Star : How long before it’s all gone?
Yap Yok Foo
3 August 2002
How long before it’s all gone?
By ANDREW SIA
In future, the best place to experience the historical ambience of
Malacca may be any old town outside Malacca. But, if you want to see
bits of Venice, Holland or America, then the holiday traffic jams of
Melaka Bandaraya Bersejarah — Malacca the Historical City — may just
be the thing for you.
Over the last three years, 42 traditional trades have been displaced
and 44 heritage buildings have been fully or partially demolished in,
of all places, the so-called “core conservation area” of Malacca.
These statistics from Badan Warisan Malaysia (the Heritage of Malaysia
Trust) also show that our real heritage has been replaced with over
140 tourist-oriented shops and cafés in the beginnings of a tourist
theme park a la Disneyland.
Meanwhile, alien proposals are being touted for this birthplace of the
nation.
“A new commercial area is being proposed as Manhattan and some want to
turn the old town into a mini Amsterdam. The latest project is to have
a mini Venice with river gondolas,” commented architect Lim Huck Chin,
38, during a slide show cum talk last month at Badan Warisan’s Kuala
Lumpur office.
As we try to boost our cultural egos with these western imports, the
question is: whatever happened to Malaccan pride?
Evidence of that is found in those cases where local craftsmen have
been forced out by spiralling rentals (spurred on by tourism
development!) in favour of shops selling Balinese bamboo wind chimes,
Filipino leather knick-knacks and Thai silk parasols. The
controversial project of Jonker Walk was originally intended as a
cultural/historical revival of the area. The result has instead been
criticised as a “plastic Disneyland” cum pasar malam selling VCDs and
plastic Garfields. And yet Malacca is trying to get on Unesco’s World
Heritage List . . .
These and other issues were addressed during the Badan Warisan slide
show held in conjunction with the photo exhibition Malacca: People,
Place and Time by Lim and Portuguese architect Fernando Jorge, 32.
Striking pictures of traditional craftsmen were on display at the
exhibition.
“We talked to more than 100 traditional tradesmen. Tinsmiths,
goldsmiths, the last commercial maker of yeast biscuits . . . more
than half have since closed shop,” said Lim. Sin Sen Goldsmith, a
distinctive landmark along Jonker Street for generations with its
large red Chinese characters by the side, has been turned into a
bustling modern chicken rice shop.
“Rentals shot up because of Jonker Walk and rent decontrol. The
goldsmith just couldn’t afford to stay on,” explained Lim.
Apart from the demolished buildings and tradesmen evictions, other
less obvious practices are also destroying the heritage character of
Malacca. 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.
Yet these are the things that tourists come to see in the first place!
In the desire to reap the benefits of the tourist boom, will the
golden goose be killed? The most heart-breaking slide showed the
former Kapitan Cina’s house at numbers 4, 6 and 8, Jonker Street.
“We went in and saw that old wooden signs with beautiful calligraphy
had been cut into pieces and used to support the roof. The couplets on
the signs were commemorating a wedding in the 1700s,” related Lim. He
added that the front portion of this very historical building was torn
down after the photos were taken — even though a conservation report
had been handed in to the museum and the local authorities.
Another major menace is the conversion of at least 17 traditional shop
houses in old Malacca into birds’ nest houses. The whole building is
sealed up except for little holes where the swiftlets fly through.
According to Lim, as the dampness does not evaporate, moisture
accumulates and accelerates the decay of plaster and brick walls,
timber ceilings (inviting termites) and terracotta floors. The bird
droppings eat into the building material besides being a possible
health hazard. And, to attract the swiftlets, recorded birdcalls are
played over 24 hours.
As a New Straits Times article put it: “A zoo? A bird park? An aviary?
No. Just Malacca’s historic old town.”
According to Mansor Sudin, director of town planning and building
control in Malacca, the birds’ nest houses are illegal. But of course,
since this is Malaysia Boleh! . . .
Lim flashed several slides of beautiful shops in Tranquerah and Bandar
Hilir — outside the main conservation area. “These shops are still
very intact. Ironically, it’s the shops inside the conservation area
which are most under threat,” he said.
Further from town, lovely old wooden Malay houses have not been
spared. Lim showed a slide of one such house overshadowed by an
oversized, over-posh fake French Louis XIV bungalow.
According to him, on the road from Alor Gajah towards Malacca town,
there are “more than 10” such examples.
“The old house has since been demolished. It’s a personal choice. But
maybe people would choose otherwise if they were more aware of what is
of value.”
Signals from the authorities can be confusing. On one hand, all the
right things are being said at the top. For instance, in January 2001,
after the approved demolition of three shop houses in Jonker Street
raised a hue and cry, Chief Minister Datuk Wira Mohd Ali Rustam gave a
“final reminder” that owners and developers of historical buildings,
some of whom were Singaporeans, would face “court action” if they
demolished or renovated their properties without the state’s consent.
“We have to retain the old charm of Malacca by preserving and
conserving old buildings,” he said.
However, according to Badan Warisan, since then over 30 buildings have
been fully or partly torn down.
In October, the Chief Minister urged heritage building owners not to
sell their properties to foreigners, who are slowly evicting
traditional traders from the old part of Malacca town, noting that
many Singaporeans were buying up properties there.
“The municipal council will not approve new licences for another trade
if the new or present owners evict those involved in dying trades such
as tinsmithing and making beaded shoes,” he declared.
But the reality on the ground has been quite different. There have
been ample warnings that Malacca would not make it to the World
Heritage List. Even in October, conservation expert Elizabeth Vines,
who visited at the request of Unesco and the Malacca Municipal
Council, commented that most of Unesco’s action plan drawn up “eight
months ago” for Malacca’s listing had not been implemented.
Illegal demolition, renovation and refurbishing work was carrying on
with “no serious penalties given”.
According to Badan Warisan, just last May, six pre-war shop houses in
Jalan Temenggong (on the edge of the heritage zone) were demolished —
even though one of them was the first Malacca Umno office. In the last
month alone, another two shop houses right in Jonker and Heeren
Streets have also been torn down.
But there was also some good news last month when the Malacca
Municipal Council announced that birds’ nest traders have to leave
residential and commercial areas within the next six months. But will
this be for real?
The 70 photos in the exhibition were taken between 1999 and 2002.
“We commissioned ourselves,” recalled Lim. “When we started, we were a
bit naive and not very aware of the issues. We approached it as
architects who wanted to document our building heritage before it was
all gone. As we continued, we discovered that it wasn’t just the
buildings which were endangered but the community itself.”
There are more than 150 vacant/ abandoned shop houses in the proposed
Unesco World Heritage area
“Heritage is about improving the liveability of the town and
preserving the community rather than just catering to tourists,” said
Lim. “It’s about improving the basic facilities, not about locals
having to put up with clogged drains and dirty streets.”
As the town loses its residents, a vicious cycle develops.
“Morale goes down, people care less about their surroundings,
community pride disappears. People don’t care to keep the area clean.”
Might there be a lesson here for the authorities looking for root
causes behind the wave of “social ills” plaguing Malaysia? Jorge
commented, “The key to historical cities worldwide is to keep the
residents. They are like fine mesh nets. If one piece goes, there will
be problems.”
“Money can be made, the question is how to do it,” said Lim.
“Without killing the cultural integrity of the place,” added Elizabeth
Cardosa, executive director of Badan Warisan, “Not by turning it into
a tourist theme park.
“Real communities have no place in a Disney theme park,” noted Lim.
Jorge observed that it was getting difficult to find a coffee shop
with marble tables and wooden chairs in Malacca. “A lot have been sold
to antique shops and replaced with plastic chairs. Once we entered
this coffee shop and told the owner, ‘What a beautiful wooden counter
you have.’ He replied, ‘Oh, you want to buy?’. Everybody is selling
off their heritage.”
Could it be that the meaning of the term “developed country” is not
just about papering over our inferiority complexes by building (well,
getting foreigners to build) the world’s tallest and longest
this-and-that? Could it also be about pride with our own heritage?
Asked why the Portuguese are proud of their architectural legacy
compared to Malaysians, Jorge said: “You cannot compare. Malaysia is a
young independent country. Portugal is 800 years old. People
appreciate their heritage and it’s easier to conserve things.” (Point
to ponder: Malacca was established 600 years ago.)
During the Penang Story International Conference in April, Richard
Engelhardt, the Unesco regional adviser for culture in Asia and
Pacific, pointed out three main advantages of a World Heritage
Listing:
l tourism arrivals increase by about 40%
l property values jump up immediately and
l valuable human resources are attracted
“People with high levels of expertise and who can command high
salaries want to live in unique and beautiful, well-preserved and
well-maintained historic environments,” he explained.
“Furthermore they invest in these environments and expect their
investments to be stable and long-term. It is no accident that
Barcelona is Europe’s preferred city of work and residence for bankers
and computer software developers. It is the surest reason to pursue
heritage conservation as a long-term development strategy.”
Jorge put it this way: “In Europe, there is strong competition. The
only way that we can promote ourselves is to be very Portuguese, not
to become more American or more Italian.”
He related the experience of Porto, a World Heritage Site in his
homeland where the government subsidised the restoration of the city,
including hotel stays for residents as their homes were being
repaired. “In Asia, people can choose between China, Indonesia and so
many other countries. The country that wins is the one that offers
something different.”
Yes, something a little different from “mini Amsterdam” windmills,
“mini Venice” gondolas, Balinese bamboo wind chimes and plastic
Garfields. Maybe . . . even something Malaccan.E