BANDAR PERMAISURI: The Northeast Monsoon season is usually time to rest for fishermen in Setiu district because they cannot go out to sea due to treacherous strong winds and rough seas.
During this period on dry land, they spend their time indulging in various activities such as repairing broken fishing traps or nets and finding side income like river fishing or village work to cover family expenses until the monsoonal turbulence subsides.
On another horizon however, it is a new voyage of discovery on terra firma for the new generation of young fishermen like Muhammad Hafizudin Bakri Abdullah, 22, who is taking advantage of this monsoon season to learn the vanishing art of building traditional fishing boats.
Muhammad Hafizudin Bakri said he decided to take up the Terengganu art of traditional boat-building, not just for the wage of RM300 a week, but to keep alive the near-forgotten legacy of boat-building.
“Before this, when the monsoon season came, I would repair the boat I used to catch fish in or fish in the river. But this time I was hired by a traditional boat-builder. It can be likened to the Malay proverb ‘sambil menyelam minum air’ (killing two birds with one stone) because while I learn, I also receive wages,” he told Bernama in Kampung Telaga Papan in Setiu near here.
A native of Kampung Telaga Papan who has turned fisherman since the age of 10, he sought to learn the skill from veteran fisherman Abdullah Daud, 69, the only traditional fishing boat builder in the village.
Muhammad Hafizudin Bakri, along with four other workers, is currently building a boat 18 metres long with a width of 5.5m which was commissioned by a customer from Kuala Nerus.
Meanwhile, Hasrul Abdullah, 32, unlike his peers who work in the city, prefers to hunker down in the village and help his father Abdullah (Daud), better known as ‘Pok Pen’, to build traditional fishing vessels.
The fifth of six siblings said he is the only one in the family interested in becoming an apprentice to inherit the skills of traditional fishing boat-building from his father.
“From when I was little, I have watched my father building boats, so the interest gradually arose. After all, I was also sympathetic because my father is ageing and is not that fit to cut a lonely figure working in the boat yard alone. I also want to continue what my dad is doing so that the craft does not disappear in the current of modernity,” he said.
Following the current trend, Hasrul often uploads videos of his work and the boat-building process on his TikTok account to attract more young people to learn about traditional fishing boats, especially in Terengganu.
Meanwhile, Pok Pen feels grateful and is relieved that there are still young people like Muhammad Hafizudin Bakri and also his son Hasrul who are interested in mastering the construction of traditional fishing boats from him.
He said he was also happy because he was able to inherit the knowledge of boat-building using the wooden pegs joinery technique whereby thousands of wooden pegs are tediously made for enjoining planks together, which is often used by boat makers in Terengganu.
“For wooden boat hulls in Terengganu craft, many artisans use wooden pegs to join the planks instead of using ordinary steel nails because if the nails are exposed to seawater, they will quickly rust, get loosened and drop out.
“Besides that, between the gaps of the enjoined planks, we will insert the bark of the Gelam tree to ensure a tight fit so that there are no gaps in the boat that can leak,” he said.
He said the boat he is building is made of Chengal Kampung wood and Merah Seraya wood, which will be sold at a price of RM550,000.
“In the past, the price of a boat like this was only around RM300,000 but the price of wood is getting more expensive. We use Cengal Kampung wood and Seraya Merah wood. If we use better quality Cengal, we will sell the boat for RM800,000 because the cost of Cengal planks is very expensive,” said Pok Pen, who has been mastering the Terengganu heritage of building traditional fishing boats since he was 15 years old. –Bernama
