Queen expresses appreciation towards success of Asean Traditional Textile Symposium

PUTRAJAYA: Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah has expressed her appreciation for the success of the 8th Asean Traditional Textile Symposium.

In her keynote address at the biennial event, Tunku Azizah thanked her committee members and described the symposium as a tremendous success due to their effort.

“I would like to thank my magnanimous committee members for the big effort they have made in making the event a huge success.

“Today, we celebrate your hard work through the success of the five-month planning of the event that was supposed to be held last year, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Tunku Azizah at the closing ceremony of the 8th Asean Traditional Textile Symposium.

Tunku Azizah also expressed her gratitude to Singapore for paving the way for Malaysia to hold the event.

“The symposium was originally Singapore’s turn, however, I asked that Malaysia host the event instead.

“It was also planned to be held in August, but we held it back due to the restrictions that were recently lifted and paying respect to our neighbouring country, Indonesia’s National day,” said Tunku Azizah.

At the closing ceremony, the Queen also passed down the symbolic symposium flag to the representative from Laos as the host for the symposium in 2024.

The date and venue for the Laos symposium will be announced in due time.

A representative from Laos, Duangmala Phommavong, said the country was honoured by the opportunity to host the symposium.

“I would like to thank Malaysia for hosting the event, where the participants have gained many experiences through the symposium and learnt a lot about traditional textiles in Malaysia.

“With this, I hope we could modernise the traditional costume to attract the younger generation to wear it and continuously preserve it for years to come,” she said.

Themed “Celebrating Textiles: A Journey”, the biennial event was officiated by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Sept 26.

Seeing over 300 participants from 13 countries, the biennial event was organised by Yayasan Tenun Pahang Diraja with support from Museum Pahang, Galeri Prima, Media Prima Omnia, Kraftangan Malaysia, the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (Aswara Malaysia); Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Prison Department and Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre.

The six-day event, to end tomorrow, brings together textile artists, artisans and weavers not only from across the country but also from Asean and other regions.

A total of 19 working papers were presented in the symposium.

NST