This bond is essential. Every creation of the craftsman must have a point of reference. When we want to create a piece of work, we must first perceive its history and from its history, its shape, style, design. Only then can we arrive at a stage of making. The craftsman imbibes the spirit of his civilization from an artefact, from its surface since each artefact is invested with a spirit that endures. We are able to absorb it because the original makers created and invested it with a sensibility, the effects of which can still be felt. The original makers had a real sense of purpose, one that arose from their veneration and apprehension of their civilization.
This is what we need to talk about. The dimensions, proportions, perceptions are difficult to appreciate today because people have become 'plastic'. We have become a breed that simply cannot embrace such depth. There are no people who are distinct and unique who do not boast the support of a civilization. If you are severed from your civilization, you will certainly meet with error. A civilization is a constant reference, a marker, a presence. It is something the craftsman experiences all the time. Whether he is aware of it or not, he has an unwritten reference to this civilization.
The work of a craftsmen, if it is not anchored in a civilization, becomes mere trend. We have to return to the past to demonstrate what we possess, what has been determined faithfully by a preceding civilization that now waits to be clarified, explained in terms of its genealogy, lineage, ancestry. And this ancestry is clear. It possesses feet and hands and touch. It exists in the material, in wood, in cloth and in gold. I feel, and the craftsman feels, and this feeling is potent. Even if we do not want to experience these feelings, they will nevertheless descend; the blood ties of old... not just a mere generation or two but extending five, six generations.
Craftsmen today still have faith in the guru asal and we still possess the artefacts of our civilization. These artefacts need not necessarily be a structure, such as Borobudur or Angkor Wat. They can be a piece of broken wood, a shard of glass, but they still have a story. It is in this that we must seek deeper, keeping the faith, for we must realize that art and all creation does not come about through an individual's creative resources alone. A work of art is a legacy bequeathed by a civilization that is faithful to its particular way of life, its religion. That which is a result of individual creativity does not endure. It is the sensibility and knowledge that is supported by religion and a civilization that lasts. That is why we have to return to Langkasuka.
I have long thought about it and believe that we cannot use any other term. The craftsman believes such a civilization exists. The intellectual studies notes; we have to study the earth, its origins. As a craftsman, I am convinced from the point of view of craftsmanship. The existence of this civilisation is obvious in the design, form, motif. The work of our predecessors was all wrought with the soul, with the mata hati, with a sensibility and not mere feeling—they used thought, not their passion. If you use only passion you will not succeed in conveying the message. Certainly, the process of creation is clear in the decoration, embellishment, style and symbol of their craft. Most importantly, you perceive a current from this civilization. It does not speak of wealth or riches but tells of the experience of a people past who were faithful to their way of life, who were unwilling to go against the ways of their civilization. Each work possesses its own measure, skill, symbol, identity—an identity that emerges from the earth. It does not come from the sky or the people, but from the earth.
PANEL (AR002A)
Masjid Aur Menatjung, Pattani, pre-18th c., medang hitam wood, 35.5 x 20.3 x 1 cm
A fragment of a panel from above a wall aperture, executed in tebuk tembus berukir, roughly translated as the fully pierced and carved technique. Discarded from a very early mosque in Pattani, it demonstrates the qualities found in early Langkasukan design which embodied restrained symmetry and balance and a fluid and natural line. The Langkasukan motifs, symbolic of early Hindu iconography, are joined by a complex interplay of stems. Medang hitam wood is considered to have spiritual qualities, and as such is suitable also for making religious artefacts, such as book rests (rehal) for the Koran (see page 107).
If you understand and appreciate matters of embellishment, decoration, design and style, you will perceive the closeness of these people to nature. In nature, they do not live in wealth, with a sense of T, 'my race'... no... they are close to nature, unwilling to overturn a log of wood, disturb a shrub. They are familiar with nature and understand that everything is shared between people and plants and that they are compelled to expressing this closeness. People who understand what influences their thoughts and shapes their character understand that nature feeds the soul. It is a realization that comes from a spirit that is rooted in a civilization. This cannot be experienced in an urban setting. If I want to speak on the history of the keris, I cannot do it at the KLCC [Kuala Lumpur City Centre]; I need to be by the banks of the Kelantan and Pattani rivers, talk in places where the soul and spirit of my heritage exist.
A sensibility, an experience is not something I can talk of easily. I can sit here and speak of it only because I want to share the experience, the experience of the smell of wood, its feel, its sharpness, the texture of the grindstone. If we can truly imbibe and experience this we may become, at least for a while, stone, wood... we may enter. That is why we cannot leave history behind because history is a reference for all these experiences. You cannot discover this in a library or an institution of higher learning. You have to meet the craftsman....
Detail of the tail of a ceremonial bird (see pages 114-15), showing the symmetrical design of flowers and leaves of the keraknasi plant (lit. scrapings from the rice pot which resemble the way in which the leaves of this plant curl). While the motifs on each side of the tail share a common shape, the details in each vary, testimony to the woodcarver's attention to detail and to his artistry.
Footnote
* Nik Rashiddin Nik Hussein, master carver and charismatic savant of Malay woodcarving philosophy, was convinced that the motifs and designs of the carvings of northeastern Peninsular Malaysia and Pattani were the product of specific historic circumstance. The unique composition of these motifs, their coherent sense of identity and extraordinary restraint and refinement all spoke to him of a single source of great vitality and influence. This source, he believed, was the ancient kingdom of Langkasuka (see pages 153—60). In the artistry of Malay woodcarving from this region, he saw a living link to the heritage of Langkasuka. In an interview with Eddin Khoo, shortly before his death in August 2002, Nik Rashiddin talks about his beliefs.
The Cult of Wood
Malay civilization has produced countless artefacts and works of art that are now part of the common inheritance of humanity. For centuries, the craftsmen and artists of the Malay world have created not only works of art of unsurpassed beauty and aesthetic value, but have also developed an aesthetic canon that is uniquely theirs. The world of Malay art and culture is therefore one that has to be understood through a lexicon of its own. Understanding the principles of Malay art requires knowledge of a specific semiotics, linguistics and philology that help us decode the hermeneutics of Malay art and culture.1
That such a hermeneutic approach is required in order to fully comprehend the depth of meaning found in Malay art is hardly surprising given that most developed civilizations have evolved a complex matrix of symbols, ideas, beliefs and values that have become ingrained in the rubric of societal relations commonly referred to as 'culture'. Malay art, which has evolved since the pre-Islamic period and which has absorbed elements, forms, ideas and values from a number of civilizational and cultural sources, ranging from paganism, animism, the Hindu—Buddhist era, the philosophy and culture of Islam, as well as influences from Europe, China and India, is itself no stranger to cultural innovation and development.
Despite the unending process of cross-cultural borrowing