Balancing commercialisation and heritage preservation in Melaka
MELAKA: Melaka, for more than a decade, had successfully commercialised the state’s rich historical heritage through tourism, but day by day commercialisation had become a threat to the heritage site.
Not only do the common people but the state’s Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron himself raised his concern over the excessive commercialisation especially in the Unesco World Heritage Site which could erase the site’s historical values.
“Take a look at the red Stadthuys Building for example, how many stalls do you see there nowadays? These stalls have blocked the historical building from the eyes of the tourists, so how can the tourists see and feel the historical spirit of the building?
“But when we take action, some people say we are cruel but we want to make sure the historical value still remains. Nevertheless we believe there are opportunities behind this, balancing commercialisation and heritage preservation is the key,” he told Bernama.
Melaka had received 16.25 million tourists from all over the world last year and was targeting for 16.5 million tourists this year.
Idris said for starters, Melaka had taken a bold step when closing several places in the historical sites from massive development.
“Striking a balance is important, and to do this we received proposals to use rooms in the historical buildings as guest rooms for the tourists so they can experience for themselves living in the historical sites while keeping the 500 to 600 years old building in tact,” he said.
Idris said one of the historical buildings that could benefit from this proposal was the old governor’s residence on St Paul’s Hill, Bandar Hilir here where there were rooms that could be transformed into five- star guest rooms.
He said the concept of preserving the historical buildings while renovating the inside to accommodate commercialisation needs had been done successfully in other countries, two sites he had seen himself were Topkapi in Istanbul, Turkey and Cordoba in Spain.
Idris said he had instructed the State Economic Planning Unit to come out with proposals to turn this proposal into a reality and preserve Melaka’s historical heritage but at the same time boosting economic income for the people here. — Bernama