Malay woodcarving and the new pulpit in the National Mosque
This short note by Mubin Sheppard documents the commissioning and construction of a new pulpit (mimbar) for the National Mosque (Masjid Negara) in 1993, and profiles the Kelantanese woodcarver Latif Long who executed the work (p. 95).
Summary
The article traces the background of the National Mosque, opened in 1965, and explains that in 1993 the government decided to replace the original pulpit in time for the installation of the new Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Jaafar. The redesign was entrusted to Dato Baharuddin Abu Kassim, the mosque’s original architect, while the carving and decorative panels were assigned to Latif Long, described as the best-known Malay woodcarver in Peninsular Malaysia (p. 95).
Sheppard provides a biographical sketch of Latif Long, born in Kampong Raja, Besut, as the seventh son of a boatbuilder and woodcarver of the seventh generation. He learned in his father’s workshop from age seven, won first prize in national carving competitions at sixteen, and went on to receive commissions including a carved screen for the Prime Minister’s office and a folding screen for the Malaysian Airline System reception office in London (p. 95). The new pulpit was carved from over three and a half tons of chengal timber, the hardest and most durable Malay wood, which Latif had to procure personally from the forest. The work occupied over six months, with Latif drawing every panel himself and supervising a workshop of young Malay carpenters in Kelantan. Sheppard notes that Latif re-introduced traditional leafy designs from Kelantan and Terengganu timber architecture to the pulpit’s panels, and that the finished work would be viewable by thousands, unlike many other examples of fine Malay woodcarving seen only by a few (pp. 96–97).