Sunday, April 15, 2012

PENANG GOVERMENT WANT TG TO'KONG TO BE HERITAGE SITE HERITAGE SITE

Penang govt wants Kg Tanjung Tokong to be a heritage site

GEORGE TOWN (Jan 30, 2012): The state government is in discussion with UDA Holdings Bhd which wants to develop land occupied by the 250-year old Kampung Tanjung Tokong in Penang, to have it conserved as a heritage site.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng expressed hope that UDA, formerly known as the Urban Development Authority under the Prime Minister’s Department ,will respect the state’s wish to preserve the oldest Malay village in the state.

“They have refused to recognise Kampung Tanjung Tokong as a heritage village,” he said today.

“We hope UDA can respect the state government’s wishes just as we have to respect UDA as the landowner.”

On Nov 3 last year Lim had told the Penang State Assembly that the state government has decided to classify the village as a heritage site.

The move has been welcomed by residents being told to move out including activist Mohd Salleh Yahaya who said there is potential to turn the village into a historical and cultural enclave with proper facilities for visitors.

The village existed as a fishing settlement even before the former British colonialists first landed in Penang in 1786.

Speaking at a press conference, Lim said the classification was a first step to preserve the village or at least ensure some identity of the settlement is maintained.

He noted, however, that the federal government, which owns UDA, does not recognise the state’s heritage classification.
“This is no ordinary landowner. UDA is the federal government,” he said.

“We hope there can be some compromise and agreement on this matter. We cannot allow the problem to drag on,” he added.

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SAVING ANCIENT MALAY VILLAGE IN PENANG

BY April 1972, Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak visited Kampung Tanjung Tokong, a Malay settlement in Penang said to have existed as a fishing community since before the British colonialists landed on the island in 1786.

Razak's visit was featured on the front page of the now defunct Straits Echo, which reported him telling the 7,000-odd villagers that he understood they were not owners of the land. The report, however, added that the government planned to make them settle there permanently.

Some 40 years later, villagers and heritage activists have found a glimmer of hope that the historic settlement – which has since been earmarked for demolition for a development project - can be preserved after all.

The Penang legislative assembly was told in November last year that the state government had decided to formally recognise Kampung Tanjung Tokong as a heritage village.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told the assembly that the village would have its status "restored" by being reclassified as a heritage kampung.

This is an intriguing turn of events; not least because the agency that now owns the land and plans to develop a high-density project there is UDA Holdings Bhd - formerly the Urban Development Authority - under the Prime Minister's Department.

While Lim has described the classification as a "first step" to preserve the village, or at least ensure some identity is maintained, UDA is known to have wanted the residents to leave.

The issue about conserving the settlement has become a passionate one, because it is regarded as among the oldest living legacies of the Malays.

According to anthropologist Datuk Wazir Jahan Karim, family histories here go back over 300 years, with some having drawn up their complex genealogies from the time English sea captain Francis Light landed on the island.

"This is unique to Penang's urban history when you consider that Tanjung Tokong is even older than George Town," she has written, highlighting also the peaceful co-existence the villagers had with the Chinese community as an important feature.

There is also an ancient cemetery nestled on a small hill near the village that has kept the remains of some of the earliest inhabitants of the island, predating the arrival of the British.

Interestingly, Wazir had also provided an explanation of how the original Malay inhabitants were left without land ownership.

For while early migrants like the Chinese, Europeans and Indians understood the processes of colonisation better and rapidly submitted claims on land and titles, the Malays thought that the lands they had inhabited for hundreds of years were theirs, hence very few applied for land titles. Most of the original Malays could also not afford to pay for such titles.

The state government is now understood to be in discussion with UDA to have the place conserved. "We hope UDA can respect the state government's wishes just as we also have to respect UDA as the landowner," Lim had said.

The state had in May 2010 received a detailed plan from villagers and NGO representatives for controlled development and conservation of key parts of the historic village.

What makes the site additionally significant is its location along the road to the popular Batu Ferringhi-Tanjung Bungah area which is now a tourism belt. Proponents have pointed out that this makes it an ideal place to showcase living Malay heritage to visitors.

In fact, Tanjung Tokong and Tanjung Bungah used to contain nucleated Malay fishing villages, dotted all along the coastline up to Teluk Bahang. Many of these are now gone.

Dramatically enough, the seashore the village faced – and on which its fisher-folk community depended for two centuries - is also no longer there. It was reclaimed a decade ago, leaving the village land-locked, blocked from the sea by a modern luxury township.

It now remains to be seen, with the latest turn of events to officially mark the village as a heritage site, if this rare remnant of Malay history can be prevented from also being wiped out into oblivion.

Himanshu is theSun's Penang bureau head. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

Perkembangan Terbaru Warisan Tanjong To'Kong

Final discussion to make Tanjung Tokong heritage site

GEORGE TOWN (March 8, 2012): The Penang government is in the final stages of discussion with UDA Holdings Bhd towards having a heritage initiative for Kampung Tanjong Tokong, which has been slated for demolition for a high-density residential project.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister (I) Datuk Mansor Othman today said while the relocation of the residents has been agreed upon, a concept for a heritage enclave is also being discussed.

He expressed optimism that the matter would be finalised within a month, adding the 250-year old settlement would be vacated to give way for construction of a re-built village.

"The villagers will be placed in transit homes during the reconstruction of the village," he said.

"Once completed, they will move back to the new homes," he said, adding that it would take between a year and 18 months for the heritage village to be built.

However, Mansor told reporters to be patient on the kind of heritage concept to be adopted. "Be patient, we will announce it soon," he said at a press conference at his office here.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had in November last year told the Penang State Assembly that the state government has decided to classify the village as a heritage site.

The village existed as a fishing settlement even before the former British colonialists first landed in Penang in 1786.

The site has been slated for a massive residential development project by UDA Holdings, formerly known as the Urban Development Authority, under the Prime Minister’s Department.

The state had in 2010 received a detailed plan put forward by non-governmental organisation representatives and villagers for controlled development and conservation of key parts of the historic area.

The plan included preserving important elements of the village and the creation of a buffer around it.

On another matter, Mansor said the state has yet to receive confirmation of an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong with regards to the appointment of the new Penang Islamic Affairs Council (MAIPP) president.

"We are waiting for a date," he said, adding it was the King's prerogative to appoint the new MAIPP president with the consultation of the state