MORE efforts are needed to recognise and record the colourful historical narrative of Penang for the benefit of the younger generation.
With no verbal narratives in place due to the older generation passing on and the lack of research and documentation process, nonagenarian architect and botanist Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat lamented the lack of historical understanding.
Despite Penang's standing as a small island off the Straits of Malacca, it has punched above its weight since it began as a trading outpost in 1786, ten years after the US gained its Independence from the British colonists in 1776, he asserted.
Chong Keat, aged 95, a visionary and intellectual, spoke candidly as he gathered among special guests to mark the memory and legacy of his close American friend, the visionary architect and inventor R. Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller.
Bucky died on July 1, 1983, at the age of 87 in Los Angeles, California.
The renowned futurist, architect, and inventor passed away from a heart attack while visiting his wife, Anne, who was terminally ill in the hospital.
His passing occurred just 11 days shy of his 88th birthday.
Fuller left behind a legacy, which includes roughly 30 published books, terms like "Spaceship Earth," and his most iconic invention: the geodesic dome, which inspired Chong Keat to reproduce as the Komtar Geodesic Dome.
Chong Keat referred to the concept that society needs to comprehend history as a guide towards the future.
"We cannot make inroads without understanding where we came from."
Bucky played a meaningful role as a consultant for Architects Team 3, co-organised the Campuan Meetings at Bellevue, The Penang Hill Hotel, and collaborated with Chong Keat on the iconic geodesic dome crowning Komtar.
Chong Keat, the younger brother of Penang's second chief minister, the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, designed the Komtar skyscraper, which remains the tallest building in the country's northern region.
"Bucky was a globalist. He believed in sharing the world, not the conquest of it."
Bucky's legacy was so dear to Chong Keat that the rattan chair, which the visionary used to sit on, is preserved at the Bellevue and nobody can sit or laze on it.
With Bucky's chair beside him, Chong Keat spoke to the "Friends of Bucky," an informal fan club, including those from Singapore, who have done research on the American's work.
With such characters dotting the Penang historical scene, Chong Keat hopes that more efforts can be adopted to record the state's colourful history; conserve and preserve it for future generations to come in this island state. - July 16, 2026.
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