Demolition of old house riles up heritage activists
GEORGE TOWN: A heritage activist has questioned the Penang Island City Council about the demolition of another pre-war structure.
“I warned the council of the risk of No. 12 on Clove Hall Road being demolished in November last year, but they simply laughed it off. Now, my biggest nightmare has been confirmed,” said George Town Heritage Action cofounder Mark Lay.
The council approved demolition of the more-than-a-centuryold double-storey mansion on Aug 10 last year following an application by its owner.
Demolition started on Monday, even though the Penang-built heritage inventory listed it and its neighbour as heritage properties.
The address land plot ratio has been upped to 5:1 as listed in the Penang Island Draft Local Plan, which means it can cater for massive condominiums or office blocks.
The contractor tasked with the structure’s demolition said that among the reasons for tearing it down was to prevent it from collapsing after it was infested with termites.
Lay said the mansion deserved protection, even though it was situated outside the World Heritage Site, as its interior details ticked all the boxes for a heritage building worth conserving.
Penang Heritage Trust vicepresident Khoo Salma Nasution said on Facebook that the mansion’s 100-year-old chunam (a type of plaster used in India, made from shell-lime and sand) decorative detail was going be smashed to pieces due to the Penang city council’s ignorance of the structure’s significance to the state’s heritage.
Last year in November, another prewar structure — No. 9 on Arratoon Road — was torn down after demolition was approved on Aug 10.
“How many more heritage structures need to be demolished before the authorities sit up and take the issue seriously?
“It looks like state authorities lack the political will to extend heritage protection to structures outside the World Heritage Site,” Lay told the New Straits Times.
In August last year, the tomb of Foo Teng Nyong, the principal wife of Kapitan Chung Keng Quee, was illegally demolished.
Two months later, remnants of the tomb were discovered in the Jelutong landfill.
The 138-year-old tomb, dubbed “Penang’s Taj Mahal”, was designed and built in 1884 as a testament to Chung’s love for Foo, who died during childbirth at 33.
Besides being Chung’s wife, Foo was also the mother of Chung Siew Yin, Kapitan Chung Thye Phin and Chung Thye Cheong, and the paternal aunt of the Tin King of Malaya, Foo Choo Choon.
Chung (Keng Quee) had been the largest tin mine owner and employer in Malaya.