PRISON BATIK RECEIVES ROYAL RECOGNITION
Johor princess adorns baju kurung that uses fabric woven by prisoners
REMEMBER the classy baju kurung Teluk Belanga worn by Johor princess Tunku Tun Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah Sultan Ibrahim on her wedding day last year?
It was made by a group of talented inmates from the Penor prison using the fabric known as Tenun Pahang DiRaja.
Not many people know about these exquisite songket and batik outfits, which are of high quality and made fit for princesses and princes.
The Penor prison in Pahang is among several rehabilitative facilities that have been running successful programmes for inmates to get involved in batikand songket-making activity, while imparting entrepreneural skills. The Kajang Women’s Prison introduced its batik workshop 15 years ago as part of an initiative to impart skills to inmates so they could find work after serving time.
Each inmate in the programme is given a certificate upon completing training, which will enable them to work as seamstresses, batik craft workers or entrepreneurs.
Sergeant Nazariah Mohd Nasir, who has been in charge of the batik workshop in Kajang Women’s Prison for the past 30 years, said the programme had a positive impact on inmates.
“When I first started out, I was nervous and scared because we were in charge of overseeing people who were convicted of murders and other high-profile cases. But as time went by, my relationship with them improved. We became close.
“The inmates have no one else to turn to but us.
“We formed a bond with them. They are people just like us. Inmates treat prison officers and wardens like their own sisters, close confidantes, and some of them look up to us mother figures,” said Nazariah.
She is overseeing 18 inmates, including foreigners in the batikmaking workshop. The women are paid between 30 sen and RM4.50 per day, depending on their skills.
The challenge, Nazariah said, was to teach inmates to be patient when working on their projects. She said some of them had a temper and there were language barriers with foreign inmates.
“But there are some participants who do not require much teaching.
“We have one inmate from China who is very skilled at batikmaking.”
The modern and abstract batik outfits made by Kajang Women’s Prison inmates were among the designs that were showcased at a fashion show held in conjuncton with the Batik, Songket and Tenun Pahang diRaja Creative Awards Gala organised by the Prisons Department on Friday night.
The Kajang Women’s Prison bagged the third prize in the batik category award.
The event was graced by Tengku Mahkota of Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and Tengku Puan Pahang Tunku Azizah Maimunah Iskandariah, who is the patron of the Tenun Pahang DiRaja initiative, and Prisons Department director-general Datuk Seri Zulkifli Omar.
Nazariah said she attributed the successs of the prison’s batik workshop to the late associate professor Sulaiman Abdul Ghani, a Universiti Teknologi Mara Art and Design faculty lecturer, who introduced new batik techniques and skills to the prison inmates.
Sulaiman was responsible for teaching inmates, instructors and prison officers about new ways to tackle batik designing.