Singapore · Costume Making / Headwear
Songkok
The making of the songkok — the brimless, truncated-cone felt or fabric cap worn by Malay/Muslim men across Southeast Asia — as practiced by a now critically small number of remaining specialist craftsmen in Singapore, officially recognized on the National Heritage Board's Intangible Cultural Heritage listing under 'Making and Wearing of Songkok.' This record closes a headwear-specific gap in the archive's existing 10-record Singapore collection, which documents Peranakan beadwork and kebaya-making, Malay ketupat weaving, and Malay capal footwear, but no distinctly Malay male headwear tradition. The craft's contemporary Singapore practice is documented through named living craftsmen — Abdul Wahab Abdullah, who learned the trade from his father Abdullah Samad (a migrant from Indonesia) beginning at age four and now operates his own shop at Tanjong Katong Complex, and Baharuddin Suraiman, who has run Singalang Jaya on Baghdad Street in Kampong Glam for over 44 years after arriving from Sumatra in 1952 — both explicitly identified by Singaporean heritage sources as being among the very last remaining full-time songkok makers on the island, with National Heritage Board documentation specifically naming Abdul Wahab as 'the custodian of Singapore's songkok heritage.'
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not Listed; Singapore NHB Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory
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