Most
tailors are deluged with orders in the pre-Raya rush to sew a new suit of
traditional baju melayu for the festive season and it’s no different with Jamil
Sukaimi of Teluk Belanga Design.
 |
| Jamil Sukaimi at Teluk Belanga Design in Galleria@Kotaraya JB |
I
arranged to meet Jamil on Friday and he lived up to my expectation because he
meets me smartly dressed in baju
melayu Teluk Belanga, in the traditional Johor dagang luar way, with his shirt over the samping or sarong. We are in
his Galleria@Kotaraya outlet where tall shelves are stacked with bales of fabrics
and racks neatly display ready-made men’s suits and traditional baju melayu.
Then I
learnt that the serene ambiance here is the exact opposite to what’s happening
at his Danga City Mall outlet where his sewing team is working at full steam to
meet the Raya tailoring orders.
 |
| Jamil Sukaimi at his Galleria@Kotaraya outlet in JB |
As we
are getting acquainted, a customer walks into the shop to enquire about
tailoring baju melayu for Raya and Jamil politely explains with regret that he cannot
accept any more orders.
Getting
Skilled
A
Johorean from Simpang Renggam, Jamil, 49, is the eighth in a family of 12
children. He fondly remembers how his
father used to say that it’s better if you have your own business. From a young age, he aspired to have his own
business and when he was choosing his career, the prevailing economic downturn helped
him to decide on acquiring marketable skills by pursuing a course in Tailoring
& Design at the MARA Skills Institute, Jasin. His father and mother, a homemaker, were
supportive of his decision to pursue tailoring as a career.
 |
| Jamil Sukaimi [Standing Right] with some family members |
With his
father as his inspiration, Jamil thought that if his father could make a decent
living with his skills as a barber, he too should be able to do well when he
acquired the necessary skills to be a tailor.
While he was undergoing training, Jamil was deeply motivated not only to
be a good tailor but to be an extraordinary one.
Part of
his course was to have practical experience from a job attachment and Jamil recalls
joining a tailoring shop in JB’s Komplex Tun Abdul Razak. When he completed the attachment period, Jamil
was delighted to get a job offer from the employer. Even though the salary was meagre, Jamil gained
much experience and developed further skills and knowledge in the two years working
with them.
 |
| Jamil [Right] with his mother [next to him] and sisters at the official opening of Teluk Belanga Design in Galleria@Kotaraya JB |
The
entrepreneur in him patiently saved every available sen for capital to start his own business someday and when an
opportunity presented itself, he plucked up his courage and resigned to set up
his own shop. He rented a space in the
former Kotaraya mall, invested in one sewing machine and happily established his
tailoring business simply named, Jamil Tailor.
When the mall closed for upgrading work, he moved Teluk Belanga Designs to
Danga City Mall and after the refurbished mall re-opened
as Galleria@Kotaraya, he established his latest
outlet here.
Growing
Trend
 |
| Jamil specialises in tailoring Johor traditional costumes |
The
traditional Teluk Belanga style of dressing was regarded as Johor’s traditional
attire since the 19th Century as it was widely worn during the reign
of Temenggong Abu Bakar Sri Maharaja and remains popular today. In 1862 this style was recognised as the baju
kurung and baju melayu Teluk Belanga because when his royal highness succeeded
the throne, he was residing in Teluk Belanga, Singapore. In 1866, Temenggong Abu Bakar Sri Maharaja
took the title of Sultan Abu Bakar and developed Tanjung Puteri, the former
name of Johor Baru, as the capital of Johor.
The
timeless elegance of Johor’s traditional baju kurung and baju melayu Teluk
Belanga continues to be worn in honour of Sultan Abu Bakar and the many orders
Jamil receives to sew traditional costumes in the Teluk Belanga style is proof
that this style is still very much in vogue.
This costume is a popular choice to wear at Government and corporate
events and the baju melayu Teluk Belanga remains the official outfit to wear
for an audience with his royal highness, the Sultan of Johor. In 2001 Jamil decided to rebrand his business
as Teluk Belanga Design as his products are synonymous with the Johor style of traditional
baju melayu.
 |
| A signature hand-stitched round collar in tulang belut or eel bone stitches, for traditional Baju Melayu Teluk Belanga |
“Our skills
are in taking the customer’s measurements and hand-sewing the round collar that opens with a front
slit in tulang belut or eel bone
stitches,” said Jamil, modestly explaining his special touch in creating
traditional costumes in the Teluk Belanga style. “Some customers insist on completely
hand-sewn garments and it takes a special skill to hand sew the double panels
of seams for the bodice, fastened with pesak
or gussets in the underarms,” he added.
The baju
melayu shirt features three patch pockets – one small pocket on the left breast
and two palm-size, right and left pockets on the front bottom edge of the
shirt. The shirt is matched by a pair of
trousers cut in a loose Chinese design. Jamil
tells me that experienced tailors can complete hand-sewing tulang belut
stitches on the hem of just two or three pieces of collars a day because it
takes skills and patience to do fine handiwork.
And to sew an entire baju melayu Teluk Belanga by hand may take up to
three weeks!
Going
Forward
 |
| A customer being measured by Jamil to tailor a traditional set of Baju Melayu |
Jamil is
both proud and humbled that royalty, dignitaries and TV personalities are among
his regular customers for authentic baju melayu Teluk Belanga. Some customers visit him from Singapore and
Brunei and he has even sent tailored garments by courier to customers who have
moved to the UK. He is pleased that these
men take pride in wearing the traditional costume in the uniquely Johor dagang
luar style with the shirt over the samping or sarong,
complete with the 4” high songkok or
velvet hat and leather thong sandals or capal.
The art
of hand-sewing traditional costumes belong to the older generation and Jamil
taps on them from time to time by offering work consignments to skilled senior
citizens and single mothers. These are
meticulous skills that Jamil is actively keeping alive by recruiting tailoring
graduates from local colleges and giving opportunities to them to hone their sewing
skills.
 |
| Teluk Belanga Design stocks a range of fabrics and ready-made Baju Melayu |
Jamil
agreed that hand-sewing baju melayu Teluk Belanga is certainly a dying art that
may be lost in time. But he has a novel
way to identify and groom gifted tailors for the future. For the past three years, Teluk Belanga Design
has held annual sewing contests where participants are given sewing projects
and judged on the hand-sewn garments.
This friendly competition keeps the sewing team focused on achieving the
reputation as the best and challenges everyone to keep the sewing standards
high at all times.
A version of this was published in The New Sunday Times, Life & Times on 12 July 2015
 |
| Jamil Sukaimi [Standing 2nd from Left] at home with his family for Hari Raya 2015 celebration! |
No comments:
Post a Comment