A museum junkie like yours truly can be thrown at any museum and still love every moment of it! When the invitation was extended, my biggest worry was my job. Then things got out of hands and I needed the break. After the laid-back scuba camp at Perhentian Island just over the weekend and two aborted dives due to health reasons, I joined 23 other media participants for Media Challenge 2.0 beginning from Monday. The program was organized by Tourism Malaysia and Jabatan Muzium Malaysia in conjunction with the International Museum Day. The program would cover 4 museums in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka where we spent the last few days to celebrate the national level celebration of International Museum Day.
Negeri Sembilan: Muzium Adat Jelebu / Custom Museum Kuala Klawang
I thought I was familiar with the districts in Negeri Sembilan until we arrived at the small town of Kuala Klawang where the stadium and government administration buildings have spired roof just like Minangkabau house. This quiet sleepy town houses the cultural artefacts of customs from around Malaysia. Suiting with its popularity as the land of customs, Negeri Sembilan is the best host for such Custom Museum.
Muzium Adat displays up to 258 items comprising cultural artefacts relating to the customs of various ethnic groups. According to En Nasrul, the director of the museum, the Customs Museum was opened to the public in 2008. However, it took them 3 years to put everything together. There are 4 galleries within the Custo Museum, namely the Introduction to Customs Gallery, Lifestyle Gallery, Intellectual Tradition/Government and Authority Gallery as well as the Adat Perpatih Gallery. Yes, it is the right place to learn about Adat Perpatih.
As it was not about just visiting the museums, the participants were handed a list of questions to be answered based on the explanation of the exhibits in the museum. My team consisted of Dboyz, Achik and Lina from Karangkraf Online. It is good to see such an interactive activity going about in museums around Malaysia. What a fun way to learn about the custom in Malaysia.
We also had to choose the group’s name. We chose Soko from the exhibit of Ibu Soko. Ibu Soko refers to the elder woman in the adat community. She is well versed with the adat and plays important roles in the selection and installation of adat elders within her family group or suku.
Getting here: Take a bus from Seremban’s Terminal 1 to Kuala Klawang. If using your own transport, use on of the following routes: Jalan Seremban – Kuala Klawang, Jalan Semenyih – Kuala Klawang or Jalan Kuala Pilah – Simpang Pertang – Kuala Klawang.
Visiting hours: 9 am to 5 pm daily. Closed on the first day of Aidilfitri and Aidiladha.
Address: 196, Jalan Dato’ Umbi, 71600 Kuala Klawang, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan
Tel: 06-613 6586/06-6136588
Website: http://www.jmm.gov.my/ms/museum/muzium-adat
Negeri Sembilan: Teratak Perpatih/ Negeri Sembilan State Museum
After finishing the game, we made a detour to Negeri Sembilan State Museum, also known as Teratak Perpatih. It is located at the heart of Seremban. Teratak Perpatih is an example of Minangkabau house with the spired roof in the shape of the horns of a buffalo. Apart from Teratak Perpatih which houses the artefacts from the local area, there are two other buildings which are Istana Ampang Tinggi and Rumah Negeri Sembilan.
A bit on Istana Ampang Tinggi. The wooden palace was built by the 5th Yamtuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Yamtuan Ulin who ruled between 1861-1869 overlooking the paddy fields. The palace was later given to his daughter, Tunku Chindai when she married Tunku Muda Chik, the son of the 4th Yamtuan Besar. As is the tradition to enter traditional Malay houses, you are expected to take off your shoes to enter. Mind your head at the entrance door. The door opening is quite low that your head might bump the roof.
Interestingly, when I entered the black wooden palace, the trays of food were spread on the floor. A group of 4-5 people sat cross-legged circling each tray of food. The style of dining is known as ‘makan bersilo’ in Negeri Sembilan. Doa was recited and we devoured the rice and dishes of ayam masak lemak, ikan keli berlado and mixed vegetables. According to the museum officer, normally a high-rank person in adat perpatih would set the ball rolling. Everyone else would start eating when he starts eating and stop whenever he stops eating. Though the tradition has not been closely followed in recent years. If you are interested with makan berselo package, please contact Muzium Negeri Sembilan for more details.
The officer also shared the tradition known as fetching the living husband of a deceased Minang wife. The mention of this tradition vaguely reminds me of when my grandfather was fetched by his siblings because he has no right to remain in the adat house belonging to my deceased grandmother. The story was related to me by my mother who is from Kuala Pilah, one of the few towns that still practice the custom. Apart from that particular incident, I don’t quite remember any other custom followed by my mother’s family except that our kampung house is the adat house.
We paid a brief visit to Muzium Negeri Sembilan which houses 2 galleries; ie. pilately and stamps and cannons.
Negeri Sembilan: Muzium Lukut
Our journey continued to Muzium Lukut where we had to do few tasks including answering 10 questions, guessing the weight of the green beans and name of spices by smelling. Before continuing with the given tasks, Mr Peter Augustine briefed us on the significance of Muzium Lukut.
Apparently, the history of Lukut is interconnected with the history of Selangor. Lukut once prospered as the supplier of tins way before Perak and Kuala Lumpur were made famous for the said resources. Under the reign of Raja Busu Raja Dahlan, a Selangor royal member, the production of tin ores began in the early 1800s. It was then that the labor from China and other places were brought in contributing to the present multi-racial harmony of Melaka. Due to the high tax imposed by Raja Busu, Raja Busu and his family were murdered. Raja Bot (remember the street name near Chow Kit Road) tried to save Lukut but to no avail. It was during Raja Bot’s reign that Lukut was surrendered to Negeri Sembilan in exchange for Beranang.
Another trivia I gathered from the trip to Lukut Museum was Yap Ah Loy, the founder of Kuala Lumpur, worked as a chef to tin miners in Lukut before he moved to Sungei Ujong and eventually founded Kuala Lumpur.
From Muzium Lukut, we continued our journey to Treasures Hotel and Suites where we would stay for 2 nights. Once we reached the hotel, we gobbled down the buffet dinner provided by the Treasures Hotel and Suites.
Celebration of International Museum Day 2018 in Melaka
Later in the night, we went to the opening night for the national level celebration of the International Museum Day 2018. Believe it or not, Malaysia has been celebrating the International Museums Day since 1997. This year marked the 22nd year of celebration. The objective of the museum day is to create awareness on the importance of museums in the society. Most museums are organizing activities throughout the month in conjunction with the International Museum Day such as spending a night in the museum.
In conjunction with the celebration, 25 museums from all over Malaysia took part in the exhibition at Memorial Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan, Melaka.
Galeri dan Seni Muzium Bank Negara showcased the printing of bank notes and the safe room where gold bars and valuables are kept.
And a peep into their safe box be like…
Muzium Kelantan brought the theme of traditional games. Here I was introduced to the glow in the dark tops spinning. Also demonstrated is the art of making the tops spinning.
Universiti Teknologi Terengganu focused on the usage of hologram to identify the different types of fluids in animal bodies.
Penang State Museum came up with a creative hairstory by bringing the heritage worthy barbershop, the Son & Dad all the way from Penang to set up their barbershop on site.
The 3D2N Media Challenge 2.0 was made possible by the invitation of Tourism Malaysia in collaboration with the Department of Museums, Malaysia.