NEEDING more bite to better protect and preserve its heritage, Sarawak will be amending its cultural heritage ordinance.

Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth, and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the 25-year-old Sarawak Cultural Heritage Ordinance would be tabled at the opening session of the state assembly in May next year “to have better provisions” to reflect the growing work of the Museum Department.

Karim said the amendments would include provisions on the preservation of the state’s historical forts, the restructuring of the Museum Department whose workforce will be increased from 20 to 106, the establishment of offices in central and northern Sarawak, and the setting-up of regional museums.

The forts were built to protect rural towns and settlements from pirates when the state was administered by the Brooke family.

“We are moving forward and we want proper laws to better protect and preserve our heritage,” he told reporters at a site visit to inspect the physical progress of the Sarawak museum campus and heritage trail project in Kuching.

The museum campus and heritage trail project, costing a total of RM308 million, includes refurbishing and renovating the 110-year-old natural history museum into a modern state-of-the-art museum, and building a totally new cultural and heritage museum on the opposite side of Rock Road.

The natural history museum’s display of special collections found in Borneo, such as skeletons of mammals, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, inserts, fishes, and shells, all of which have been conserved, is considered one of the best in Southeast Asia and is a popular place for locals and tourists alike.

The physical progress of the new cultural and heritage museum is 92% completed.

“We are targeting to complete the building by the end of March 2019,” Karim said.

However, it will be another year before the museum will be opened to the public.

Karim said choosing what artifacts to exhibit, writing the exhibits’ captions, and setting the displays on the five floors of the cultural and heritage museum are lengthy and tedious, and have to be done meticulously.

He said that for example, only 20% of the thousands of artifacts the museum have can go on display, and choosing which ones is already mind-boggling.

The cultural and heritage museum will be 30% interactive, Karim said.

He said, for example, that there will be a section where visitors can get hands-on experience with weaving “pua kumbu” – the traditional Iban blanket – or making traditional wicker baskets with expert craftsmen.

It will also have a children’s gallery. The basement will be its artifact storage area, with a new high-tech conservation lab.

Karim said the cultural and heritage museum “will be the new pride of all Sarawakians as it will reflect our heritage and our identity”. – October 26, 2018.