KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 – Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah today accepted the Honorary Diploma of Batik Craft from the National Craft Institute (IKN) for her valuable contributions in elevating the standard of the national craft industry, especially the batik textile art.
The Honorary Diploma, which is the highest honours conferred by the institute, was presented to the Queen by Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan at Istana Negara.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Khairul Firdaus, on behalf of the government, expressed deep gratitude and congratulations to Her Majesty for having taken the country’s craft industry to the global stage.
“All this while, Her Majesty has been playing a huge role in promoting and empowering batik craft, including during her visits overseas. For that, we have received a lot of positive feedback about our art and craft industry,” he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Handicraft director-general ‘Ainu Sham Ramli said Tunku Azizah’s collection of 30 pieces of batik themed “A Queen’s Touch: An Exploration and Experimentation in Batik Inderapura” will be exhibited at the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex in conjunction with this year’s National Craft Day.
The collection was made personally by the Queen throughout her three years of involvement with IKN.
“Her Majesty Tunku Azizah has devoted her time and passion to batik craft at IKN and created batik pieces using her own ideas, including patterns and the selection of colours.
“That is a very valuable skill of Tunku Azizah, which she also shares with students and instructors at IKN,” ‘Ainu Sham said, adding that the exhibition could serve as a source of inspiration for national batik artisans to produce more batik products for the market.
