The Satok Market
In 2012, there was news that the Satok Market—a temporary weekend market—was going to be relocated to new premises at Kubah Ria across the river. Tay Tze Yong decided that it was time to record this urban phenomenon and set his students the task of documenting the market in a ‘measured drawing’ assignment. The drawings in this article are the outcome of the assignment, which was published in INTERSECTION* that year.
“What is familiarly known is not properly known just for the reason that it is familiar.”
The Satok Sunday Market has formed part of our living culture. This work is not intended as a ‘measured drawing’ type of historical subject; rather, it aims to provide some useful and immediate information to architects, architecture students, and those interested in design and concerned about our urban fabric. We are interested in the familiarity and temporariness of the market, and how the work could become part of the consideration towards urban design, particularly preserving the living culture in our city.
— Tay Tze Yong, INTODESIGN Lab
The demise of a social landmark
When I was growing up, the Sunday market was located near the old State Mosque at Jalan Haji Taha – this was the predecessor of the present day Satok Market; popular with townsfolk seeking out local produce and exotic fruits. This ‘tamu’ was dismantled and re-emerged in its new form and location – filling in the gaps between shop houses at Jalan Satok and there it stayed for many years.
The Satok Weekend Market grew out of a need for part-time traders to do business, temporarily borrowing the nooks and crannies of our townscape; insinuating itself like a live organism with its own ebb and flow. Its free spirit may be mistaken for untidiness, its grass-roots beginnings construed as a lack of care or hygiene, the shoulder to shoulder traffic and the long walk to find car parking might seem inconvenient. But it is a social pilgrimage for many locals (and even more tourists).
Therein lies its downfall perhaps, as these are reasons cited for its relocation.
There is nothing for fear and much to gain from grass-roots occurrence like this one; many of us have travelled overseas to visit similar venues. It has a symbiotic relationship with the adjacent shop houses, perhaps its temporary nature makes the cohabitation easier to accommodate. Its various sections; jungle produce, livestock, plants, clothing and pets divide themselves into precincts accessed by streets that exist only from Saturday noon to Sunday afternoon, after which it packs itself up and is gone for another week.
It has become part of our urban and social landscape; written into travel journals and our memories. As an architect and a local; I do not favour the relocation. It should not have to conform into neat rows and tidy habits; to do so would dilute its original character and cause it to forget its mother tongue.
Twelve years on, the relocated market has not been able to regain its original character. It is still a long walk to your car, this time without the shade of 5-foot ways of adjacent shophouses.
The illustrations in this article are the work of the following students of the Faculty of Built Environment at Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology, Borneo Campus:
Adele Ong Hui Ting
Vincent Wee Chiun Haw
Darryl Chung Chong Yu
Faeona Odelia Anak Clayton
Jabez Anggang Balan
Lee Yan Sheng, Jackie
Mohammad Hadlye Bin Ramli
Randall Lee Tzia Yi
Sim Poh Shan
*PAMSC (Malaysian Institute of Architects Sarawak Chapter)’s newsletter
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