KUCHING: As all eyes were on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s maiden budget, his file bag that contained important documents labelled ‘RAHSIA BESAR’ also stole the spotlight and made headlines since Thursday.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, flashed the file bag with the motif of Sarawak songket, when checking the final preparations for the budget at the Finance Ministry; merely 24 hours before unveiling the revised Budget 2023.
It is a statement piece from none other than Sarawak’s award-winning social enterprise, Tanoti Sdn Bhd. It was woven, designed and constructed by the company’s team of songket atelier.
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune, Jacqueline Fong, director of the company, said the feature panel was hand-woven filament silk with silver metallic songket, with traditional Malay patterns of ‘bunga pecah lapan’ and ‘bunga kesemak’.
“The bag is designed by our team using a songket women by our (former) weaver, Sukma Kipli, from Kampung Moyan Laut, Asajaya before it was constructed by Senia Jugi,” she said, adding that Senia is the recipient of various awards, including the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award for Best Handicraft Product.
Fong said it was a last-minute order which her team received five days ago, and they were thrilled to learn that it will be used by the Prime Minister to carry the Budget 2023 document.
The process was a rush, but she had confidence in the experience, skills and knowledge of her team to complete a quality product, using a most exclusive fabric, the Sarawak songket, which was once used by Malay royals and aristocrats.
“We worked on the design and proposed using black as it is the general neutral colour for a business folder or document bag, featuring Sarawak songket (available in stock, which was done much earlier),” she said.
The bag, she said, was purposely designed to fit the Budget documents (a book and perhaps also an iPad.
Fong was delighted that the Prime Minister endorsed the songket document bag as it supports the underlying efforts of heritage preservation, women empowerment and rural community building.
“Supporting traditional textiles is essentially nation-building,” she said.
Compared to songket made in other parts of Malaysia, the Sarawak songket has unique features as it is made using a “menyongket” technique to produce supplementary weaves.
Every weaver has to master the multiplication technique first before learning the other processes. This (because of the formula) means that there are inconsistent weft floats to make the songket pattern or motifs.
In contrast, the weavers in Malaya deploy a standard weft float which they call “tekat”.
“If one put Sarawak songket with its Malayan counterpart side-by-side, one can see that Sarawak songket is much more complex in execution while the latter is presented in a grid form,” she explained.
This was not the first time that Sarawak songket grabbed the headlines. Former Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz also used a statement piece from the social enterprise in Parliament last year.
He even mentioned during his tabling of Budget 2023 that the bag’s songket design represents the six main races in Sarawak, which are the Orang Ulu, Malay, Bidayuh, Iban, Melanau and Chinese.
The bag was a collective work of songket weavers Siti Norbani Arbi from Kampung Moyan Laut, Asajaya; Norhamish Abdullah from Hulu Gedong, Serian; Hasmah Yamin from Kampung Tanah Puteh, Serian; and Nur Armesya Ahmad from Kampung Muara Tebas, Bako; as well as Pua Kumbu weaver Nyulai Tempa from Rumah Gare, Ulu Kapit.
