KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — After six years of dreaming about creating a space beyond the city limits of Kuala Lumpur, Romaizie Mustapha finally launched the Muar Collectorspace, which has been in operation since last July.
The space is located in Jalan Abdullah, a strategic address in the centre of Muar, a town also known as ‘Bandar Maharani Bandar Diraja’ after being declared the royal town of Johor in 2012.
Muar Collectorspace is an initiative by Collectors Market (also founded by Romaizie) to breathe new life or rejuvenate the old towns in Malaysia through art, heritage and pop culture.
Initially, Romaizie was thinking of setting the space in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan but he couldn’t find the place that he wanted.
He then turned his attention to his wife’s birthplace, Muar, where he came upon a unit in an old shop building that met all his criteria.
When the world was hit by the pandemic, he decided to start the process of securing the unit. Repair work began as soon as the government allowed the construction industry to operate again.
“This structure is a two-storey shophouse built in 1940, approximately 83 years ago,” said Romaizie.
“Soon, it will be eligible to be registered in the list of Malaysian Heritage Buildings under the National Heritage Act, 2005. That factor alone is enough to motivate me to take over the management of this building.”
According to Romaizie, Muar is also known as ‘Retirement Town’ because the majority of the population’s demographic is made up of Muar natives who choose to come back to their hometown once they retire.
The young people of Muar, on the other hand, are more comfortable migrating to bigger cities, namely Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru and even Singapore in the pursuit of better job options.
“Muar Collectorspace was developed with the idea of providing an interactive event space that can be used as a venue for young people to share ideas and skills, thus producing business opportunities,” explained Romaizie.
The first floor houses a cafe for visitors to enjoy brewed coffee from local suppliers and Johor cuisines like Mee Rebus, Laksa Johor and Beriani Johor.
The second floor is the main event space which has hosted acoustic performances and various sharing sessions, including talks from local artists and designers.
“I am very proud that the composer for the amazing movie Imaginur, Fikri Fadzil was the first person to utilise the space,” said Romaizie, who plans to organise an art festival in November.
The persistence of Romaizie and his team in ensuring that Muar Collectorspace is always proactive in helping and inspiring young people in Muar can be seen from several aspects.
Among the initiatives that have already yielded results are new skills training such as food and beverage preparation, especially the 'coffee and latte art' sessions and skateboarding classes for children.
In addition, Muar Collectorspace has launched an initiative to build an archive with hundreds of locally published books that have been collected as a free reading resource, which also feature a collection of vinyl records, cassettes, compact discs and music references.
“I hope the existence of Muar Collectorspace proves that if given the opportunity, small towns in Malaysia are also able to contribute to the country’s socio-economic sector.
“At the same time, they can play a role in unearthing new talents in various fields, whether from the creative or business industry,” enthused Romaizie.
For more details, follow Muar Collectorspace’s social media accounts @muarcollectorspace and @collectorsmarket.my.
