‘REGISTRY ON HERITAGE TOWNS, VILLAGES VITAL’
It will boost awareness of places with cultural and heritage significance, says academic
THE fire that razed a major portion of the historic town of Sungai Lembing has underscored the need for a registry of towns and new villages, say academics and heritage interest groups.
Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong, principal fellow at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies, said there was a lack of awareness among Malaysians on locales of cultural and heritage significance.
“We need these things in stock. Right now, there is not enough consciousness among people in power on the importance of places with significant cultural and heritage value in Malaysia.
“When they do find out about them, they can’t begin to understand the gravity of their contribution to culture, linguistics and historical development or even just local consciousness,” he told the New Straits Times.
He was commenting on the NST’s front page report on settlements like Sungai Lembing around Malaysia that are at risk of going the way of the ex-mining town if there was no documentation and records.
Teo said the grassroots could start a campaign through petitions or social media drives to put their towns or villages on the map by highlighting its artefacts and significance.
He said the National Heritage Act should be studied to see if such towns and villages that have heritage value could be gazetted as heritage areas.
“The act is quite exhaustive. It even addresses the biodiversity of national flora and fauna, as well as the geodiversity of rocks and such.
“There is range of such settlements to be considered, but unfortunately, it (the act) has not been interpreted and applied for the purpose of gazetting such areas. If all else fails, there is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation guidelines.”
Teo agreed with the views of cultural activists mentioned in the NST article.
He said settlements with more localised significance should be put under state registries by Town and Country Planning Departments and local councils.
Parent Action Group for Education chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said such a registry could pave the way for these towns and villages to be used as “living classrooms” in history lessons.
“We don’t know enough about these places so the registry could help. Children should be made aware of our heritage through class trips and the like.
“If the community manages to put themselves on the map, it’s also a good lesson for the children on community empowerment.”
Azimah said some towns and villages were good examples of national integration and unity.
The fire in Sungai Lembing, Pahang, on the morning of National Day gutted 32 century-old buildings, destroying history and the way of life in a place once known as the “El Dorado of the East”.
An elderly couple died in the blaze. The town’s more than 50year-old library that had books on the town’s storied past, a tome twice the facility’s age and outof-print books were among treasures that were reduced to ash.
While some of the former tin mining town’s treasures are lost forever, cultural activists told the
New Straits Times that the fire could be a wake up call and help lead to the creation of a registry of places with cultural and heritage significance.