State backing

It began with an introduction. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry from 1987 to 2008, brought my work to the attention of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak, Tun Pehin Sri Dr. Haji Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar. The Governor recommended that the Sarawak Tourism Board get in touch, and its Chairman, Dato Dennis Ngau, made the first call.

Three people opened the door. I remain grateful to each of them.

The Sarawak State Government gives the movement its standing. At portfolio level it is represented by YB Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak.

The Sarawak Tourism Board runs the programmes with me, at home and abroad.

UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy Kuching endorsed Serumpun Sarawak in March 2026 for its contribution to conserving Sarawak’s indigenous gastronomy, food culture, and edible medicinal flora and seeds. The endorsement is the city’s own. It sits beside the state’s backing, not inside it.

It is unusual for a state government to put its name to a chef’s work. Sarawak did, and that backing comes with obligations. I hold myself to three.

Faithful to the thirty-four communities. Serumpun draws on the knowledge of the Iban, the Bidayuh, the Orang Ulu peoples and every other indigenous community of Sarawak. Their cooking is shown as living practice, never as an exhibit, and their authorship is named wherever it is due. The conservation work, from the edible medicinal flora and seeds to the partnerships with the communities themselves, follows the care the state’s cultural policy asks for.

Answerable abroad. When Serumpun went to Osaka in August 2025, it went as a Sarawak programme, not as a chef’s project. The state’s standing travelled with every chapter, and I have tried to keep the work at the level that standing demands.

In step with the state’s voice. The state speaks carefully, within the protocols that cultural policy requires, and I keep my own voice in step with it. Care comes before visibility, and the institution before any personal celebrity.

The Sarawak Tourism Board carried the founding year with me, chapter by chapter.

• The Launch, July 2025. Unveiled in Kuala Lumpur under the patronage of the Sarawak State Government.
• Expo 2025 Osaka, August 2025. The international debut: four evenings at Seaside Studio CASO during Sarawak Week at World Expo Osaka.
• Serumpun Sarawak Returns to Mulu, October 2025. The rainforest chapter, inside Gunung Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Kuching Finale, April 2026. The close of the year at Sarawak Cultural Village, Santubong.

In April 2026 Sarawak Cultural Village adopted the Serumpun culinary platform: hyper-local cooking, farm-to-table sourcing, zero waste and a farming programme on the village grounds. The mentorship and a national tour with the Sarawak Tourism Board carry the work further. It was always meant to outlast its founding year, and to outlast me.