Ni Siap: From Forgotten Craft to Living Tradition
By Ong Ke Shin
July 2025 FEATURE
IN THE MANGROVE-FRINGED fishing village of Kuala Sangga, an elderly man leaned on his walking stick, and dipped his finger into the dye bath I had prepared from mangrove bark. He squinted at me and asked, “Whose daughter are you? Are you from Sepetang or Matang?” I smiled gently. I wasn’t from either. I was a graduate student from Penang, here to collect data for my doctoral research.At an environmental camp organized by Look Port Weld, an NGO, I watched as...
Ong Ke Shin
is a biologist turned geographer who finds joy in experimenting with food and cherishing the diverse wildlife that rhythmically calls on her home garden.
