Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: August 31, 2003
Article Type: Journal

The Wau kites of Malaysia are perhaps the most beautiful of all kites. They are the symbol of that progressive Southeast Asian country in general and of Air Malaysia in particular. Constructed by craftsmen all over the nation, they are identified most closely with the state of Kelantan in the far northeast. The heartland is the town of Kota Bahru.

There are three foremost Wau (pronounced wow) makers in this back-of-beyond, rather impoverished area. Easiest to find is Ismail bin Jusoh (“either 78 or 79,” says a relative), who with his sons maintains a well-signed shop in the village of Kampong Kijang on the road to the nearby South China Sea. Ismail has been building kites since he was 12. The large store is jampacked with hundreds of kites, in varying sizes and quality, some for flying and some for wall display only, along with local crafts such as weavings (silk sarongs) and toys of bamboo and metal. Although Ismail is ailing, he is pleased to demonstrate his demanding craft of Wau-making to a stream of visitors, mostly countrymen. Clan members preside over shop sales. His 12-year-old granddaughter, a math wizard in school, does the shop billings.

Down the road is a rude shed holding the kites, some large, most rather battered from flying and age, of Sapie Yusof, another elder, who barely bothers himself with trying to sell his productions and largely ignores a visitor by sitting in his doorstep trimming lengths of bamboo for kite spars. Just in case he does get a sale, Sapie shows off one concession he has made to the rigid tradition of Wau-making. Some of his kites can be folded in half, for ease of packing and shipping.

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