Breathing life into a forgotten chronicle

Borneo Post

26-04-2025

Syahira and her award-winning artwork, 'Panglima Besar Nikosa'.
NEARLY 150 years after the novel 'Hikayat Panglima Nikosa' was written, its historical narrative has found new life through the eyes and hands of Syahira Yasmin Abdul Kadir, a final-year Diploma in Fine Arts student at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Kota Samarahan Campus.
Through a compelling artistic interpretation, the 21-year-old Kuchingite bridges the realms of literature and visual expression in her final-year project.
Syahira undertook diploma studies in 2022, fuelled by a deep passion for art and a long-term goal of becoming an art curator.
'The reason I chose Fine Arts was because I wanted to pursue art professionally,' she tells thesundaypost .
Her artistic journey has already taken her beyond Sarawak's borders. In May last year, she took part in an exhibition, 'Mapping Sarawak to the World: International Arts Exchange and Exhibition', at Universitas Trisakti in Indonesia.
'It was a collaborative programme between the Centre of Studies Art and Design, Architecture, Building, and Surveying (SSSPU) UiTM Sarawak, the Sarawak Artists Society (SAS), and Universitas Trisakti in Jakarta.
'We were flown there, held an exhibition, and it was a success.
'The experience opened my eyes to culture. We and the Indonesians are 'serumpun' – our cultures, art, and heritage are deeply intertwined. By exploring both similarities and differences, we can merge them into a powerful artistic expression,' she reflects.
For their final-year project, Syahira and her coursemates were tasked with producing artworks across four disciplines: sculpture, drawing, painting, and printmaking; each inspired by themes from Hikayat Panglima Nikosa.
Syahira chose to depict a powerful scene in which the protagonist demonstrated fairness and transparency while distributing war spoils in 19th-century Sarawak.
Syahira shows the photo of the novel 'Hikayat Panglima Nikosa', on her phone.
The scene reinforced a belief in equitable wealth distribution, regardless of social standing – an ideal she sought to visualise through her art.
Her interpretations were featured at the 'ReQaSeni' exhibition, held at Plaza Merdeka Shopping Mall in Kuching from Feb 20 to 23 this year. The exhibition was organised by the Graphic Design Society (GRADES) in collaboration with the Fine Arts Society (FIASO), with RM30,000 in funding from the Sarawak Youth Creative Industry Fund (SYCIF) under the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak (Mysed).
Literary legacy
Originally written by Syawal Abd Hamid, Hikayat Panglima Nikosa was lithographically printed on June 30, 1876, at Bukit Persinggahan in Kampung Boyan, Kuching.
The novel was rediscovered decades later in the Rhodes House Library at Oxford, England, by the Sarawak Literary Society. It had been preserved among the collections of Sir Hugh Low, who once worked alongside James Brooke before becoming the Resident of Perak in 1877.
Today, the work is considered a literary milestone, marking a shift from oral storytelling to written literature in Sarawak's modern literary evolution. It paints a vivid picture of life in that era, offering rare insight into the region's cultural and historical context.
According to Syahira, the story follows a young man named Nikosa, who was entrusted by his father, a local leader, with the task of protecting their homeland from enemy invasions.
'The looming threat instilled fear in the people. They were afraid to leave their homes, disrupting their daily lives to the point where their anxieties followed them even in their dreams.
'The overwhelming fear led many to flee to other regions, causing great concern for Nikosa's father.'
What followed was a series of battles led by Nikosa, whose strategic command and unyielding leadership ultimately brought victory to their land.
His name soon became synonymous not only with military success, but also with justice and fairness – qualities that earned admiration both locally and beyond.
The Sculpture: Saksama
Syahira's re-imagination of Nikosa as a symbol of justice, transparency, and cultural identity is translated into her sculpture 'Saksama', which means 'impartial' in Malay.
By incorporating space and shifting perspectives, the artwork invites viewers to engage with history in a dynamic way – one that is not rigid or static, but alive, fluid, and open to discovery.
'I chose three key elements: first, the figure of Nikosa himself; second, the Iban motifs; and third, the 'terendak', a traditional Melanau headgear.
'Depending on the angle, different aspects of the story reveal themselves. I played with ambiguity and space, manipulating and exaggerating forms to create the artwork.'
Syahira's metal sculpture titled 'Saksama'.
At first glance, Saksama appears as a figure adorned with a 'terendak', but its silhouette shifts depending on the viewer's perspective.
To reflect Nikosa's defining trait of transparency, Syahira incorporated clear perspex panels, embellished with custom-made stickers featuring motifs that she has drawn herself.
'Since he was a leader who was transparent, fair, and just, I used perspex to reflect that. It's clear, revealing everything – just like his character.'
The sticker design also features a set of scales, symbolising Nikosa's role as a just and principled leader, along with Jawi script taken from the novel's original manuscript.
Bringing the sculpture to life required a meticulous process that spanned an entire month.
Syahira worked with metal rods, perspex acrylic, and copper wire – carefully welding, bending, and shaping each component by hand.
'Each part was separate. Long metal rods had to be bent, twisted, and attached through welding.'
'Drawing: The Fair of the Fairest'
Syahira's vibrant drawing titled 'The Fair of the Fairest' uses charcoal, pen, bitumen and mixed-media drawing to explore linguistic influences in historical narratives.
Created on a 36-inch by 36-inch canvas, the artwork highlights the linguistic influences in chronicles, represented through textiles at the centre of the composition.
'In the story, there are elements of the Iban language, such as the word 'mengayau', as well as 'lemantak', which comes from Melanau. There are also language influences from Malay, and Jawi, as the original text itself was written in Jawi.
'That's why I have incorporated textiles such as 'pua kumbu', 'keringkam', 'songket' and 'tenun' as they represent these linguistic influences.'
Charcoal and mixed-media drawing, 'The Fair of the Fairest', by Syahira.
Behind the silhouette of the textiles, intricate Jawi scripts taken directly from the original manuscript can be seen. To preserve the authenticity of the original text, Syahira used the image transfer technique.
'First, I coat the surface, usually plywood, with white paint. Then, I print the image using a laser printer and overlay it onto the surface.
'I apply another layer of white paint, let it dry, then spray it with water and peel off the paper.
'This process transfers the image onto the surface.'
The borders framing the silhouette feature an array of antique objects, including coins and copperware, inspired by the war spoils mentioned in the writing.
'We were given 14 weeks, including time for ideation and drawing. The painting process itself took about three months, while ideation took one to two weeks.'
Syahira acknowledges that the story is still relatively unknown, which is why she aims to help viewers interpret her artwork.
'I want to draw people's attention to the focal point, which is the textile in the middle.
'From there, their attention will shift to the surrounding elements, such as valuable copper objects. Seeing the textiles and copper, they might only assume these were precious items.
'But when they read the description beside the artwork, they will understand that these objects represent the war spoils retrieved by Nikosa and his men from the four unnamed states in the story.'
Syahira says the story does not explicitly state what the war spoils consisted of.
'All of these are my assumptions based on my research. If we look into who the writer was, he was from Sumatra and was brought to Sarawak by James Brooke; hence, we estimate the timeline to be around the 1870s, as the chronicle was written in 1876, about 149 years ago.
'The exact timeline or illustrations on the events not provided in the writings. So, we assume the events happened even earlier, possibly around the 1850s.'
Syahira says the writing only describes some of the war spoils as 'colourful textiles', while as for the other valuables, it is stated that they were so heavy that 10 men were needed to carry them.
'From this, we can infer that these were treasures of great value. The textiles reflect linguistic influences, while the coins are my own interpretation of the valuable items mentioned.'
'Intaglio printmaking'
Following 'The Fair of the Fairest', which focuses on language, heritage, and interpretation through drawing, Syahira carries these explorations into printmaking with a more tactile and technical approach.
For this medium, she has produced an intaglio print titled 'Harta Titik Mukim II', rendered on a 16.5-inch by 23.4-inch canvas.
Harta Titik Mukim II centres on the interpretation of the war spoils collected by Panglima Nikosa. Using the dry-point etching technique, Syahira has employed varied linework to create texture and convey the distinct qualities of each object depicted.
'The key artistic principle in this piece is balance, achieved through the alignment of objects to create visual harmony. One of the elements featured, the 1872 Sarawak one-cent coin, was included to establish the time period of the narrative.'
The completed intaglio print titled 'Harta Titik Mukim II'.
On her technique, Syahira explains that intaglio is a printmaking method in which an image is incised into a surface, typically a metal plate, so that the recessed lines hold the ink.
'There are various materials that can be used, and I chose an acrylic plate, along with black linoleum ink, the same type used in newspapers, and traditional etching tools.'
The process begins with digital ideation for the composition. Syahira then prints it out and manually traces it to preserve the original proportions and dimensions.
'This drawing method helps maintain the exact size and proportions of the artwork. The next step is to transfer the drawing onto the plate using a sharp tool – what we call the etching phase.
'Since the marks can be difficult to see, especially on acrylic, I use a flashlight as an alternative to a lightbox. We usually do this in a darkened setting to better see the fine lines.'
Once the etching is done, Syahira applies linoleum ink across the plate, wiping the surface clean so that the ink remains only in the recessed lines.
The printing process begins by soaking the paper for five to 10 minutes. She recommends thicker paper for successful results.
'This part requires a lot of multitasking because you need to avoid over-soaking the paper. If it's too wet, the ink bleeds during printing; if you're doing printmaking, you'll know how frustrating this can be.
'Sharp lines and clean paper are essential. Otherwise, the print is considered a failed one.'
Once the plate is inked and the damp paper is prepared, she proceeds with printing, either using a manual press or hand pressure.
'Both methods work the same way. The paper is pressed firmly onto the plate, and the ink transfers thanks to the pressure.
'It's quite physically demanding, though – the machine isn't automated, so everything has to be rolled manually.'
The entire production process for Harta Titik Mukim II took around two months, with ideation lasting from October to November last year, and technical execution being carried out between January and February this year.
'Acrylic and mixed-media'
For her painting, Syahira has produced a piece titled 'Panglima Besar Nikosa', utilising acrylic and mixed-media, including image transfer technique to enrich the visual composition.
'I began by preparing the canvas, layering it with plywood to create a firm base suitable for the image-transfer process. The work itself involved three major phases: creating the horizontal stripes, applying the image-transfer, and constructing the main figure along with secondary subjects such as antiques and textiles.'
Syahira admits that the most challenging aspect was ensuring the horizontal stripes were aligned symmetrically on both sides.
'Although I used a stencil technique with tape, mistakes still occurred – it required precision and patience.'
For the background, Syahira employed the image-transfer technique using original Jawi script from the novel to preserve its classical authenticity.
'The font remains the same, but I have exaggerated the size and stretched the form. It's still readable upon closer inspection, as the text is in classical Jawi.
'I also intended the Jawi text to function as a textured element in the artwork, similar to what I explored in The Fair of the Fairest.'
Measuring 36 inches by 27 inches, the painting visually represents Nikosa's integrity and sense of justice in distributing war spoils, a quality that earned him the honorific title 'Panglima Besar' (Great Commander) from his people.
'The painting took about two to three months to complete due to several revisions. I began ideation in October to November last year, started the actual painting in December, and finally completed it in February this year.
'It was the longest piece to finish, partly because we were simultaneously preparing for another exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.'
Altogether, the process spanned four months as Syahira juggled evolving ideas and multiple ongoing projects.
Syahira's dedication paid off – the painting won first place in the ReQaSeni Art Exhibition under the 'Painting Media Dimension' category.
'Honestly, I didn't expect to win. My coursemates also produced amazing works, so I'm incredibly grateful for the recognition.'
Aspirations, future plans
Through her artworks, Syahira hopes to raise greater awareness of and appreciation for Hikayat Panglima Nikosa. She also supports the Sarawak government's efforts to gain Unesco recognition for the historical text.
Following her final-year exhibition, she hopes that she and her fellow artists would continue pursuing their passion for fine arts.
'I hope all of us would remain involved in the arts scene even after our diploma. I really hope that one day, we'd each have our own exhibitions.'
Syahira plans to further her studies by pursuing a Bachelor's Degree at UiTM Shah Alam, majoring in either Painting, Ceramics, or Visual Culture Studies.
She remains confident in Sarawak's burgeoning art scene, having actively participated in state-level arts programmes and witnessed the rise of dedicated spaces such as Artavern Art Space and Hoan Gallery, among others.
'I truly believe so, as I have participated in a collaborative programme between UiTM and the SAS before. That experience convinced me that the state's art scene is growing.
'And we will continue working to bring Sarawak's art to the world.' ART Hikayat Panglima Nikosa Kuching Syahira Yasmin Abdul Kadir UiTM