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CHAPTER

1

INTRODUCTION

HAZREEL HIZAD

HASMADI

MOHD QISTI

HUSIN@SHAABAN

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1.1 AIM

Penang Heritage Trust done very well in the conservation of Penang's heritageand

promote the area to the worldwide. Hence, our aim is to get general overview of the

conservation work have been done in Georgetown and to study about cultural and architectural

value of heritage building which have been listed in the world heritage site by UNESCO.

1. 2 OBJECTIVE

To gain knowledge of Penang heritage culture and architectural value.

To go through the conservation method that has been done or currently undergoing on

the listed building.

To understand the regulation and acts that being used toward this world heritage area.

To get overview of the related heritage zone area by own self when joining the tour trail.

To generate gained information in the purpose of study while doing conservation

practice.

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1.3 INTRODUCTION OF PENANG

Formerly, Pulau Pinang is part of Kedah state, which known island of the Betel nut. It

was acquired on behalf of the English East India Company as a naval and trading base by

Francis Light, a private trader in 1786, from the Sultan of Kedah. The false undertaking of

Penang which was supposedly to protect the sultan from his enemies was not recoverable from

the British after the latters control over this island.

The British then named the island after the heir to the British throne, the Prince of Wales,

as its acquisition fell on his birthday, and the islands new capital, Georgetown after the reigning

British monarch, George III. In 1832, Penang formed part of the Straits Settlement with Malacca

and Singapore as a Crown Colony, until the conquest of the Japanese in 1941.

During the mid-nineteen century, the island gained the reputation as a major trading post

dealing in tea, spices, china and cloth. Penang's fortune also rose from exporting the produce of

the mainland, rich with tin, rubber and crops which consequently encouraged the influx of

immigrants.

Nowadays it is one of the 14 states in Malaysia, located at the northwest coast of

Peninsular Malaysia. The state of Penang comprising of two land parts which is Penang Island

and Seberang Perai industrial area. These two places connected with one of the famous bridge

in Malaysia, Penang Bridge. But the main identity of Penang is the island. Penang is one of the

famous tourism locations in Malaysia. It was famous with their nice beaches and cultural value

due to its heritage building. Other attraction toward Penang was the multiracial history of Malay,

Chinese, Indian and European influences. Penang also well known of its many kind of delicious

food.

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The capital of Penang is Georgetown, a favourite spot for tourist because a lot building

there got their own style of architecture and cultural value. Georgetown was listed by UNESCO

in 7th July 2008 as a World Heritage Site, together with Malacca. Other towns located in the

Penang Island are Batu Ferringhi, Bayan Lepas and Balik Pulau. While at peninsula there areother town which is Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam, Bandar Perda, Nibong Tebal, Simpang Ampat,

Seberang Jaya and Tasek Gelugor.

Penang famous with its tourism places. Every year there are many tourists from all over

the world came to Penang to spend their vacation. Some of the attraction places towards the

people are Komtar Scenic View, one of the tallest buildings in Penang have 360 degree

observation deck. Penang also have some places which keep environmental aspect like

Penang Botanic Gardens, which generally known as the Waterfall Gardens. While at thePenang Hill is the best view place to see the whole Penang which there is beautiful lush greedy

view of the hill. Other places were Penang Butterfly Farm and Bukit Jambul Orchid Garden.

For the transportation in Penang, people can be there by using plane which flies directly

to Penang Bayan Lepas International Airport. Its only takes 20 minutes to the airport from

Georgetown. They also can use train to reach at the Penang Railway station located at the

Butterworth. While for the car, Penang connected with the mainland by the Penang Bridge and

North-South Expressway to connect with other state. The other alternative is by using ferry. This

ferry connects people from mainland to the island, if they dont want to use the bridge. While for

the people who want to go places in the short distance they can go there by trishaw, the three-

wheeled human-powered unique vehicles.

1.4 INTRODUCTION OF GEORGE TOWN

George Town located at the north- east corner of Penang Island and is the capital city for

Penang. George Town, Melacca and Singapore formed the three Straits Settlements. In the

year 1786, George Town was founded by Captain Francis Light. He was the trader for British

East India Company which the company base at Malay States and had a working relationship

with Sultan Kedah. At 1771, Sultan Kedah offered Penang to Captain Francis Light Penang in

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return of British protection for Kedah. At the same year, Captain Francis Light built a Fort

Cornwalls serve to protect and fence against the French invasions on the north- eastern corner

of the Penang Island.

George Town originally was built on swampy land which needs to clear the vegetation,

follow by leveling and refilled. The original commercial town was located between Light Street,

Beach Street, Malabar Streets ( now called as Chulia Streets), and Pitt Streets ( now called as

Masjid Kapitan Keling Street). The historical commercial town was turn into banking and trading

such as shipping companies, import and export trade. It still serves as entriport for wholesale

activities now. George Town, a city of commercial has been involved in trading for more than

hundreds years.

George Town is diverse city of history and culture with the combination of old traditional

and new modern buildings. There are many old traditional buildings with high aesthetic values

and special features to visits. The old traditional buildings and heritage site at George Town is

the big attraction for it. The heritage city was slowly grown from a small agriculture and farming

area to an urban city.

George Town remains strong antique as much reflects the era of colonialist. Some of the

famous historical monuments remain in Georgetown such as Fort Cornwalls, Cheong Fatt Tzes

Mansion (blue mansion), Khoo Kongsi, Victoria Memorial Clock Tower Penang Museum and

others. Besides that, there are also some religious monuments such as Taoist Goddess of

Mercy Temple, the Hindu Maha Mariamman Temple and the Muslim Kapitan Kling Mosque, St.

George Church and others.

Beside historical monuments, there are many colonial eras shophouses in George

Town. Most of the shophouses with high aesthetic values withcurved arched doorways which

you can catch a quick look of bales, boxes, palm and bamboo woven parcels as the decorative

elements. The high percentage of historic buildings in George Town demonstrates the

authenticity and integrity of the site. This large contiguous ensemble of buildings demonstrates

the unique multi cultural, social and built heritage of George Town. It is an outstanding

architectural example of a large contiguously preserved ensemble of high quality public,

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areas. The six areas were categorized according to the most prevalent economic or cultural

activities. They were:

Seven street precinct

Cultural precinct of Chulia Street and Love Lane

Historical Commercial district of Little India

Waterfront business financial district

Mosque and clan house enclave

Market and shopping district

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Figure 1.0: Previously proposed heritage areas in the inner George Town

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Source: http://www.penangheritagecity.com/map-of-george-town.html/2008

Later, the zones were shrunk to its original size now:

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Figure 1.1: Buffer zones and Core Heritage zones in inner George Town

Source: http://www.penangheritagecity.com/map-of-george-town.html/2008

According to the information provided by Mr. Tan, architect of Bahagian Warisan, MPPP,

there are total 3643 heritage buildings in George Town, 1715 from the total number of heritage

buildings was fall in the core zone while 1928 heritage buildings was fall in the buffer zone. The

buffer zone covers the area of 150.04 hectare which means 57.84% from the total area of

George Town. The core zone covers the area of 109.38 hectare or 42.16 % from the total area

of George Town. Both of the two trails were set out according to the heritage building in core

zone.

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Figure 1.2: Buffer zones and Core Heritage zones in inner George.

Source: www.unitary .org /Hiroshima / programmes / whs06/materials/WHS06-Team4.pdf / 2008

AREA %HERITAGE

BUILDING

%

Core area 109.38 ha 42.16 1715 47.08Buffer zone 150.04 ha 57.84 1928 52.92Total 259.42 ha 100 3643 100

Table 1.1 : Nominated area of heritage site in Penang.

Source: UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

1.4.1 KEY PLAN

Buffer zone

150.04ha

Lorong love

(Divide core heritage

Core heritage zone

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Figure 1.3: Key plan for heritage site in George Town

Source: Field study, 2008.

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1.4.2 SITE PLAN

Figure 1.4: Site plan for heritage trail 2 in George Town

Source: Field study, 2008.

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1.5 INTRODUCTION TO UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or in short form

UNESCO was established on 16 November 1945. Main subject due to this organization is going

through the people with education in social, natural science and communication aspects.

UNESCO is a huge organization which representative the world, hence is not enough to build

small place to give education to countries or to publish scientific breakthrough. The main goal of

this organization is to build peace in the minds of people.

Nowadays, UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge

universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization also acts as a

clearinghouse for the dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge while helping

Member States to build their human and institutional capacities in diverse fields. In short,

UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its 193 (As of October 2007) Member

States and six Associate Members.

UNESCOs mission and activities provide sustainable development, mutual respect andalleviation of poverty. Through its strategies and activities, UNESCO is actively pursuing the

Millennium Development Goals, especially those aiming to:

Halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries by 2015

Achieve universal primary education in all countries by 2015

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005

Help countries implement a national strategy for sustainable development by 2005 to

reverse current trends in the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

UNESCO and the United Nations Millennium Goals.

UNESCO also seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of

cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to

humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning on the

http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175

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scope of Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (PWCNH).

(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001473/147330e.pdf).

UNESCO's World Heritage mission is to:

Encourage countries to sign the World Heritage Convention and to ensure the protection

of their natural and cultural heritage;

Encourage States Parties to the Convention to nominate sites within their national

territory for inclusion on the World Heritage List;

Encourage States Parties to establish management plans and set up reporting systems

on the state of conservation of their World Heritage sites;

Help States Parties safeguard World Heritage properties by providing technical

assistance and professional training;

Provide emergency assistance for World Heritage sites in immediate danger;

Support States Parties' public awareness-building activities for World Heritage

conservation;

Encourage participation of the local population in the preservation of their cultural and

natural heritage;

Encourage international cooperation in the conservation of our world's cultural and

natural heritage.

World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World

Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. The programme

catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the

common heritage ofhumanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the

World Heritage Fund. As of 2008, 878 sites are listed: 678 cultural, 174 natural, and 26 mixed

properties, in 145 states. Each World Heritage Site is the property of the state on whose territory

the site is located, but it is considered in the interest of the international community to preserve

each site.

http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Fundhttp://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_heritagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Fundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Fundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Fundhttp://whc.unesco.org/?cid=175

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For the nominating process a country must first take an inventory of its significant cultural and

natural properties. This is called the Tentative List, and is important because a country may not

nominate properties that have not already been included on the Tentative List. Next, it can

select a property from this list to place into a Nomination File. The World Heritage Centre offersadvice and help in preparing this file. At this point, the file is evaluated by the International

Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These bodies then make

their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. The Committee meets once per year

to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List, and

sometimes defers the decision to request more information from the states. There are ten

selection criteria - a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list.

Penang was recently listed in World Heritage Site by UNESCO on Monday 7 July 2008

together with Malacca. The historic city centre of Melaka and Georgetown, Penang with their

mostly Chinese shop houses and colonial buildings were just been added into the list.

Therefore, Malaysia now has four sites on the list, the other two being Gunung Mulu National

Park (Sarawak, tropical karts area) and Kinabalu Park (Sabah, highest peak in South-east Asia).

The Quote from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre:

Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia) have

developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in theStraits of Malacca. The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed the towns with a specific

multicultural heritage that is both tangible and intangible. With its government buildings,

churches, squares and fortifications, Melaka demonstrates the early stages of this history

originating in the 15th-century Malay sultanate and the Portuguese and Dutch periods

beginning in the early 16th century. Featuring residential and commercial buildings, George

Town represents the British era from the end of the 18th century. The two towns constitute a

unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast

Asia.

(Source: http://www.tourism.gov.my/corporate/images/media/news/UNESCO.pdf)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conservation_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Council_on_Monuments_and_Siteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conservation_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conservation_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conservation_Union