Inspire kids to preserve our heritage, Tengku Ampuan Pahang tells parents

Citing her parents’ effort to inculcate a love for culture in her, the former Raja Permaisuri Agong says elders can help to ignite a curiosity for such traditions and encourage young people’s participation in preservation efforts.

Tunku Azizah, the Tengku Ampuan of Pahang, says the palace has traditionally played a central role in preserving culture and heritage.

PETALING JAYA:

 The young hold the key to keeping culture and heritage alive, making it imperative that their parents and elders make every effort to impart their traditions to the next generation, the Tenku Ampuan of Pahang, Tunku Azizah said.

Tunku Azizah, who also served as the 16th Raja Permaisuri Agong until January 2024, pointed out that much of the Malaysian heritage now lives only in memory and in the hands of those well-versed in such traditions.

“We must not let it fade,” she said at the Borneo International Textile Festival held in Kuching on Monday.

She noted that the beauty of Sarawak’s culture is grounded in, and shares an intimacy with, nature.

“Your forests, rivers, and mountains are not backgrounds. They are teachers, (sources of) inspiration, storytellers,” she said in her keynote address at the opening of the festival.

She said the intimacy shared with nature has shaped Sarawakian society into one that is gentle, kind, community-centred and wise.

She added that this underscored the importance of protecting forests and rivers, given that “heritage cannot survive if the land that teaches it disappears”.

Tunku Azizah said that rather than just serving as garments, textiles are seen as sacred objects to individual local communities. “They are protectors of the soul, carriers of prayers, maps of ancestry, and symbols of cosmic order,” she said.

“Rather than just craft, these designs remind us that weaving is theology, philosophy and civilisation,” she added.

She pointed out that while few places can claim the “breathtaking diversity” of Borneo, it is the deep appreciation that each of the different communities — Malay, Dayak, Orang Ulu, Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Melanau, Penan, Bajau, Iban, and Bidayuh — have for each other’s culture and heritage that has kept all of them together.

Tunku Azizah, who professes a love for heritage and culture, said efforts should be made to pass such traditions to the young, not through pressure but by inculcating a joy for preserving their heritage, igniting their curiosity, and encouraging their participation.

On the personal side, she said her love for heritage began at home, nurtured by her parents. “Today, I nurture it in my children.”

She said her daughter has inherited the same passion for heritage and culture. “My daughter’s decision to study textiles was not imposed on her. We encouraged it,” she added.

The Tengku Ampuan also pointed out that throughout history, it is the palace that has played a central role in preserving intricate craft such as songket, kelingkam, tekat, and tenunan.

“Queens kept these traditions alive. I am humbled to (be given this opportunity) to continue this lineage. Heritage is not my project. It is my calling,” she said.

She said she had been working with artisans, elders, museums, prisons, foundations, and international partners over the past 20 years to keep these traditions alive. “This has been the greatest joy of my life,” she added.

The Tenku Ampuan singled out the prison weaving programme as one of her most meaningful achievements.

“For 20 years, we trained inmates,” she said, adding that heritage has not only healed and transformed their lives but also restored their dignity.

“Many of our best weavers today come from behind prison walls,” she added. - FMT