Miri Prison chosen as centre to produce songket, S’wak batik

MIRI: Miri Prison has been chosen by the Prisons Department as one of the institutions to produce songket and Sarawak batik.

These handicraft products will be made by the inmates.

“This effort is capable of instilling the love for heritage art of this country in the inmates and I am sure the songket and Sarawak batik done by them will be well received by the public, just like the fabric productions done by other prisons in the peninsula,” said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Masir Kujat at the National Dual Training System ( SLDN) Malaysia Prisons Department ( Sarawak Zone) convocation at the industrial training institute ( ILP) here yesterday.

Among the well-known fabric arts centres in Peninsular Malaysia are the Penor and Bentong prisons in Pahang for the production of the ‘ Tenun DiRaja Pahang’ (Pahang Royal Weaving), Marang Prison in Terengganu for songket, Kajang Women’s Prison in Selangor, Pengkalan Chepa and Machang prisons in Kelantan for batik.

“I was informed that the request for these products is very encouraging whereby last year alone, the sales exceeded RM836,000 – this is something that we can definitely be proud of,” Masir said.

Since SLDN was introduced to prisons in Malaysia in June 2012, a total of 10,248 inmates have obtained SLDN skills certification across various fields – 407 of them are from Sarawak prisons.

“In this year alone, the Human Resources Ministry through the Department of Skills Development (JPK) has allocated RM1.24 million to enhance the skills programmes for the inmates. I was also informed that as at March this year, 1,050 apprentices were registered at 42 prisons and Correctional Rehabilitation Centres ( PPPs) involving 47 areas of expertise offered.”

Masir added that the number of inmates registered (for training) would be increased from time to time – last year, 2,009 inmates were eligible for certification, which was an achievement of 133.93 per cent.

“Undoubtedly, the collaboration across agencies has helped in producing highly-skilled inmates and indeed, the support from families and community is very much needed for these inmates to start their lives anew and let go of their past mistakes.

“We hope their presence back into the community with a new determination will be a step for them to move forward as it is not easy for them to build a career, in that they have to compete with the current workforce – if we do not give them the opportunity, it is not impossible for them to go back doing something that they should not be doing,” Masir stressed.

A total of 36 apprentices from the prisons in Miri, Puncak Borneo ( Kuching), Sri Aman, Sibu and Limbang received their certificates at the ceremony yesterday.