The skuduravedra, dreaming armour or dragonarmour Kristang Creole-Indigenous ethnic attire is a unique form of Creole-Indigenous ethnic attire associated primarily but not exclusively with the 13th Kabesa of the Kristang Tuan Raja Naga Kevin Martens Wong Zhi Qiang in his official capacity and role as Kabesa and Tuan Raja Naga, and in his practice of the Creole-Indigenous performance art of dreamshining. Skuduravedra consists of (usually but not always) bright or colorful kalsang rentu or underwear in a colour of personal significance to the individual, a cowboy hat or Western baseball cap, optionally at least one flower worn over one of the ears (usually a florisavedra, frangipani or dragonflower), and optionally assorted bracelets, wristbands, pendants or necklaces of personal significance to that particular individual.
Kevin is featured in Skuduravedra in his official stylised image as Kabesa — the first Kabesa to be featured in this way — and is featured in this way to deconstruct ugly and dehumanising stereotypes about how Kristang people use or make use of their bodies, how the collective oversexualises Kristang and other Indigenous people such that sometimes they are reduced just to their bodies and their sexualities and how these do not match mainstream neurotypical cisgender expectations of what a leader should be, with all other parts of who they are ignored, and to constantly remind the collective at large beyond the Kristang community of the horrific sexual, psychoemotional and institutional abuse that Kevin and many other Kristang people never received justice for through Western-conventional institutional means despite repeatedly calling attention to all of this abuse for three years, and which they and Kevin themselves are finally gaining justice for through Novakoroza or Kristang Creole/Indigenous Reconciliation instead, thereby further emphasising the internal validity, robustness and independence of Kristang Creole/Indigenous ways of being and the community at large, and to degrees that are more robust and functional than those of Western-conventional means.
Kevin and/or any other Kabesa appearing in Skuduravedra in their official capacity as Kabesa have been accepted by all healthy and individuated Kristang people worldwide as legitimate, functional, respectable and esteemable for the authenticity and vulnerability these convey since the publication of Chapter 705 of the Orange Book on Tuesday, 12 November 2024, and generally by all Kristang people worldwide at large as necessary for the overcoming or creolising of severe collective and intergenerational trauma since the public acknowledgement by Kevin of the undeniable and unremovable centrality of brilyabalu or Indigenous body positivity and body neutrality to Kristang identity and ways of being starting from Wednesday, 26 March 2025 on his own website here.
