The Mah-Meri woodcarving process

摘要

In Malaysia, the main focus of Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli (JAKOA) is helping aboriginal people on various aspects in their lives. For example, education, accommodation, basic survival skills and other facilities for this group of people to adapt and survive in modern times of Malaysia [1]. However, are these efforts enough? The Mah-Meri people are one of the nineteen tribes of aboriginal people in Malaysia. The homeland of this ethnic tribe is situated in Carey Island, located less than forty miles from Kuala Lumpur, hidden in plain sight. The Mah-Meri tribes survives by producing creative handy crafts such as wood carvings and weavings to keep themselves afloat in these challenging times. The ancestral skills and stories of their ethnic tribe are passed down by word and mouth from generation to generation. However as the society moves towards the future, many of the skills and stories are forgotten and lost [2]. Some of the Mah-Meri people have moved on working in the city and there are still a portion of them continuing the legacy. Due to that, it has arisen that the Tompoq Tompoh Mah-Meri Women's ‘First Weave’ project, states that it is obvious and that there is a need to document their oral tradition and culture [2]. In this paper, the documentation of the Mah-Meri wood carving shall be presented in a digital platform. The demand of interactive systems are flooding the technology industry where every individual are now armed or equipped with a digital device [3]. Interactive systems play an important role in the effort of preserving the Mah-Meri tribe's culture and heritage. In this paper, a documentation journey of the Mah-Meri wood carving process into digital platform will be discussed. The final output of the prototype targeted to users of the Malaysian public and international audience.