PAK MAZIN THE 4TH GENERATION OF KRIS MAKER

                        

             Once upon a time , Kris was one of the weapon that used by Malay community. Kris made the customs that symbolize power, authority, rule of a king or ruler of a state. It is very difficult to find a blacksmith that still makes Kris. But there still a generation of craftsman that still exist to conserve this Malay community pride. One of them is located at the village near to the Istana Iskandariah, Kuala Kangsar which the home of Sultan Perak . His name is “Pak Mazin”, 57 years old man still produced Kris for people who desires to have this weapon. He also forged Kris for the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong and Sultan of Perak. It attract us to discover more deeper about this unique weapon “Keris”. We have set our date to begin the adventures to Kuala Kangsar. Let’s follow us to know more deeper.

                      To go to Kuala Kangsar we use our motorcycle as our transportation because it will save our cost. Our journey also took 1 hours from Jelapang to Kuala Kangsar. Since we use motorcycle my waist is really hurt actually because sitting too long on the motor but Azizi does not feel anything since he is the one riding the motorcycle. After all, this is my first time ride the motorcycle more than 10 km and it actually quiet fun. Then we safely arrive at Kuala Kangsar, the first thing that we do is use Waze apps to find the Seni Warisan Bengkel Pandai Besi. It’s take around 25 minutes for us to find the place because we actually lost in the Istana Iskandariah. After that we arrive at Seni Warisan Bengkel Pandai Besi and suddenly the place is close.

                                 

      We fell so awkward and the neighbors keep looking at us like we are robber. So I message the wife of the craftsman, and finally realize that I’m dealing with the wrong person craftsman. The craftsman that I make a deal to meet is from Bagan Serai. The reason why I accidently make a mistake is because The craftsman name actually the same name with the craftsman at Kuala Kangsar  and in WhatsApp they don’t even put a picture at profile picture and I get confused. So at that moment we feel like we messed up, we feel so dissapointed because we came from far. On the other hand, we go to Sungai Perak to take a rest and clear our mind. After take rest around 10 minutes we decide to deal with Pak Mizan the owner of Seni Warisan Bengkel Pandai Besi and hopefully he have a time for us. And Pak Mazin said we can come to his place tomorrow morning at 10.00 am,at that time we feel so grateful and thankful to Pak Mazin for having us so we decide to go back home.

             On the next day, we begin our trip to Kuala Kangsar for the second time.As I say before we deal with Pak mazin at 10.00 am but we arrive early at his place because we want to make a preparation before we start the interviewing him. Firstly his real name is Abdul Mazin Bin Abdul Jamil or known as Pak Mazin. He is native of the Kampung Padang Changkat,Bukit Chandan Perak and he expert in producing a Kris. His workshop is besides his humble home , at first we wondering  where the workshop because its looks like a normal hut. But actually if we enter the workshop , it’s very full of stuff and equipment to make Kris  and that make us more eager to know how he made Kris. When we meet him, he is  busy to complete sculpture work for Sarong of the Kris. We asked him first whether he can share about his experience or not, and he said he can. We afraid that we will disturb him.

             He shared a little bit stories about his experience as a Kris maker. Pak Mazin is the fourth generation of Kris maker like his father and grandfather. He started at 12 years old follow his father to workshop and learn to make Kris. Tukang Mamat , his late grandfather is the first generation of Kris Maker , he made Kris for the royal magnates. Until now , Pak Mazin still encouraged to conserve this priceless knowledge and skills. There are a few step in making Kris , first is the blade (Mata Keris) . To makes the very sharp and strong blade , Pak Mazin need to choose several types of steel. Then it’s put on a fire and compressed it to become alloy steel. After that , next process is to make the hilt or in Malay we called “Hulu”. This process very hard which is Pak Mazin need to sculpture the wood  and using his skills to carve it.There are a few types of hilt such as Jawa Demam, Ayam Teleng, Pinggang Kuda and the famous one is Pekaka. The last process before we can see a complete Kris is the sheath (Sarong) .Sarong is the sheath to cover the Kris and Pak Mazin said that he need to measure that the length of sheath is same with the blade to make sure that the blade can be put into sheath.

We asked him how much the price of one Kris , he said for one Kris it can be sell for RM350 to RM550. There are seven types of Kris which is Kris Bali, Sumatera, Pattani, Bugis, Picit, Sajen, Madura, Semenanjung and Jawa. We are so amazed to see his effort. Pak Mazin also accompanied by his son Hazrin, 28 years old to work at the workshop. Pak Mazin hope that his son will be the next fifth generation for his family in making Kris. Hazrin started learn to make Kris since he was 17 years old and now he can make on his own. Afther having an hour hearing Pak Mazin stories , we ask permission to leave because we don’t want to disturb them to make their work . We are very happy and so grateful because we get some ne knowledge about our culture. Before we heading back to home , we capturing moments with Pak Mazin at his workshop.

 

              

Before we heading back to Ipoh we stop to perform our Zuhur prays and eat Cendol and ABC at Medan Cendol and Laksa. To be honest the at there is so tasty and quite expensive, my stomach so full like a panda, Medan Cendol and Laksa is really recommended. After done eating ,we go to gas station to refuel and heading back to Ipoh.

 

                Kris is one of our Malays heritage things that we need to  conserved so that our next generation still have a chance to see it with their eyes. We are glad because we learn something new and we promised that we will shared our experience to all people so we can get benefits together. Not but not least , We would like to shared with you a quote said by Pak Mazin “You need to find knowledge by yourself if you want to success, don’t wait for it ,chased it”. We would like to thank to Pak Mazin and family for giving a time to shared thi valuable experiences. That all from us , I hope that you all will enjoy reading my blogs.Thank You.