George Town at a Historic Crossroads
With one of the largest collections of historic buidings in Asia, George Town, the capital city of Penang, Malaysia, is becoming increasingly recognized as a major urban heritage site in Asia. The historic seaport, with a colonial history dating back to 1786, was a meeting place for migrants from China, India, Arabia, Europe, and the Indonesian Archipelago. Cultural communities live in distinct neighbourhoods, practise their respective religious traditions and specialized occupations, yet routinely trade and interact with one another.
By KHOO SALMA NASUTION
For generations the descendants of these original migrants have lived in inner city neighbourhoods protected by a long-standing Rent Control Act. At the turn of the new millennium, however, the Rent Control Act was repealed exposing thousands of tenants to the threat of exorbitant rental hikes and evictions. With the population moving out of the inner city, more and more pre-Second World War properties are becoming vulnerable to dereliction and the developer's axe.The Penang Heritage Trust, a non-profit organization that has been championing the preservation of heritage buildings for more than ten years, has to address even greater challenges now. Immediate issues concerning inner city housing and tenants' livelihood also need to be dealt with as long-term issues, such as heritage protection and community participation in urban planning. The Trust is currently collaborating with the Penang State Government, consumer groups, and tenant groups to formulate strategies for urban rehabilitation and social housing.
As a result of the Penang Heritage Trust's efforts, George Town Inner City has been listed as one of the world's one hundred Most Endangered Sites by the New York-based philanthropic organization, the World Monuments Fund. This listing recognizes George Town as one of the world's irreplaceable cultural treasures that is in danger of irreversible destruction. The Penang State Government is also pursuing a nomination to Unesco's world heritage listing.
Academic attention has been attracted. Well-known anthropologists such as Penang-based Professor Wazir Karim and York University's Professor Judith Nagata are assisting in documenting the oral histories of rapidly disintegrating urban communities. As part of her University of Hull PhD research, Gwynn Jenkins, compiled information about distressed tenants, which later became a critical resource to state authorities.
In the last few years the Trust has received students from various universities and institutions. Sumatra Heritage Trust interns helped to organize workshops which rekindled historical ties between the community in Acheen Street, Penang, and its Sumatran counterparts. Interns from the University of South Australia carried out a survey of tourist perceptions of Chulia Street, where century-old budget hotels and sailors' bars have now become a resort for Lonely Planet-type backpackers. Under the ASA programme sponsored by the Carl-Duisberg Society, German interns surveyed how young local people would feel about living in the inner city and how housing conditions could be improved.
Community participation
The community that lives and works around the city's two historic mosques took part in a series of workshops and consultations organized by the Penang Heritage Trust as part of a year-long project sponsored by Unesco's LEAP programme on integrated community development and cultural heritage site preservation. 'Community Participation in Waqf Revitalization' promoted Muslim urban heritage and waqf (religious endowment) as community resources.
The nationalization of waqf during the colonial era had led to the dereliction of much of the waqf heritage due to poor management by the state religious bureaucracy. Many stakeholders felt it was time to revert to promoting a stronger community role in managing waqf according to Islamic law. The rights of poor, elderly tenants who are being evicted as a result of Rent Control Repeal, to qualify for charity housing was repeatedly asserted. The Muslim women's groups mobilized in the face of threats to their neighbourhood market, while the inner city Muslim youth began organizing their own cultural and recreational activities, such as a recent clean-up of a historic cemetery that had been turned into an illegal dump site.
By researching and describing heritage sites, handling visitor inquiries, and conducting heritage tours, the Trust has significantly helped to develop cultural tourism in the state. Recently, it published a souvenir album promoting the local heritage sites that were used as locations in the Hollywood film 'Anna and The King'. One Council member gives tours of Penang's most distinguished private heritage site, the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. This was the favourite home of a migrant who rose from rags to become the greatest Nanyang industrialist of his era.
The Trust has become a significant important local institution, with heritage work providing an important avenue for women's development. Apart from its two full-time female staff members, the Trust's ten-member council includes six women a professional conservationist, an anthropologist, a history teacher of, a tourist guide, an accountant, and a writer. These women now regularly deal with politicians, government bureaucracy, and the media, organize site visits, and provide advice on housing repairs.
Not surprisingly, the Trust is dominated by an English-educated local elite. However, it is well enough ensconced in the inner city to be networking with urban minorities, tenants groups, and other community organizations. More importantly, the key activists represent a good cross-section of religious and ethnic identities, fluent in several languages. They often find themselves handling projects as diverse as the colonial governor's residence, Suffolk House, a Hainanese sailor's lodging house, a Cantonese carpenter's guild temple, an Indian Muslim mosque, or an Arab pilgrim broker's cottage. *
For further information, please contact:
THE PENANG HERITAGE TRUST
26-A Stewart Lane, 10200 Penang
Tel./fax: +60-4-264 2631
E-mail: phtrust@po.jaring.my
Http://www.pht.org.my
Khoo Salma Nasution is Hon. Secretary of the Penang Heritage Trust