Crumbling Malaysia relics endanger UNESCO listing
Updated
An historic area in Malaysia's Penang island - a small area in Georgetown featuring unique buildings from Chinese, Indian and British cultures - was last year granted heritage listing by the United Nations' cultural body, UNESCO. The father of modern China, Sun Yat Sen, plotted his Canton Uprising from one of the heritage zone's old two-storey shop houses.
But now, construction projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars are in limbo while buildings dating back hundreds of years fall apart. And the United Nations has threatened to withdraw Georgetown's heritage status unless action is taken to protect Penang's historical sites.
Presenter: Steve Holland in Penang
Speaker: Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang; Dr Matthew Rofe, University of South Australia's School of Natural and Built Environments; Peggy Lim, Director of Penang's British Council; Andy Wong, Penang carpenter
- Listen:
- Windows Media
HOLLAND: Great civilisations of the world have left their mark on Penang.
But many of the vast and varied physical, historical legacies, empires of the past have left to form Georgetown's landscape, are crumbling.
The Island of Penang was once part of the Buddhist-Hindu Kingdom of Kedah, originating in the 7th Century.
Five hundred years later Islam arrived.
Another five centuries passed before Captain Francis Light, on behalf of the British East India Company, established the current capital, Georgetown.
Dr Matthew Rofe, from the University of South Australia's School of Natural and Built Environments, also lectures in Penang.
ROFE: There are a number of extremely important straight cities, which were major trading ports, so we have Penang, Malacca, and then down into Singapore. Obviously for the journey from the hub of the British Empire, London, through into the really lucrative trade possessions and trade colonies into mainland China.
HOLLAND: Penang and Malacca, in Malaysia's south, were both included on the World Heritage List in July 2008.
The UN says the two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural landscape without parallel anywhere in East and South East Asia.
But it has warned Penang is in danger of losing its heritage status.
ROFE: Demolition, I mean it all comes down to demolition, destruction of the built fabric.
HOLLAND: More than 200 buildings of historical significance can be found within Georgetown's conservation area, including a Chinese school built in the 1800s.
The old Shichung building is a prime example of the consequences of neglect. Walking around the perimeter, the state of dilapidation is overwhelming. Trees have pushed their way through the roof, the walls are crumbling and at night, squatters occupy this historical former school.
And many, like Peggy Lim, Director of Penang's British Council, feels the State Government is not doing all it can to ensure the conservation of the 148 hectare heritage zone in Georgetown.
LIM: Nothing very much actually. We don't have a clear plan. Nobody has a very clear idea as to what we are going to do next. There has been a lot of talk and discussion about perhaps putting up a fund that will allow people to look into restoring the buildings. But obviously there's just been a lot more talk than there's been action.
HOLLAND: But for many, heritage listing has thrown a spanner in their works.
Extensions to the iconic Eastern and Oriental Hotel, costing millions of dollars, are on hold.
Works on the 100-million dollar Pier Hub have halted.
Construction of the 50-million dollar Royal Bintang building has been put off.
And the site of a 23-storey building, planned by the Low Fat Group, and approved two weeks before heritage listing, lies dormant.
LIM: That's the controversy that we currently have and that's the one that everybody's talking about, because like the chief minister of Penang has saidm approval has been given for this project to take place and to suddenly stop them now in the midst of the project doesn't make sense as well. You have legalities that are involved when you stop a project. It will have implications on the state and its budget, so damned if you don't, damned if you.
HOLLAND: Lim Guan Eng, the head of Penang State, was elected Chief Minister of Penang last year.
How would you respond to claims that not enough is being done to protect or conserve these heritage buildings?
WONG: Well, we have not destroyed them, like you talk about funds. I think with the onset of the global economic recession, I will not deny that funds are limited and that is why we are trying to seek financial support from international bodies.
HOLLAND: Is the federal government doing enough to ensure that funds are coming your way or to Penang, to ensure the protection and conservation of this rich asset?
WONG: Unfortunately, they have made some promises, but they only remain promises.
HOLLAND: It's unclear how Penang's battle of heritage versus modernisation will end.
Developers are hoping for clearer instructions to complete projects within heritage guidelines. The State Government attempts to overcome funding shortfalls to meet its conservation commitments while Georgetown risks being scrapped from the heritage list as UNESCO urges action.
But for those, like Andy Wong, a carpenter who runs his operations from the ground floor of a rundown heritage building, for now, it's business as usual.
WONG: It doesn't know how it affects us at all, but we will take it one day at a time and see how our government is going to do and develop our country and so on.
