National Heritage Image Collection

The Problem

The images exist. Finding and licensing them does not.

The nation's heritage images are already preserved — carefully, and at cost — inside archives, libraries and museums. What is missing is a single way in, and a lawful way to pay for use.

Scattered across institutions

Photographs, maps, manuscripts and documents are held separately by each institution. Every catalogue is its own island, so a search in one place never sees what the others hold.

The public cannot find them

Someone looking for an image of a town, a building or a period has no single place to look — and often no way to know which institution holds it, or under what rights.

No lawful, priced channel

Without an official way to license usage, publishers and agencies go without or use images informally — and the institution that preserved the image sees no return.

What KIIK Is

One catalogue. One lawful channel. Revenue that returns.

About KIIK →

A national union catalogue

Records from every contributing institution are consolidated into a single search. Institutions retain full ownership of their own collections.

A lawful licensing channel

Choose licence type, resolution, usage scale, territory and term — the price is calculated automatically, with the licence agreement and e-invoice issued alongside it.

Revenue shared back

Licensing revenue is distributed to the owning institution under a revenue-sharing agreement, with periodic royalty statements and payouts.

Provenance & protection

Every record carries its accession number, holding institution and rights status. Previews are watermarked; the master file stays outside the web root until a licence is purchased.

How It Works

From institutional deposit to royalty return

How to license an image →

1

Deposit

Institutions submit collections by OAI-PMH harvesting, API or direct upload — and retain full ownership of everything they contribute.

2

Catalogue

Records are described to national and international metadata standards. AI assists with the description; a human cataloguer verifies and approves it.

3

Discover

The public searches by keyword, then narrows by institution, decade, subject, material type and rights status — and examines the image in deep zoom.

4

License

The price is calculated from the chosen terms, the e-invoice and licence agreement are generated, and the full-resolution master is delivered by secure link.

5

Return

Revenue is distributed to the owning institution, which receives periodic royalty statements and payouts.

In this preview, payment, e-invoicing and royalty distribution are simulated.

Who It Serves

Four audiences, one record

Public & researchers

Search everything at once

Free search across every contributing institution, with full descriptive metadata, provenance and deep zoom for close reading.

Media & publishers

Clear rights in one place

A price known up front, a licence agreement, a valid e-invoice, and a full-resolution master file — instead of guesswork about who owns what.

Institutions

Visibility without losing ownership

National reach for collections that are hard to find, own rights status and pricing per collection, and a share of the licensing revenue.

Government agencies

A standards-based national record

One consolidated view of the nation's image holdings, described to open standards, with rights status and a licensing trail per transaction.

Protection & Trust

Three layers — and what they honestly cannot do

Copyright protection →

01

Watermarked previews

Public previews are low-resolution and visibly watermarked. The full-resolution master is stored outside the web root and released only after a licence is purchased.

02

Copy deterrents

Right-click, drag, select and save-image are disabled; the Print Screen key is cleared; content is hidden when the window loses focus.

03

Invisible watermark

An invisible ownership signature (DCT) is embedded in the pixels. It survives screenshots and re-saving, and can be detected again to prove the source.

Honest limits

Screenshots cannot be blocked 100% on the web — no browser can stop the system Print Screen key, a screen-capture tool, or a phone camera pointed at the screen. Layer 02 is a deterrent, not an absolute barrier.

No watermark is truly “AI-proof”. The invisible signature makes clean removal difficult — attempts to strip it tend to damage the image — and it stays detectable after a screenshot. That is a robust defence, not a guarantee. The real strength is detection and provenance: even from a screenshot, the KIIK mark can identify the source image.

Protection layers Security & compliance

Standards & Governance

Built on open standards, aligned to Malaysian law

Standards & metadata →

Dublin Core

Core descriptive metadata carried by every record.

IPTC / XMP

Photo and rights metadata embedded in the file itself.

IIIF

Interoperable image viewing and deep zoom across institutions.

OAI-PMH

Metadata harvesting inbound from and outbound to other catalogues.

Copyright Act 1987

Rights status recorded on every record; licensing terms stated in writing.

PDPA 2010

Personal data protection and data minimisation for licensee records.

LHDN MyInvois

Valid e-invoicing issued with each licence purchase.

Curator's Picks

Featured collection

View all →

Central Market (Pasar Besar), Kuala Lumpur, before 1916

Public Domain

KIIK-ANM-0001

Central Market (Pasar Besar), Kuala Lumpur, before 1916

ANM · c. 1910

British officials with the Kapitan Cina in Perak

Public Domain

KIIK-JMM-0001

British officials with the Kapitan Cina in Perak

JMM · 24 July 1904

Gathering of the Kling community in Pulau Pinang

Public Domain

KIIK-MNPP-0001

Gathering of the Kling community in Pulau Pinang

MNPP · 1867

Driving licence booklet cover, Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu

Public Domain

KIIK-ANM-0006

Driving licence booklet cover, Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu

ANM · early 20th century

Taj al-Salatin manuscript ("The Crown of Kings")

Reference Only

KIIK-PNM-0002

Taj al-Salatin manuscript ("The Crown of Kings")

PNM · 31 July 1824

Explore by

Subjects & themes

All themes →

Network

Contributing institutions

All institutions →

ANSB

Archive · Sabah

Concept prototype: images are drawn from public domain collections and assigned to illustrative institutions only — not official holdings or endorsements.

Start Here

Browse the national collection

50,015 records from 29 contributing institutions — searchable by keyword, institution, decade, subject and rights status.

Browse the collection → How it works

One catalogue for Malaysia's heritage image treasures.

The images exist. Finding and licensing them does not.

Scattered across institutions

The public cannot find them

No lawful, priced channel

One catalogue. One lawful channel. Revenue that returns.

A national union catalogue

A lawful licensing channel

Revenue shared back

Provenance & protection

From institutional deposit to royalty return

Deposit

Catalogue

Discover

License

Return

Four audiences, one record

Search everything at once

Clear rights in one place

Visibility without losing ownership

A standards-based national record

Three layers — and what they honestly cannot do

Watermarked previews

Copy deterrents

Invisible watermark

Honest limits

Built on open standards, aligned to Malaysian law

Featured collection

Central Market (Pasar Besar), Kuala Lumpur, before 1916

British officials with the Kapitan Cina in Perak

Gathering of the Kling community in Pulau Pinang

Driving licence booklet cover, Negeri-Negeri Melayu Bersekutu

Taj al-Salatin manuscript ("The Crown of Kings")

Subjects & themes

Contributing institutions

Arkib Negeri Sabah

Arkib Negeri Kelantan

Perbadanan Muzium Melaka

Arkib Negeri Pahang

Muzium Sabah

Muzium Diraja Perak

Arkib Negeri Sarawak

Jabatan Warisan Negara

Arkib Negeri Johor

Arkib Negeri Negeri Sembilan

Arkib Negeri Melaka

Arkib Negeri Kedah

Arkib Negeri Terengganu

Muzium Negara

Jabatan Muzium Malaysia

Muzium Sarawak

Arkib Negara Malaysia

Balai Seni Negara

Perpustakaan Universiti Sains Malaysia

Arkib Radio Televisyen Malaysia

Arkib & Koleksi Warisan Selangor

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia

Perpustakaan Universiti Malaya

Arkib Berita Nasional (Bernama)

Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia

Muzium Negeri Pulau Pinang

Muzium Negeri Kedah

Arkib Negeri Perak

Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia

Browse the national collection