Places in Malaysia Site Map
Mah Meri Temiar Malay Iban
1. Mah Meri
Moyang Harimau Berantai at 2nd stage carving

Mah Meri tribe people from Carey Island are good at wood carving. The 'adiguru' got a 'Seal of Excellence Award for Wood Carving product in South East Asia' by AHPADA (ASEAN Handicraft Promotion and Development Association) in 2004, a UNESCO Group. The wood carving was titled 'Moyang Harimau Berantai', a tiger with a ball in its mouth, holding a chain with seven interlocking rings. The carving is made using a kind of swamp hardwood called 'Nyireh Batu'. Hmm! About the picture taken from the museum, where's the ball in the mouth?

It is said that every wood carving represents something and has a story behind it. This 'Moyang Harimau Berantai' was for the bravery of a boy / young man that went out hunting with his brother to prove his manhood. However, he never returned as he was killed by a tiger.

The Mah Meri tribe also won an award for its Mah Meri Masks in year 2003. If you are intersted in these woodcarvings, visit Seal of Excellence at UNESCO site.
2. Temiar Group
Handicraft of Orang Asli

Temiar tribe people are good at weaving, a technique called 'Mad Weaving' or 'Anyaman Gila' in Malay Language. 'Apok Sog Aleh', a pouch for the Temiar people to keep their baby infant's hair won a Seal of Excellence Award for weaving product in South East Asia by AHPADA (ASEAN Handicraft Promotion and Development Association). They won this Award in 2004. The technique used is 3 dimension 1 weaving and woven from Pandanus (mengkuang) thorny leaves which were boiled and dyed. It can be made into pouch, mats, bags, hats, fans and slippers.

Temiar tribe is also good at bamboo carving to make bamboo blowpipes which are about 1.8m - 2.4m long. The tip of the blowpipe's arrow is dipped into 'Ipoh Tree' sap and used to kill animals. Temkan Blowpipe 2003
3. Malay's Handicraft
Kenangan Palace

The Malay has good word carving skills too. These can be seen in their traditional houses and its furnitures which were made of wood. There is a real life house which was made of wood and weaved using pandanus leaves. This house is none other than the Istana Kenangan which was built without using a single nail.

Another handicraft is wau, a big kite about 1 m wide and 1 m long. Wau has 5 categories depending on the design of its tail. It can be a 'Wau Bulan' or Moon Kite, 'Wau Merak' or Peacock Kite, 'Wau Jalabudi' or Women Kite and 'Wau Kuching' or Cat Kite. These kites are mostly made from a colour paper as its base, the patterns were cut out from other colour papers, one colour at a time then paste on the base paper. The frame is made from thorn bamboo or 'Buluh duri'.
Man making gourd


Another handicraft is made using clay. The clay will be moulded by hand or using a special mould into whatever shape the maker likes. After that the pot will be heated in an oven with rice husk. This pot is called labu in malay as it usually in a shape of a gourd. One popular labu is the labu sayung. The photo beside shows a man trimming a clay gourd. The clay gourd was actually moulded using a special mould that could 'pull' the clay to the wall of the mould leaving the centre empty.

Not to forget, their famous batik and silverware from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. One popular and welknown batik brand is from Nur Alfa.
4. Iban's Handicraft

The Iban tribe is good at weaving cloth to make blankets for ceremony like to wrap new born baby, for wedding and cover the area of their dead family member before burial. This cloth is called Pua Kumbu that comes with different motives for different ages.

For example, Old Pua Sungket from Upper Rajah River is more than 90 years old. Old Pua from Kapat area is more than 80 years. The most sacred pua called "Lebur Api'. 16 crocodile motive. fear figure motive from Song area. I did not get the notes properly, just some notes here and there on this pua kumbu.

Weaving is a must for Iban women because it shows that they are capable of providing basic clothing and mats for themselves and also their husband. Another important handicraft of the womenfolk is their beadwork.
Kindly correct me if the information given here is incorrect.

The owner of freecheapsite.com will not be responsible for any error in information provided.
Any loss resulting from the information provided in this site, directly or /and indirectly will be at your own expense and the owner will not take any responsibility whatsoever. See Disclaimer

Valid CSS! Valid XHTML 1.1
© 2009 to 2012 Created by YYOng. Tested with SeaMonkey 1.1.18, Opera 10 and IE7.    Disclaimer    Policy    Terms    
For technical or contents issues regarding this site, email YYOng or contact me.
As this site contains dynamic html, I recommend 4.0+ browsers. Please use font size not less than 12 pixels and not more than 18 pixels for better display.