Monograph II

Preface

Two years following the inaugural hosting of the Philippines, the City of Kuching in Sarawak, Malaysia, hosted the Budayaw Culture and Arts Festival of the Brunei Darrusalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines – East Asia Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA. As expected, it was a showcase of the diverse cultural traditions and artistic expressions of the many indigenous groups in the region.

For a week, Kuching’s Plaza Merdeka Mall and the Old Courthouse located at the city’s historical core became a performing arts haven and venue of scholarly exchanges as participants from member countries banner their traditional dances, music, culinary heritage, and traditional attires, and share researches and expertise on culture and heritage.

With the theme “Beauty in cultural diversity,” the event promoted unity and understanding between the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural groups of the BIMP-EAGA member countries.

Kuching Sarawak Malaysia

Notes on the built environment of Kuching, Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo

Edgar Allan M. Sembrano

The port City of Kuching, located on the western coast of the Malaysian Borneo was founded by Sir James Brooke in 1839. Kuching, together with the whole of Sarawak were previously under the control of the Brunei Sultanate.

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SEC. DATU HJ. ABUL KHAYR D. ALONTO

Chairman, Mindanao Development Authority and Philippine Signing Minister for BIMP-EAGA

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VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO

Chairman, National Commission for Culture and the Arts National Artist for Literature

Contributors

is a fictionist, historian, and an educator. He is a four-time Palanca awardee and a National Book Awardee for his book Davao: Reconstructing history from text and memory published by the Research and Publication Office (RPO) of Ateneo de Davao University in 2005. A 2007 recipient of Davao City’s Datu Bago Award, Mac teaches Literature at the Ateneo where he is currently the Director of the University Publication Office.
spend his young age in Kampong Ayer where his exposure to the music and culture of the people of Kampong Ayer. He graduated with a Masters in Music Education from the Institute of Education, University of London and as Masters in Business Administration from University of Queensland, Australia. He has written articles and essays on culture and music of Brunei Darussalam, the latest being an article in the UNESCO Book, Agree to Differ in 2014. He is also a composer, conductor and arranger of traditional, classical and modern music having written music for ASEAN-Russia Orchestra, ASEAN- Korea Traditional Orchestra, and Traditional Orchestra of Brunei Darussalam. To date, he has composed more than 100 songs; and produced and performed in 5 albums three of which were produced in Japan, Korea and Thailand. His latest composition is Gemilang Emas, a song commissioned for the Golden Jubilee of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s accession to the throne this year.
is the head of Regional Cultural Diplomacy, Directorate of Heritage and Cultural Diplomacy, Directorate General of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Indonesia. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Archaeology at the University of Indonesia, and doctorate degree on the Management of Human Resource at the University of Jakarta. She has conducted and published researches on heritage, restoration and archaeological sites in Indonesia.

is a retired professor of sociology and humanities at the Mindanao State University – Maguindanao. She earned her Ph.D. in Peace and Development at Notre Dame Univertsity, in 2015. She is also teaching in the Graduate School of Mindanao State University – Maguindanao handling Peace and Development subjects specifically Ethnicity and Cultural Solidarity and Conflict management and conflict resolution, and other Peace and development subjects.

She is also a part-time professor at Cotabato City State Polytechnic College (at the Graduate School) handling Intercultural Solidarity, Values Education toward Peace and Development, and conflict Management, Resolution and Transformation.

She is also into research with interest on the Tri- people groups of Maguindanao, and intercultural solidarity.

She has also presented a research paper in Thailand at the Mahidol University during the 4th International Conference on International Relations and Development (Bangkok, Thailand, July 9-10, 2015).

Recently, she was hired as Dean of the Graduate School of the Gani L. Abpi College, Incorporated, a private school in Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

is a writer, journalist, editor, cultural worker and researcher, activist, traveler and publication designer, among other things. He currently works as the managing editor and designer of Agung, the magazine of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and editor of other NCCA books and publications; and the assistant editor for the lifestyle and entertainment section of The Daily Tribune. He founded and edited the defunct, pioneering LGBTQ magazine.
is a mentor, researcher, and visual artist. He likes riding buses, taplud (topload) jeepneys, and tricyles in Mindanao, because that’s mostly when his creative ideas pop out. He is currently on the Faculty Development Program of the Ateneo de Davao University to pursue his doctoral candidature on a Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Australia from 2018 to 2021. His home is with his family in Davao City (Mindanao, Philippines)

earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, cum laude in 1973. She worked with different NGOs for 20 years starting in 1974, including the academe and cultural institutions, mostly doing cultural research and participatory process in community-based programs in the different communities of Mindanao, including Maguindanao, Manobo and Settler rural communities.

She pursued further studies in Anthropology (Xavier University), Management (Asian Institute of Management), Business Economics (University of Asia and the Pacific) and some units in Health Care Financing in University of Heidelberg, Germany. She was also an exchange artist of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.