Kuala Lumpur - WHEN the Raja Perempuan of Kelantan Tengku Anis held a week-long cultural festival in New York City earlier this year, she invited Henry Bong to organise a parallel expo of unique Kelantanese textiles on the premises of the United Nations.
Sarawak-born Bong, who has the rare gift of combining traditional Malaysian art with contemporary interior design, gladly obliged.
THE royal invitation illustrates Bong`s tremendous influence in the local arts and design scene.
The 54-year-old is a respected art dealer, art historian, businessman and passionate lover of Malaysia`s cultural heritage and is regularly deferred to by prestigious patrons of the local arts.
But when Bong isn`t busy lending his considerable expertise to various local and foreign projects, he can be found lovingly tending to his highlyesteemed gallery-museum, Pucuk Rebung.
Located on the third level of the Suria KLCC, Pucuk Rebung may not be a household name among Malaysians — which is surprising, considering the fact that it has a prominent mention in international publications, such as Museums of Southeast Asia and the Insight series` Kuala Lumpur City Guide — but it is considered a must-visit by foreign art and culture buffs.
The gallery-museum receives visits from buyers and art lovers from across the globe who describe Pucuk Rebung as “a treasure house of Malaysian heritage”, and which is sometimes graced by the presence of foreign journalists who study Pucuk Rebung`s rare artifacts and feature them in their international art magazines.
Where the past is present Named after the classic bamboo shoot motif prevalent in traditional Malaysian iconography, Pucuk Rebung is home to Bong`s thousands of cultural artworks and artifacts painstakingly collected since the 1960s.
Incorporating all eras, from the Bronze age to the present day, Pucuk Rebung boasts bronze, precious metal, wood, ceramic, textile and glass artifacts; rare and important maps, documents and manuscripts; as well as unique and priceless paintings and sculptures.
“We use art to depict Malaysia`s history,” said Bong, who founded the gallery-museum in 1997 using private funds.
“Our rare artifacts include letters from the three white Rajahs of Malaysia. We even have ceramics similar the ones from Bujang Valley, dating back to the Sri Vijayan period of the 14th century AD.” Bong likes to describe Pucuk Rebung as a venue of `cultural reaffi rmation`, priding himself on the fact that it is a far cry from the `typical` museum which displays artifacts in impersonal, glass show cases.
“We are a museum, if you like — but without the bureaucratic red tape,” he said. And though most of the exhibits at Pucuk Rebung are of unique beauty and rarity, the gallery-museum`s success is also attributable to Bong`s imaginative, viewer-friendly presentation of said objects, as can be seen by the presence of visiting art lovers who rarely leave without having meticulously viewed the entire gallery.
The collections are presented in a chronological order, starting from the early Hindu Sri Vijayan Buddhist era through to the proto-Islamic phase; the Borneo infl uence to the onset of Islam and the ensuing cultural conversion.
Exhibits include old historic pictures, Buddha statues from the Ayuthia and Rattanakosin era, heavy silver belts and buckles and countless other carefully-catalogued objects.
Another factor that makes the gallery-museum a standout is that while many art venues have simply become commercial vehicles for the art trade, Pucuk Rebung reserves 20 per cent of its exhibits for its `permanent collection`.
This includes many silver items from the 19th century Swettenham collection; Sultan Abu Bakar`s photographs; pictures of Datuk Onn Jaafar, the father of Malayan nationalism; a rare letter from Tun Abdul Razak recommending Tunku Abdul Rahman to the Bar; and a letter from the last White Rajah, Charles Brook, dated March 1, 1933.
Regarding Henry “I get many foreign tourists, including Americans, asking me to ship some of the objects they see at Pucuk Rebung to them,” said Bong, who has a special affi nity for New York`s Metropolitan Museum, where he spends hours whenever he visits the Big Apple.
In a way, the demand goes some way towards realising Bong`s ultimate dream, which is to hold exhibitions of his artifacts in the United States and other countries to depict Malaysia`s art, culture and history.
Bong, whose academic and professional background served him well in dealing with the commercial aspects of art collecting (he was a high-powered banker from 1976 to 1997), has delivered numerous lectures on a range of art and Malaysiana-related topics.
“In fact, I shall give a lecture on Borneo`s history with the title Borneo, Bronze and Brassware in Brunei this month.”
This “walking, talking presenter of Malaysia`s art history” — as one American visitor of the gallery recently described him — has also organised and curated a number of seminars and exhibitions.
Besides the exhibition of Kelantanese textiles at the United Nations in New York, Bong curated the 19th Century Exhibition and Market of Art, Antiquities and Textile Art at the Castello di Sartirana in Pavia, Italy, in 1999; Art and Nationalism: Past and Present at the National Art Gallery in the same year; and a Glimpse of the Glory of the Brunei and Kelantan Sultanates at Istana Batu and Istana Johar in Kota Baru, in conjunction with the visit of the Sultan of Brunei to Kelantan, also in 1999. Kelantan`s Raja Perempuan, one of the many who have been impressed by Bong`s talent and passion, has been a patron of his gallery, and consults him in art and designrelated matters.
In fact, Bong was asked to handle the entire interior designing of the old hall of the Kelantan palace for the wedding of the Royal Crown Prince of Kelantan in 2004.
“I had to study the architecture of the palace hall. I decided to blend Malayan infl uences with colonial patterns while conceptualising the interior design,” he said.
Bong`s latest project sees him interior designing Malaysia`s Royal Salon — the special train carriage that is being created for exclusive use by the Sultans and also the Prime Minister.
To be based in Kuala Lumpur, the Royal Salon is expected to go into operation in March 2008. These and other projects will undoubtedly keep the prolif c culture enthusiast busy for many years to come. Suffi ce it say, Malaysia`s cultural heritage will continue to chug along nicely, with trusty, tireless and enthusiastic Bong at the commands.
Source: www.mmail.com.my (19 Desember 2007)
