“Reminiscing Forgotten Treasure … Simanggang” 1st Workshop

On the 28-29th May 2013, the Sarawak Heritage Society (SHS) along with co-organisers the Malaysian Institute of Architects Sarawak Chapter (PAMSC), corporate partners NS Bluescope Lysaght (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd (Lysaght), local partners Simanggang Soon Heng Society (SSHS) and supporters Jabatan Muzium Sarawak (JMS) and The Talents and Arts Performing Group (WuJiaoJi) launched a community-based cultural heritage conservation project in Sri Aman. Entitled “Reminiscing Forgotten Treasure … Simanggang” this NGO project is organised in conjunction with the Fort Alice conservation project for adaptive re-use as a Heritage Museum. Participants including facilitators, project local partners, the general public and school children attended a 2-day workshop with cultural activities in the mornings/afternoons and public briefings in the evenings.


Miring Ceremony

Participants gather to witness the traditional miring ceremony to kick-start the workshop.

 The workshop started off with a traditional miring ceremony at 2.00pm on the first day in front of Taman Panorama Benak. Local bomohs were invited to carry out the ceremony which took about an hour. Following this, the project‟s local partners and facilitators were brought on site for their first briefing by Conservation Architect Mike Boon about the project. Amongst the things discussed were the introduction of personnel involved in the project, potential activities for short, midterm and long term plans, documentation and recording system, and the assignment of tasks and the next course of action.

Heritage Awareness Programme

On the second day, a Heritage Awareness Programme mainly for schoolchildren had been planned out. Participants arrived for the awareness workshop at 9am for registration and briefing on the day‟s activities. They were subsequently given an introductory talk on heritage by Mike Boon. He then, with the assistance of local facilitator Goh Kaw Sze and Architect John Ting, brought the students on a historical trail in and around Fort Alice, covering Taman Panorama Benak as well as the historical Chinese tomb located at the foot of the hill in Taman Panorama Benak. The trail concluded at 12.15pm where participants were treated to lunch.

Goh Kaw Sze showing participants the Chinese tomb and explaining its history.

After their lunch, participants regrouped for an interaction session by Jong Ban Haw entitled „Performances and Chinese oral tradition – Intangible Cultural Heritage‟. This was followed by refreshments and then a talk by Celine Ling on “Reminiscence Forgotten Treasure…Siniawan”, SHS‟s previous community-based conservation project of the same nature based in Siniawan.

Guest speakers Jong Ban Haw (up) and Celine Ling (below, left) of the Talent and Arts Performing Centre.

 

Public Talks

Attendees of the awareness workshop listening intently to their preliminary briefing.

Public talks in both Mandarin and English were held in the evenings of both days. Student participants had been encouraged to bring their family members along. Mike Boon gave briefings on the implementation status of the newly launched Fort Alice conservation project. John Ting shared how his research work had served in informing the conservation method. He also showed how the old court room, officers‟ workstations, Resident‟s bedroom, and living area in the Fort would be recreated for the Heritage Museum. Jong Ban Haw and Celine Ling expanded on “ Reminiscing Forgotten Treasures … Simanggang”. The educational briefing sessions served to boost interest in community- based heritage conservation between Sri Aman locals in the hopes of encouraging their participation.

The awareness workshop officially ended at 9.30pm on the 29th of May. Based on the favorable outcome of the activities and the general enthusiasm from participants, the organisers intend to plan more follow-up workshops of the same kind in the near future.