Kajang Prisoner Dept.'s My Pride Gallery | Kembara Kraf Selangor

“Ignorant as ignorant can be.

I heard and know that there are alot of activities that the prisoners do to develop and enhance their skillsets and at the same time generate income. Little did I know their produce is of international standard. Being at My Pride Gallery under Kajang Prisoner Dept. opened my eyes and has truly educated me. Given a chance, guidance, proper training; they too can be a high achiever with their skillset. Here we see basket weaving, batik canting, metal and wood art etc were crafted to the detail; intricately and exquisitely. Perfect.

Yes. Public can purchase it too, to help, encourage them, and boost their moral and confidence; and to remind us of humbleness, and humility.

I guess we learn new things every day.”

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The above was what I wrote on my Instagram and I couldn’t say it any better nor longer. It pretty much says it all.

Background

The Prisons Department have taken steps to diversify theproduction of quality and competitive products to be marketed widely byimproving skills of staff and inmates. Various trainings have been conducted inorder to produce high-quality production standards and the standards set. It isaimed to give satisfaction to the customers. Up to now, the Prisons Departmenthas had 4 pieces of Prisons Product Galleries in Prison Headquarters, KotaKinabalu, Alor Setar and Ayer Keroh than have a showroom and sales in eachprison institution.

Their batik design as worn by Miss Malaysia during the pageant, a collaboration with Tenun Pahang Diraja. All batiks are hand painted.

Earlier

I went with no expectation except of what I’ve heard, and clearly what I’ve heard did not paint to correct picture, their craft were ‘undersold, undervalued, underappreciated’. They deserve more attention and highlights, at least to my opinion. And I believe you will share my sentiment or at least amazement when you walk into the My Pride Gallery. The craft, the detailing, and the creativity is to be awed, I especially like the metalwork such as the bench, swings, sattee etc. 

One that fascinated all of us is the use of old denim to transforming it as sofa upholstery. The answer is Yes, they do sofa upholstery too, just provide the material you wish and send you sofa over. Creativity at its best I would say.

Talk about technology, if visiting the place worries you, you can also visit their MyPride - Online Shopping portal and place your purchase or simply view what they have to offer here : http://jpmportal.prison.gov.my/tempahan/

Providing them with social skill and survival skill to help them move forward positively is an admirable work that Kajang Prisoner Dept. have done. Kudos!

Kembara Kraf Selangor Media Fam Trip is in collaboration with Tourism Selangor and UPEN with #GayaTravel as media coordinator.