The Brunei Cannons Exhibition


Today the Brunei Cannons Exhibition was opened officially at the Malay Technology Museum at Jalan Kota Batu. I was most honoured to be invited to officially open the exhibition. Cannons have always been a fascination for me. The exhibition is opened to the public showing various examples of cannons that are in the Brunei Museums collection. Unfortunately due to space, only 31 of the about 800 cannons that the museum has, are shown in the exhibition. But these 31 are more than sufficient to show the richness and the wealth of cannons that we have here in Brunei. It is open to the public until 20 September 2012.

Haji Mohd Rozan, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports presenting Museums Department new book on cannons to Pengiran Dato Sharifuddin with Pudarno Binchin, the Ethnology Curator looking on. (Photo credit: Brunei Museums Department)

During the exhibition, this book entitled "Bedil: Khazanah Ristaan Brunei Silam" will be sold, priced at $9. Its normal price is $12. This book is a worthwile addition if you ever wanted to know more about Brunei cannons. This contained all the articles known that have been published about cannons in Brunei and new articles.


There are nine articles in the book with the following titles and authors:

1. An Introduction to Bedil: The Traditional Brunei Cannons written by Hj Md Rozan bin Dato Paduka Hj Md Yunos (note: I wrote this article originally for The Brunei Times in 2007)

2. Bentuk Tumbuh-Tumbuhan dalam Lorekan Perusaan Tembaga Tradisi written by Bantong Antaran (Bantong is currently the Director of Brunei Museums Department)

3. Brunei Brass: The Traditional Method of Casting written by Pehin Dato Lim Jock Seng (currently Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II, he was a former Museum Curator in his early days) and Pg Dato Shariffudin (a former Director of Brunei Museums Department)

4. Brunei Cannon written by Pg Dato Sharifuddin

5. Brunei Cannon: Function and Symbolism by Muhammad Zharif bin Haji Sabli (currently a student at UBD)

6. Bedil Brunei: Warisan Budaya Masyarakat Negara Brunei Darussalam written by Dk Norazah bte Pg Haji Muhammad (Ethnology Officer at the Brunei Museums)

7. Brunei Cannon: Their Role in Southeast Asia (1400 - 1900 AD) written by Tom Harrisson (the former pioneer of Archaeology in Brunei in the 1950s)

8. Teknologi Pembuatan Bedil di Brunei written by Puasa Kamis (Research at Ethnography Division at the Brunei Museums)

9. The Commodification of Bedil: From Weapon of Destruction (Defence) to Museum Display and Tourism written by Pudarno Binchin (currently Curator of Ethnography at the Brunei Museums)

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