KUALA LUMPUR – The recent move by the Melaka government to arbitrarily change the name of St Paul’s Hill to Bukit Melaka has ignited interest in what the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) heritage status essentially means for a place.
The listing as a World Heritage Site (WHS) comes with recognition and endless possibilities in terms of how the site’s “outstanding universal values” (OUVs) can boost recognition and promote its value, while according some form of protection for posterity.
As it is, the hill holds cultural significance for the communities in Melaka, particularly the Portuguese community.
What impact would such a unilateral move, done without due consultation, have on the communities who live within it? What are the obligations of the state in charge of the heritage site?
The Vibes recently reported Unesco’s press office commenting that community participation is certainly an expectation firmly upheld in the organisation’s operational guidelines and key strategic objectives.
Johannes Widodo, director of the National University of Singapore’s Graduate Programmes in Architectural Conservation, noted that the World Heritage Convention is updated from time to time.
Due to the problems arising in various WHS places worldwide, Unesco has called on all member states to adopt the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) as a legal instrument to manage sites that are listed and those that are historically significant, through democratic and inclusive community involvement.
“But this call is not legally binding, and not implemented retrospectively,” he said in response to questions on this matter by The Vibes.
“If the state party does not voluntarily adopt this urban conservation and planning instrument, nothing will change.”
Widodo said name changes are a normal thing.
It adds to the layer of history and place identities. As long as all of those layers are kept for the sake of historical truth and education for future generations, it should be okay,” he said.
However, he stressed that Melaka has been in danger since its inscription on the WHS list, due to the wrong mindset about the meaning of listing, especially by the state (authorities) and most people.
“It is not to attract mass tourism, gentrification, or push a certain political or sectarian agenda.
“Unesco is about culture, education, and scientific agendas – not tourism or economic gain.
“What has been happening in Melaka is against this.
“Therefore, personally, I feel that it is right to put Melaka on the World Heritage in Danger list immediately,” he said.
‘Put decisions to stakeholders for consensus’
Meanwhile, Tiong Kian Boon, president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) Malaysia, pointed out that Melaka and George Town are jointly listed as one world heritage site.
Any risk of Melaka losing its status will also affect George Town, as the two properties (of Melaka and George Town) must be seen as one site.
Both were officially recognised as a WHS site in July 2008.
No Unesco outstanding universal values (OUVs) were violated in the change of names; it could perhaps be argued that community engagement is desirable, but as one of the team that helped prepare the first (Melaka) Conservation Management Plan approved by Unesco World Heritage Centre (WHC), I do not recall community engagement stated as an OUV,” he noted.
“Community engagement is desirable in all instances, and if you take the case of Dresden, community engagement led to the retention of the new bridge, which crossed the River Elbe.”
He said this in reference to the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, which was removed from the WHS list in 2009.
This came about after residents voted that the Unesco title was unnecessary after a bridge constructed to reduce traffic congestion led to the site being placed under the WHS “endangered list” the year before.
“The experts evaluating the heritage impact of the new structure felt it had seriously impacted the OUV and therefore should not have been built,” Tiong explained.
“Dresden was removed from the WHC list when the city’s fathers agreed that the community was right.”
He said the move to change the name of St Paul’s Hill is certainly a political or administration-driven agenda, as he has yet to meet anyone who has been consulted on the proposal.
Name changes in this country appear to be the preserve of the politicians of the day, which is, for reasons (of lack) of community engagement, certainly bad practice.
“If politicians are so sure of the wisdom of their decisions, they should put it to the stakeholders for a consensus.
“This is my personal opinion, but Icomos would certainly welcome community engagement on a transparent basis before implementation of any decision.
“Please bear in mind the names of places we see today are also the results of changes made by diktat rather than consultation,” Tiong added.
Community pushback and current status
A total 194 countries, including Malaysia, are signatories of the World Heritage Convention 1972, which requires member states to ensure, as far as possible, proper identification, protection, conservation and presentation of the world’s heritage.
State parties to the convention are encouraged to adopt a human-rights based approach, ensure gender-balanced participation of a wide variety of stakeholders and rights-holders, including site managers, local and regional governments, local communities, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organisations and other interested parties and partners in the identification, nomination, management and protection processes of WHS properties.
Community input and participation is thus an important component in these sites, a principle that the Melaka state government disregarded when it changed the name of St Paul’s Hill to Bukit Melaka without public participation.
Protests against the lack of community participation have been met with apathy and arrogance by the state authorities.
Though a seemingly minor defiance of the convention, compared to violations in other heritage sites around the world, the move by the state has prompted local community leaders and stakeholders to form an alliance, and act as a watchdog on this matter, and similar moves by the state in the future.
In early August, a group of concerned individuals set up the Melaka Heritage Watch Ad hoc Action Group to embark on a fact-finding mission to gather authentic history on the hill and other heritage icons in the state.
Their findings will be submitted to the Unesco office in Bangkok, Thailand.
“The aim is to stop any attempts to change the names of historical places in the future without proper evidence from the right sources,” said its spokesman Martin Theseira.
Theseira, who is also chairman of the Save the Portuguese Action Committee, said MHW is made up of volunteers from various ethnicities, including academicians who are helping to compile facts and evidence of Melaka’s history.
Malaysia has four properties inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List.
Two of these are natural sites – the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak and the Kinabalu Park in Sabah.
The “Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley” in Perak is a cultural listing, together with Melaka and George Town, which are jointly listed as “Historic Cities of the Straits of Melaka”.
In addition to this, there are six sites on the tentative list, which means that these are being considered for listing.
These are the National Park (Taman Negara), FRIM Forest Park in Selangor, the Gombak Quartz Ridge in Selangor, the Royal Belum State Park in Perak, the Sg Buloh Leprosarium in Selangor, and the Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex in Sarawak. – The Vibes, August 24, 2022
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