mother’s legacy

Kak Kajuk admires her finished work on a bride, who is her grandniece, as she prepares for the ‘belulut’ ceremony.

Just as she continues with her mother’s legacy as a reputable ‘tukang hias’, Kak Kajuk inherits her family’s original collection of ‘Gajah Olen’ – a stunning traditional Sarawak Malay bridal costume complete with precious golden ornaments. She is one of the few ‘tukang hias’ who owns an original Gajah Olen, which is estimated to be over 100 years old.

Wearing the original Gajah Olen calls for precision and patience from both the bride and the ‘tukang hias’ as it is difficult and time consuming to put the costume and accessories on.

Kak Kajuk’s expertise is unmistakable as a seasoned ‘tukang hias’, no doubt she has to do it painstakingly.

“During my mother’s time, the costume was for ‘bersanding’ ceremony. Today, we have reproductions of the traditional costume and they’re normally worn for the ‘belulut’ ceremony,” she says.

Soon, her Gajah Olen will make its appearance again as one of her grandnieces is getting married. I can see the excitement in her eyes as she breaks the news that she will be her beautician. While many women of her age prefer to take a ‘permanent break,’ Kak Kajuk shows no sign of slowing down. She is always looking forward to pursuing her passion.

Perhaps that’s the secret of her timeless beauty.

From a dental nurse trained in New Zealand under the Colombo Plan Scholarship, Kak Kajuk has never wavered from her passion in bridal grooming since her younger days.

Her love for beauty craft and the traditional Malay wedding paraphernalia grew with time, so was her experience.

Soon, she became a household name in the local Malay community as the much sought-after ‘tukang hias’.

She is a rare breed in the trade and art that few among the younger generation have shown interest in, let alone embrace the skills.