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IBAN TEXTILES20Left: Grand aunt Lenguti Langi,admiring her final pua kumbu,woven in 1949. Notice the whiteselvedges which can only beused by master weavers whohave completed their first cycleof weaving. Miri, 1990.Below: Grand aunt Lenguti and I,surrounded by her pua kumbu.Miri, 1990.
21 IBAN TEXTILESIn 1992, Director of the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, Puan Wairah Marzuki, invited meto give a talk on Iban textiles at an exhibition of the Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. In 1993, I was invitedby Dr. Hanne Christensen (27) to give a series of talks on Saribas Iban textiles at the Universityof Aahus and the University of Copenhagen, respectively. This was made possible by a grantfrom DANIDA which funded Dr. Christensen‘s research. In 1994, I contributed a chapter on Ibantextiles, Sacred Blanket of the Iban of Sarawak, in Dato‘ Haji Sulaiman Othman‘s The Crafts ofMalaysia, (pp. 151-59, Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.)And then in 1995, I moved from Borneo to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, to climbthe corporate ladder and pursue a career in the fast and furious lanes of the 21st century. In 2000, Istarted my own business in the music industry and allowed my research on Iban ritual textiles totake a back-seat. It was all very well living in the city until last year when another epiphany tookplace; this time more personal and arresting in nature.After 15 years in the bustling metropolis of Kuala Lumpur as an executive producer in theMalaysian music industry, the voices of my forefathers and foremothers began to call to me again,and in January 2010, I finally re-located back to Borneo, and returned home to Stambak. Retiredfrom the ultra-modern and profit-driven corporate world, I have resumed the research of my legacy.My seminal essay on Saribas ritual textiles from the indigenous Iban perspective, RestoringPanggau Libau: A Reassessment of Engkeramba in Saribas Iban Ritual <strong>Textile</strong>s, was recently publishedin the Borneo Research Bulletin Volume 40, 2009. There is still much to research and record.Although I never sat at the foot of great-grandmother Sendi to inherit her secrets first-hand,her voice spoke compellingly through my grand aunts, reverberating through the ages within thestories they told. It is now my duty to tell these stories to the next generation, preserve them permanentlyand share them with the world.ReferencesBaring-Gould, S. & Bampfylde, C. A, A history of Sarawak under its two white rajahs, 1839-1908,H. Sotheran & Co, London, 1909.Cramb, R. A. & Nordic Institute of <strong>Asian</strong> Studies, Land and longhouse: agrarian transformationin the uplands of Sarawak, NIAS Press, Copenhagen, 2007.Heppell, Michael, Limbang anak Melaka, and Enyan anak Usen, Iban Art: Sexual Selection andSevered Heads--Weaving, Sculpture, Tattooing and Other Arts of the Iban of Borneo,: C.Zwartenkot-Art Books/KIT Publishers, Leiden/Amsterdam, 2005.Pringle, Robert M, Rajahs and Rebels:The Ibans of Sarawak under Brooke Rule, 1841-1941,Cornell University Press, New York, 1970.Footnotes(1) Orang Kaya Pemancha Dana Bayang X Mengan Tuai (f) = Orang Kaya Aji Pangeran BunsuX Dimah (f) = Mindu (f) X Panglima Budin Gerasi = Mengan (f) X Tuai Ketit = Sendi (f) X Gelau= Inja (f) X Ivory Kedit = Albert Rumpang X Mary Magdalene (f) = The author. (f) indicatesthe female gender and bold indicates a grandmaster weaver.(2) A tributary of the Saribas.(3) Michael Heppell, personal communication.(4) Pringle 1970:56(5) Pringle 1970:72-74(6) Journal entry, 12th December 1845, in Mundy, Borneo and Celebes, II 78(7) ―Saji [Anglicised version of Aji's name] gallantly attacked, and met the fate he so richly deserved.―Saji's name and acts have been in my ears for years past," wrote the Tuan Muda [CharlesBrooke, the nephew of James Brooke, who was to succeed his uncle as the Second Rajah]. ―Manya bloody deed had been perpetrated, and he always had boasted that the White Men's powder and
Page 1: ISSN 1757-0670ASIAN TEXTILESMAGAZIN
Page 4 and 5: 4OATG EVENTS PROGRAMMETuesday 21 Se
Page 6 and 7: NEWS6Javanese Batik awarded UNESCO
Page 8 and 9: SWAT VALLEY8The artisan traditions
Page 11 and 12: 11 SWAT VALLEYspacing and motifs ar
Page 13 and 14: 13 SWAT VALLEYA shawl from Swat (l)
Page 15 and 16: 15 IBAN TEXTILESA pua kumbu woven b
Page 17 and 18: 17 IBAN TEXTILESSeated, from left:
Page 19: 19 IBAN TEXTILESgrand aunt Lenguti
Page 23 and 24: 23Meandering along the Silk RoadSIL
Page 25 and 26: 25 SILK ROADTextile Fragment.Block
Page 27 and 28: 27 SILK ROADpaste for red areas. Bo
Page 29 and 30: 29 REPORTSAshmolean Museum—now br
Page 31 and 32: 31 BOOK REVIEWThe Wardles— a grea

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