Buildings with character
When every tourist destination in the world can offer beaches, Prada handbags and cappucino, what is unique about Malaysia? What about our historical towns? More important than the tourist dollar, would we lose our identity if our traditional architecture were "developed" into Western-style "modern" buildings? ANDREW SIA examines what various heritage experts have to say.
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A pre-war building on Beach Street, George Town.--Photo by K.T. GOH. |
More important than the tourist dollar, our architecture is part of our identity. For instance, if Malacca’s antique shophouses were renovated beyond recognition with sheet glass, aluminium windows and shiny new tiles, perhaps the most concrete part of the Baba-Nyonya legacy would have disappeared – with only textbooks, food recipes and old photographs left to tell their story.
Indeed, our rich heritage has seen lots of bad news – demolitions, unsuitable renovations, traditional craftsmen being evicted – for years. Can this trend be reversed?
Two weeks ago, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting announced that owners of heritage buildings and sites will get tax deductions and financial aid from the Government following proposed amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1976.
“It’s not fair to owners if they cannot afford to develop their heritage buildings and yet the Government does not allow them to tear it down,” he said.
The amendments, expected to be passed by Parliament next month, would also involve setting up a Heritage Fund plus a National Heritage Board (NHB) to assist local authorities to identify, manage and protect such buildings and sites. Proposed penalties include a RM1mil fine or five years jail.
“We cannot measure our land in monetary terms. We also have to measure it for the historical and cultural values it possesses,” said Ong.
StarWeekend has comments from a panel of experts:
Enforcement
“The proposals are very welcome. The maximum fine and jail sentence will serve as a deterrent,” says Khoo Salma Nasution, a heritage advocate based in Penang.
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Josephine Chua of the Malacca Historical Resource Society. |
Malacca has had a (theoretically) strict Cultural Preservation Enactment since 1988 but enforcement by the Malacca Municipal Council has been weak, notes Josephine Chua, Malacca Historical Resource Society honorary secretary.
As an example, many heritage houses have been converted into bird’s nest harvesting centres (but the dampness and bird droppings slowly eat away at the old wooden beams and tile floors). On Jan 1, 2003, these centres were supposed to have been shifted out of old Malacca. Instead, according to Chua, there are even more now, some right in the historical Jonker and Heeren Street area.
Heritage architect Lim Huck Chin points out that the core of Malacca has been gazetted as a preservation area and yet nearly 50 complete and partial demolitions have been carried out since 2000 (one of which was the first Malacca Umno office).
Law Siak Hong, Perak Heritage Society vice-president, adds that the proposed NHB is “excellent” but fears that its role to “assist” local authorities will lack any real bite.
“Will it be another Suhakam?” he asks.
Local government
Salma underlines that Federal heritage policy (such as the NHB) needs to be implemented where the action happens – at local government level.
“That means proper local planning and zoning. When the municipal council endangers a heritage building by allowing a highrise to come up next to it, there is no point using government money to pay for its rescue,” she notes.
“The Penang state government promised a one-stop approval for heritage projects. But applications to restore a house can be delayed for months due to bureaucratic hassles.”
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Lim Huck Chin, heritage architect. |
One basic conservation fact is that walls of old buildings need to “breathe” and should only be painted with lime wash, not modern oil-based paints.
Chua relates, “The local authorities in Malacca used the wrong kind of paint and the old buildings rejected it. Eventually, the paint began to come off.”
In Perak, Law comments that the historical Ipoh Pekan Baru police station was demolished because the Ipoh City Council “did not even bother” to check its background.
To make the NHB work, Salma suggests that “conservation units” be set up in local authorities.
Living heritage
What is Penang’s Little India without old spice shops and teh tarik stalls? What is its Chinatown without the man who makes joss-sticks and who roasts coffee the traditional way? Is heritage about preserving our old buildings and then putting Starbucks and Kentucky Fried Chicken into them?
Unlike the silent temple walls of Angkor Wat, Penang is a potential Unesco World Heritage Site because of its “living cultural heritage”. This aspect of heritage has not been sufficiently addressed in the new amendments.
“Malaysia must move away from the Monument Mentality,” says Lim. “It’s not just about the buildings. It’s also about the surrounding social fabric and cultural environment.”
Since rentals were decontrolled on Jan 1, Malacca’s “main conservation area” has lost more than 40 traditional trades (shoemakers, goldsmiths, Indian barbers, blacksmiths, biscuit makers etc). Meanwhile, more than 150 tourist-oriented cafés and souvenir shops (many with Balinese and Thai handicrafts) have mushroomed.
Back in Oct 2001, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam stated that regulations to protect vanishing trades would be introduced but the reality on the ground did not reflect the announcement. Will Malacca end up with nicely preserved old buildings in a kind of theme park or historical Disneyland?
“Heritage is also about improving the liveability of the town and preserving the community rather than just catering to tourists,” says Lim.
Protect what exactly?
Owners and contractors are taking the easiest, cheapest and loudest routes; replacing wooden shutter windows with bland aluminium/sheet glass, plastering, painting over ornate stucco work and putting up huge advertising signages that detract from the old buildings.
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A well-maintained red lacquer and gold leaf door in George Town.--Photo by UU BAN LEONG. |
He adds that heritage buildings also need protection from their neighbours, like when Penang’s magnificent Cheong Fatt Tze mansion was damaged when a neighbouring hotel expanded.
“The new law should also consider protecting heritage properties from inappropriate use, such as birds’ nest houses,” he suggests.
Under the proposed amendments, a building or site is to be defined as having “special heritage interest” if it has:
Apart from the obvious choices of beautiful old shophouses, schools and temples, Law points out that we have also grossly neglected “industrial heritage” such as rubber smokehouses, tin mining dredges and palongs, sawmills and tobacco drying sheds.
“These are the places where our forefathers used to work,” he says.
Even under current laws, there are implementation problems. According to Lim, the Porta de Santiago (Santiago Gate – Malacca’s most famous landmark often mistakenly known as A Famosa) is gazetted as a National Monument. But the recently discovered Santiago Bastion is not although it’s part of the same structure and of equal historic importance.
“The bastion is under enormous threat, mostly from the shopping centre development merely a few feet away from it,” he notes.
Salma suggests that there be two levels of protection: a strict one for buildings of national significance, and a more flexible one for those of state or local significance.
“It is difficult for owners to commit to very high levels of protection where they might lose all control of their properties,” she explains.
“Smaller incentives can be given as long as owners agree to respect some guidelines for its preservation and care.”
Modus operandi
The issue of heritage preservation can be quite complex, explains Salma.
Firstly, there is the big question: how will heritage buildings be identified?
“Someone has to prepare the “dossier” of sites. Local authorities need to have proper conservation units but the level of qualifications might be low because of civil service salary scales,” she clarifies.
She suggests that the Housing and Local Government Ministry would probably need to set up a special team and work with university researchers.
“And of course, there are always expensive consultants. Foreign funding and expertise are available for this sort of thing and should be explored,” she adds.
She thinks that a “points system” should be established to determine the amount of funding from the Heritage Fund. The recommended criteria are:
·degree of historical or cultural significance.
·is it endangered and needs rescuing urgently?
·will the project synergise with other heritage schemes? (For instance Penang’s historical Acheh Street Muslim enclave is very close to the island’s famous Khoo Kongsi)
·will the owner or the government maintain the building in future?
Then there is the question of who will be on the NHB?
“Like the Royal Police Commission, the NHB should have representatives from non-governmental (conservation) bodies,” says Law.
What will the money from the Heritage Fund be used for? Where will the priorities be? For instance, the Malacca Municipal Council is spending RM91.2mil to dredge the Malacca River and beautify it with pedestrian walkways.
“But they had no money for old buildings which are going to topple,” quips Chua.
New approaches
Many owners are ignorant of their building’s cultural and historical value, according to Lim.
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The work of crafstmen from China crown the Leong San Tong temple in George Town.--Photo by K.T. GOH. |
“Tax deductions are a start but owners must also be persuaded to keep, maintain and use their heritage buildings appropriately.”
It’s not just a question of luring the tourist dollar but also basic pride in our own (architectural) heritage.
“In Japan, England and Australia, children are taken to heritage sites as part of their education,” says Salma.
“This should be part of Malaysian education too. We should promote a sense of our own history, not just read about it in books.”
Sometimes there are mismatches.
Law says, “Other government departments promote a kind of development where kampung folk want to live in poorly designed brick homes and abandon their beautifully-made wooden houses.”
“I think school heritage clubs are far more relevant and exciting than a historical society. And why not include some elements into National Service?”
Conclusion
From all the feedback, it is clear that if this latest initiative from the Housing and Local Government Ministry is designed and implemented correctly, we will be able to create world-class tourism products.
Australia, with an architectural history of just over 200 years, has successfully preserved and promoted its old buildings as attractions which we Malaysians fly all the way to see. Yet we have wonderful Sino-Paladian-Malay shophouses (that means Chinese, Western and Malay architecture all-in-one) found nowhere else in the world. And we’ve been allowing such buildings to be demolished, to slowly decay or to be renovated/modernised/Westernised beyond recognition.
While buildings built by our colonial masters – such as KL’s Sultan Abdul Samad building, Malacca’s Stadthuys and A Famosa as well as Penang’s Fort Cornwallis – are totally protected under the law, buildings built by our own forefathers are in danger of disappearing. Why do we lack such pride in ourselves?
Ultimately, changes to the law can only do so much. Basic attitudes might also be questioned: Is our greatest achievement the construction of Western-style skyscrapers? Or can we celebrate what’s uniquely Malaysian? W
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