The museum centre, home to many exhibitions and used as a community hub for the Phuket Baba/Peranakan community, has been awarded the budget from central government.
Dr Kosol Taenguthai, the current President of the Thai Peranakan Association revealed the news to The Phuket News.
“It’s not a huge amount of money because the building will need a lot of work. All of the infrastructure will need to be redone and renovated, the walls, the roof, the floor – all of it.”
Dr Kosol added that although the concept and particulars for the new Baba cultural museum are yet to be finalised, he was overjoyed that the budget had been allocated and was a long time coming.
“We first asked the central government around three years ago and it required a lot of work, and lots of plans and lots of paperwork for the budget to be finally allocated.”
Building work will begin shortly after the “Peranakan: From Phuket to Singapore” art exhibition (running until June 1) closes, and is estimated to take about a year
Once opened, Dr Kosol says, the museum will once again become central and integral to the Phuket Town culture.
“This used to be a very important building in the past. When it used to be the Standard Chartered Bank it was the bank where every wealthy person saved their money. It built Phuket Town, and it will once again when the Peranakan museum is renovated and reopened.”
The exhibition currently being housed in the centre, “Peranakan: From Phuket to Singapore”, displays artwork depicting various aspects of Phuket Baba (Peranakan) culture, including the wonderfully colourful and distinctive traditional dress of Baba women.
The artwork is the brainchild of Phuket-born artist Pimuk Somcheuchat and fellow artist and friend Singaporean Goh Beng Kwan.
Mr Goh is a Cultural Medallion Recipient 1989 by the National Arts Council of Singapore and also the curator of the two-week long exhibition in Phuket.
“I just wanted to help him with the show,” explained Mr Goh.
“After showcasing the art here, it will be going to Singapore to the Black Earth museum and be shown there.
The two have been friends for around five years and Mr Goh is quite confident and passionate about Mr Pimuk’s ability and aim to promote Peranakan culture around the world.
For Mr Pimuk, Peranakan culture has always been a favourite subject of his to paint.
“I enjoy transforming Peranakan characters into living personalities. There are a lot of similarities in Peranakan culture among Phuket, Singapore and other nearby regions.
“The goal of this exhibition is to remind people of the following generations to continue to educate and preserve this culture with pride.”
An attendee at Saturday’s opening ceremony was Singaporean born, New York resident artist, Wong Keen, who although not Peranakan in heritage, definitely saw the beauty and significance of such an exhibition.
“It’s interesting to see the differences in how Baba/Peranakan culture is viewed throughout the world. Some, like the Phuket communities for example, see it as incredibly important and something to maintain, while some see it as perhaps something more shameful and something to be hidden away like gypsies, or something.”
“But unfortunately it is a dying culture, and with every generation they are becoming more like you and I,” added Mr Wong.
“But their clothes, their antiques and their food should not be forgotten.”
“Peranakan: From Phuket to Singapore”' will run at the centre until June 1.