State to receive 412 historic Bornean artefacts from Dutch city

November 27, 2017

Forster (fifth left) presents a historic artefact to Abdul Karim (fourth right) witnessed by Janelle (third right), Ipoi (fourth left) and other officials.

KUCHING: Sarawak will receive 412 historic artefacts which have been donated by the City of Delft in the Netherlands to the Sarawak Museum Department to be displayed in the exhibition galleries of the new Sarawak Museum Campus.

Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah recently received one of the 412 historic artefacts, when he led a delegation from Sarawak to pay an appreciation visit to the city of Delft to convey the gratitude of the Sarawak State Government.

According to an article published by Asia-Europe Museum Network (Asemus) dated yesterday (Nov 27), the Deputy Mayor of Delft Ferrie Forster and the Director of Heritage Delft Janelle Moerman ceremonially handed over the collection to Abdul Karim and Sarawak Museum Department director Ipoi Datan at Museum Prinsenhof in Delft, the Netherlands.

Abdul Karim conveyed the gratitude of the Sarawak State Government on the generous donation of the highly unique 412 Bornean ethnographic items to the Sarawak Museum.

“The donation greatly complements the Sarawak Museum’s own collection and augurs well to assist in achieving its vision of becoming the ‘Global Centre for Bornean Heritage by 2030’.

“The Sarawak government is ever keen to ensure that such artefacts that originated from Borneo, the world’s third largest island, would be returned to its original abode,” he was quoted as saying.

Abdul Karim also acknowledged the role that Sarawak Museum Campus senior project director Hans van de Bunte had played in this matter.

Museum Nusantara, in the city of Delft, The Netherlands, closed its doors to the public in 2013 and the city government with Heritage Delft started a project to find new museum owners for the collection of artefacts.

The possibility to acquire a selection of historic artefacts from Borneo came under the attention of the Sarawak Museum Campus’ senior project leader.

The Sarawak Museum, a member of Asemus, was seen as the appropriate location for this collection. 

A formal request was prepared and initiated the successful donation by the Dutch institute to the Sarawak Museum. -TheBorneoPost