Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’d like to echo Injee’s comments and encourage all participants to use this forum to raise any questions, comments or simply share their views. I appreciate that we went through quite a lot of material at the first Live session, and even as I went through the overviews of Business Terms, Business Models and Strategic Planning, I knew I could only touch on the broad concepts, so if anything renains unclear, feel free to ask and we will try to clarify.
Apart from that, enjoy the reading of the case study and watching of the various videos.
— James
In most living sites, there will often be close inter-relationships between tangible heritage and intangible heritage. Sometimes the relationship is positive, as in when a heritage building continues to provide shelter and safety for people in their current trade, livelihood or dwelling. In other cases where the relationship may be seen as somewhat negative, there may be ‘clashes’ between what the building was built for and what it is currently used for, which may to some be considered not sensitive use of the premise, e.g. a former church building used as a nightclub. Other negative expressions may be in building structural modern extensions latched onto a classical style building, which some would see as unsympathetic or insensitive architecturally.
As for sustainable development, it can be seen in many ways, such as built heritage being repurposed or going through adaptive reuse to support the present lifestyles or livelihoods of the community. It can also be a case of reusing a traditional building rather than demolishing it to build a new one, which would cost more and necessitate more use of raw materials.
In Sarawak, Malaysia, we have a rich history and a multi-racial, multi-religious culture. Sarawak was once a part of the Brunei Kingdom, then came under a “private” kingdom ruled by the Brooke family for a century, followed by 4 years Japanese Occupation, then a British Colony for 17 years, and eventually was one of the founding territories of Malaysia. As such, the cultural heritage has been influenced by the different periods under different regimes. In urban areas for example, the architectural mix also reflects the different periods. I would say our heritage values are historical, architectural, artistic, social and even religious. Heritage values invariably evolve over time with external influences (globalisation, trade, technology) as well as internal (inter-marriages, communal exchanges etc).
In my state of Sarawak, which is part of Malaysia, we have both a federal-level National Heritage Law and a state-level Sarawak Heritage Ordinance (2019). While there is always room for the laws to be improved, I feel that the challenges of heritage management lie in 2 key areas: (a) the availability and clarity of the procedures and guidelines regarding conservation (e.g. For traditional heritage shophouses, what can the owner/tenant do and what is prohibited; and (b) the ability and willingness of the authorities to enforce the law and other rules when there is a legal transgression involving a heritage asset.
On top of this, I feel that the focus is still skewed towards tangible cultural heritage, and while intangible cultural heritage is being talked about a lot, actual efforts to protect ICH is still lagging. There is much to learn from other countries which have been more successful protecting and getting their ICH’s recognised by UNESCO and other bodies
