KUALA LUMPUR – SMK Convent Bukit Nanas (SMK CBN), having obtained a 60-year extension on its land lease, should be recognised as a national heritage site as soon as possible.
National Parent-Teacher Association Consultative Council president Assoc Prof Datuk Mohamad Ali Hasan said it is important for the school to be gazetted as a national heritage to preserve, conserve and protect the site.
“The effort by the government to propose the school as a national heritage site should be commended… and should receive solid support from all quarters,” he told Bernama.
Yesterday, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the National Heritage Department has been trying to get SMK CBN gazetted as a heritage site since 2008, but its bid has been hampered by objections from the school’s trustees.
If SMK CBN is gazetted as a heritage site under the National Heritage Act 2005, said Ali, it can be used as a model school to identify others to be similarly gazetted.
He cited as examples Malay College Kuala Kangsar in Perak; Women Teachers’ College in Melaka; Penang Free School; Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar in Johor Baru; and, SMK King George V in Seremban.
“Gazetting SMK CBN is important for the country’s history.”
He described the school as unique and historic, and one that has produced many famous leaders, administrators and fighters.
It deserves to be given a 99-year lease for the site it sits on, he said, given that it has been in existence for more than a century.
Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam commended the government for extending SMK CBN’s land lease.
He also praised Putrajaya for rejecting the narrow and parochial views expressed by some quarters.
Such mission schools are known for character-building and instilling moral values in their students, he said.
“(SMK CBN) is well known for producing excellent individuals, and also represents a legacy, a history and a heritage that we need to treasure.” – Bernama, April 25, 2021
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