During the 1950s, under the curatorship of C A Gibson-Hill, Museum fieldtrips to the east coast of the Malay Peninsula yielded a wide selection of dish covers, hats, handbags and boxes from various states.The main materials used in basket weaving come from Southeast Asia's abundant vegetation. Common fibres such as bamboo, rattan, bark, palm-leaf and pandanus are turned into various household receptacles. Most of the basketwork in the Museum are functional objects made of rattan, split bamboo and 'pandanus', more commonly known as pandan leaves or 'mengkuang'.
