literature review of pulau ketam

FNBE 04/13 Phua Jing Sern 0314572 Culture and Civilization

Art + Architecture + Culture

Culture and CivilizationFoundation in Natural and Built Environment

April 2013 Intake

Phua Jing Sern

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Content

1. Assignment Brief -------------------------- 1-5

2. Concept and Theme --------------------------- 6

3. Research --------------------------- 7-15

4. Mapping of my findings --------------------------- 16

5. Tutorial sheet --------------------------- 17-18

6. Design Ideas --------------------------- 19

7. Layout -------------------------- 20-22

8. Conclusion --------------------------------- 23


Concept and Theme

The initial theme for my graphical book was actually ‘The Life of Fishermen’, where I’ll

capture and study their typical fishing culture and their rural lifestyle. Pulau Ketam and

Sekinchan were the two selected famous fishing villages that are located around the Selangor

region. As a Selangor citizen, the traveling time can be minimized and frequent visits can be

made, maximising the time in exploring and researching the selected area’s culture and

civilisation.

But my theme was eventually changed when I visit my first fishing village, which is Pulau

Ketam, where the island itself has its own unique local culture besides fishing. Neither gas

station nor cars can be seen in the small island, all I saw were cyclists riding their bicycles

around the village, a scene rarely seen in our urban area.

I’ve consulted my lecturers regarding my plans and they gave me the green light of adding an

additional culture reference of Pulau Ketam’s bicycle culture and dropping Sekinchan’s

fishing village as I want to concentrate on a single location. A total of 3 visits and

approximately 21 hours have spent on the island researching and interviewing the locals, plus

additional information from various websites and blogs.


Research

As an island, visitors must reach Port Klang that provides two different jetty services. One is

the official ferry service that visitors must follows an official timetable, where 6pm is their

last service back to mainland (Saturday/Sunday/Public Holiday); another is the unofficial

service that suits the drivers own timetable, although 6pm is also their last service back to

mainland as well, but you can call for their services 24 hours with extra costs. The traveling

time from mainland to island is approximately 20-30 minutes, based on weather conditions.

Upon reaching the island, Jalan

Merdeka is the first route that

welcomes visitors into the village.

Which the local restaurants and hotels

use the opportunity to greet visitors

with bicycle rental services. From

there onwards, cyclists can be seen

brisking up and down on the

approximately 8 feet thoroughfare.

Further down, a cargo jetty is spotted

just before the village centre, where I

witnessed consumer goods being

unloaded from boats and onto trolleys,

either powered by motor or pushed by men themselves. As the jetty is considered located

within the village, the boats can only arrive during high tide as the river can drastically

disappear during low tide , impossible for boats to drive in.


Jalan Besar, also known as the village centre, is where we can witness the most visitors’

related business being established by the locals. The town centre is also known for its busy

traffic of bicycles, mixed with locals and visitors cyclists. This route is also where I

discovered its unique food delivery services where the delivery boys brisk through the heavy

bicycle traffic while simultaneously holding a tray of serving with one hand.

Down into some of the residential areas of Jalan Satu, Jalan Dua and Jalan Tiga,

architecturally only single-story houses can be seen, standing on either wooden or concrete

foundation depending on its overall built material, suspended up to 10 meters above sea

levels to avoid the harsh high tide sea waves. The wooden houses were also painted vibrantly

with interesting colour combinations (e.g. Purple & Orange; Pink & Cyan etc.) where else

modernized houses were built using materials such as marble and stainless steels. Both

children and seniors can be seen peeling off prawns’ shells and other fisherman chores in

front of their house porch.

The village uses different materials for its thoroughfare, depending on its daily traffic and

load limit. Concrete and asphalt thoroughfare can be seen on the town centre and main roads,

where bicycle traffic is high and heavy load travels daily. Precarious wooden pathways are

used in sub roads, especially old houses and roads leading to fishing port.

Based on various websites and blogs references, Pulau Ketam has quite an amount of Taoism

temples for such a small island. This is due to the majority population of Chinese, especially

the Teochew and Hokkien people where Taoism is their traditional religious belief.

According to their own village map, there are a total of 14 temples built in the village, and

there are signs of more in development which are still not listed in the map.


The official timetable for travelling between Pulau Ketam and Port Klang

Jalan Merdeka, the first route visitors will walk;

Restaurant takes advantage by establishing bicycle rentals business.


Sea water flows into the village during high tide, boats can be seen travelling through.

Same location but during low tide, it is impossible for boats to travel through.


[Highlighted area: The Cargo Jetty]

Wooden stilts that supports most houses in the village.


Most stilts are suspended up to 10 meters tall.

Asphalt used in the thoroughfare of the village centre.


The main residential area with concrete thoroughfare.

Precarious looking wooden thoroughfare that leads into older residential area.


Wooden thoroughfare are mainly used as sub roads

Residential houses and their vibrant colour tone.


Every house has its own unique colour tone.


Delivery boys can be seen sending food to customer’s location through cycling.

It’s their duty to pick up their empty bowls back as well.


Mapping of my FindingsRural Culture and Civilizations

Rural fisherman lifestyle

Pulau Ketam’s

Bicycle Culture

Sekinchan’s

ArchitectureReligious Culture Lifestyle

Houses

Materials

Built as single story

Majority Wood for old houses

Concrete, Marble & Stainless Steel for

modern houses

Have vibrant colour tones

Most buildings stand on wooden/concrete stilts that suspends

upwards 10 meters high

Multi-racial; Majority populated with Chinese

Teochew Hokkien

Taoism as their Traditional Religious

Tourist-related business

Bicycle Renting

Souvenirs

Bed and Breakfast

services etc.

Village Centre

Residential Area

Fisherman chores

Sewing fishing nets

Peeling off prawn shells

etc.

Dropped


Design IdeaInspired by National Geographic Magazine and its graphical layout; borderless printing,

vibrant colours and carefully placed texts.

Unique food delivery system

Main transportation vehicle

Majority traditional bicycle, some are motorized

Cyclists range from young to old


Layout

Majority content is printed borderless; Text is placed on the most suitable corners of the page.

The main topic ‘Bicycle Culture’ will use up two A5 pages with the image overlapping.

The opening title with a series of pictures carefully aligned properly.

[UK Point 150gsm paper type]

[Background colour is set BLACK; all texts are aligned 1cm away from the edge of the page]

Picture

Text

Background


Samples

Typical content page; borderless printing with text placed at suitable corner.

Content Title Page.

Opening Title Page.


Jacket Design

Laminated UK Point 150gsm

Cover Design

Laminated Azella Coated 350gsm

Front Cover

Back Cover Front Cover

Back Cover

Back Flap

Front Flap


Conclusion“True adventure begins when we take the first step into our own backyard.”

-JSern Phua

There are finite of mountains and oceans for us to explore, but did we fully explore our own

nation’s land first? As the familiar quote goes “Cuti-cuti Malaysia”, our country has lots of

places that packed with rich cultures for us to explore and understand, and it’s our initiative

to start exploring these interesting places. So besides going abroad and learning others, why

not start with ours? I believe this assignment has given me a new view of our country, our

land and its hidden cultures, and I’ll be exploring all of them one step at a time.

literature review of pulau ketam

Education

culture culture

village centre

typical fishing culture

sekinchans fishing village

village map

selected areas culture

unique local culture

visitors cyclists