Rubber Smokehouse Museum in Lunas

History of rubber industry in Malaysia now has a home to call its own or sort of. A private initiative by award winning architect Laurence Loh has given birth to a museum in Lunas, Kedah which showcases the latex industry in the country. Fortunately, Loh has pursued the museum idea by incorporating and maintaining the original allure found inside an old rubber smokehouse.

Today, the museum has the distinction of allowing visitors the opportunity to see and experience the making of smoked rubber sheets. It is the only museum of its kind in Malaysia.

More importantly the museum has allowed a glimpse to an industrious past where the rubber industry was the main livelihood for millions and responsible for the making of many rubber moguls.

But rubber industry has been sidelined in our quest to be developed.

In a short span of just two decades, many traditional economy activities in Malaysia died a slow death. Traditionally agriculturally based, Malaysia began to embrace industrialization like a testorone charged man with a new mistress in tow and government officials brandished earful 'F' words like FDI, FTZ to all and sundry.

Rubber trees were among the first to go and they were uprooted in a frenzy to feed the massive needs for industrial and residential lands. Sons and daughters of rubber tappers left their homes in droves for more 'glamorous' jobs in air-conditioned factories and supermarkets.

In its wake, small towns like Lunas in the northern state of Kedah, found itself without a reason to sustain itself and slowly disappeared from the map.

Urban migration is particularly acute in this country and a great Malaysian phenomenon which is not fully studied, or perhaps understood by the authority about its implication. The swift in the population data was overwhelming. From a 80:20 ration between rural and urban population right after Merdeka; to a reversal of 3 urbanites to every two persons in the rural area by the time we celebrated our 50th Independence. Unbalanced development priority is the other culprit.

Rubber trees even in the villages are now far and between and the sight of rubber tappers rarer.
After the first rubber seet was planted in Kuala Kangsar about 150 years ago, the once lucrative Rubber industry is now a distance memory and fast disappearing from our mindset.

In 2006, Laurence Loh took over the family owned smokehouse in Lunas and converted it into a museum. He also spearheaded a conservation campaign involving the town's children to promote heritage awareness in Lunas. Walking inside the museum allows visitors experience the authencity of a working smokehouse as Loh explained in a talk given at the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum 2007, Hong Kong:-

"In the rubber story, the actual patina and crust of history was retained. Actual rubber sheets were hung up on the original bamboo poles to simulate the environment of the internal space of a smoke house - black walls full of soot and dust, accumulated over 40 years, complete with teh rich pungent smell of raw rubber, totally unforgettable and distinct."

Smokehouses were main structure in many Malaysian towns and they served as the processing center to treat rubber sheets brought by the tappers before the treated sheets are sent to ports to be exported. Lunas Smokehouse is made of wood structure but in bigger town like Malacca, the smokehouse there (Bachang besides the Onn Yah Kong temple) was a massive building about 5 stories high and occupied an area of considerable size. Passers by often have to cover their noses because of the pungent smell from the site.

For a comprehensive insight on the rubber industry, start the journey in the revamped Gallery C of Muzium Negara. There is an interesting exhibit of the paraphernalia used by rubber tappers in the olden days. Center to the exhibit is a female tapper 'milkling' on a rubber tree. Take a closer look and you will see that there is a mosquito coil attached to the side of the mannequin to repel the insects.

In Kuala Kangsar the oldest surviving rubber tree from the original seet brought in from London's kew Garden is found near the Malay College.

Related Reading:

Lunas - by Elizabeth Cardosa January 2007

Badan Warisan Malaysia is currently involved in an exciting cultural mapping project in Lunas, Kedah.

LUNAS: The Rubber Story is one of DiGi’s Amazing Malaysians 2006 projects. Two heritage education programmes involving Laurence Loh, ‘The Heritage Architect of Kedah’, were held in Lunas, Kedah, between June and August 2006. It involved 80 students, aged between 10 and 14 years, from three local schools, SRJK (Cina) Hwa Min, SMK Kulim and SMK Jalan Paya Besar.

Laurence Loh chose Lunas as the project site because his grandfather, Loh Boon Ghee, came to Lunas from China by way of Sumatra. Starting out as a labourer, he worked hard and became the owner of several rubber plantations. In the process, with two others, he built and owned a large portion of Lunas town in its early days, a legacy which remains till today. Laurence believes that in the process of collecting the stories and photographs of Lunas, the unique character of the town, its special buildings, places and stories can be recorded and kept intact as a heritage to pass on to the next generation. This way, the effort, joys, sorrows, triumphs, disappointments and achievements of the pioneers will be embedded in the memory of every child and person who experiences Lunas. This is the story of just one of the many little towns in Malaysia, and by collecting the stories, it makes our history and communities richer.

The project also featured the restoration of an old Smokehouse in Lunas, by Laurence Loh, DiGi’s Amazing Malaysian. The documentation, images, videographic materials and data from the two education programmes are used within the main exhibition which has been installed at the Smokehouse.

DiGi's Amazing Malaysians is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme which identifies passionate individuals who, quietly but with dedication, work towards preserving Malaysia's natural, social, art, cultural or built heritage. DiGi provides resources for these ordinary people doing extraordinary things to share their knowledge and skills with groups of 50-100 children or youth. Most of the projects are centred in rural locations, and the children involved come from the surrounding areas. This way, DiGi is able both to support commendable heritage work, and to introduce children to the rich tapestry of culture and tradition that makes up Malaysia's unique heritage.