IIUM Students To Showcase The Malay Garden In Australia

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- A group of Malaysian students from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) plan to introduce the Malay garden to the world at a landscape exhibition in Australia next month.

The project, being undertaken by students from IIUM`s Architecture and Environmental Design Faculty with the cooperation of the University of Melbourne, is aimed at promoting the distinctive features of the Malay garden.

The exhibition`s project director, Amru Hakim Azaharie Mohamed Zahari, said the aim was to expose their study on the Malay garden so that it would become popular and be integrated eventually with the international landscape.

The IIUM students are seeking sponsors to finance the project, costing about RM500,000, that would involve taking 30 students and exhibition materials to Melbourne and Sydney for 10 days.
He said this was necessary as the Asian community could identify the Balinese and Japanese gardens but not the Malay garden, which was a shame as it could match the beauty of the other gardens.

"The Malay garden has existed since the days of the Melaka Sultanate with its forbidden gardens within the palace grounds, similar to the forbidden gardens in China`s Forbidden City," said Amru Hakim.

Features of the Malay garden include arches made of silver, bronze or limestone with lakes, and rivers lined by flowering trees and herbs.

The Malay garden also has its own form of security system in place with bamboo plants at the back and sides to act as a fortress.

Its features were dealt with at length in old books like Bustan Al-Salatin (The Garden of Kings) and Hikayat Hang Tuah (The Narration of Hang Tuah).

The Malay garden differs from the Balinese garden (statue and straw lamp), Japanese garden (water, bamboo and stones), Islamic courtyard (enclosed with water fountain, marble and date palms) and the English garden (lawn with stone decorations and hedges).

Amru Hakim said the forbidden gardens of Malay palaces became extinct when the colonialists opened the palaces to the people and foreigners.

The IIUM students hope to receive the cooperation of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage to revive the Malay garden.

Those interested in the project could contact Amru Hakim at the Architecture and Environmental Design Faculty, IIUM in Gombak or call him at 012 - 3425412.

Source: www.bernama.com (2 April 20070)
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