FROM INVISIBLE TO INSTAGRAMMABLE

BADAN WARISAN’S EDUCATION EFFORTS TO INSURE MALAYSIA’S PAST HAS A FUTURE

The cosmopolitan traveler has long enjoyed the renaissance of old buildings transformed into vibrant cafes, museums, hotels, arts centers and any use that you might not even imagine. Indeed one of New York City's most popular destinations is an elevated park created from a dilapidated railway line. The High Line has been transformed from an invisible blight in the neighborhood to an Instagram superstar with 173,000 followers and over 8 million visitors each year. 

Countries, cities and communities now realize the value of renovation , restoration and adaptive reuse of the heritage built environment both ordinary and grand. In Shanghai the preservation of the house and neighborhood where the communist party first met led to the development of Xiantiandi, China’s first creative hipster neighborhood. In Singapore falling tourism numbers prompted the preservation of Little India. In Hong Kong the recent renovation and development of the 19th century CentralPolice Station has created a dynamic new arts community. 

In the  1980s Malaysia  experienced rapid economic development.  The skyline of Kuala Lumpur  began to dramatically change altering the historic built fabric of the city.  Older buildings were perceived as old fashioned and of no value leading to dilapidation and demolition.  In 1984 concerned architecture lovers formed NGO Badan Warisan Malaysia to advocate for the importance and relevance of Malaysia’s built environment.  Badan Warisan advocated that valued structures should include the simple and vernacular as well as the grand and historic. For over thirty years, Badan Warisan has been committed to the preservation and conservation of Malaysia’s tangible cultural heritage as an expression of Malaysia’s history and cultural identity.

Educating  Malaysians to make the cultural shift from perceptions of dilapidated and old fashioned buildings to “vintage “ and “Instagrammable” is a core goal of Badan Warisan.  In April Badan Warisan Executive Director, Elizabeth Cardoza presented a talk sharing two education programs highlighting their efforts:

• This KUL City: Brickfields
• LUNAS: The Rubber Story

This KUL City: Brickfields

Launched in 2015, Badan Warisan with partners led an 18-month project to engage residents in Kuala Lumpur to appreciate the history and importance of the built environment. The project was multi dimensional aimed at a wide audience including residents with sensory handicaps. Youth engagement was a core goal.  The project was comprised of cultural mapping, resident interviews and historic documentation. The project reached out to the public with neighborhood walks with planned activities, story telling, lectures, academic discourse and exhibitions in MRT stations. 

This KUL City is now complete but MCG members can use program materials to re-enact the preservation experiences and take lots of photos to post on their own Instagram account. 

This KUL City: Brickfields Family Friendly Treasure Hunt:
https://badanwarisanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/tkc_map-outside_final.pdf

This KUL City: Brickfields Walking Tour and Neighborhood History Map:
https://badanwarisanmalaysia.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/tkc_map-inside_final-2.pdf

LUNAS: The Rubber Story

Lunas is a small town located 30km directly east from Penang along the E15 just inside the Kedah border. Today it is known for its Roast Duck, The Soon Mansion, its Buddhist Hermitage and The Rubber Smokehouse. Lunas is just one of many small towns in Malaysia whose fortunes grew and died with the world demand for rubber.

From 2006-2008 Badan Warisan teamed up with Architect Laurence Loh in creating a heritage education program designed to capture and appreciate the towns heritage. The preservation project brought together the different communities living in the area and created an awareness of their shared history. 

Lunas school children were at the heart of the project. They were charged with mapping and documenting their town history. They were trained to collect stories, old photographs and made videos so that the unique character of the town, its buildings and stories could be recorded and remembered by future generations. 

The town's rubber smoke house was restored as it might have looked during its busy years complete with authentic smoked rubber sheets. The Rubber Smokehouse also served as the museum exhibiting the collected historic documentation. The youth of Lunas were trained as tour guides in the museum and the town.    

The Rubber Smokehouse was transformed from an abandoned and forgotten building into an important part of the towns landscape and a focus for the rural community. It combined physical conservation with youth engagement and civic pride. The project was a unique approach demonstrating how architectural intervention can play a role in creating community memory and cohesion. The Rubber Smokehouse was transformed from invisible to Instagrammable. 

Unfortunately the project was not sustainable as it did not consider The Rubber Smokehouse’s long-term future. At the end of the project the town fathers did not take responsibility for the Rubber Smokehouse and it is no longer a museum. Badan Warisan hopes that the projects efforts had a long-term beneficial influence on the youth of Lunas. Should any MCG members pass through Luna’s please make a stop and report back as to the current condition of The Rubber Smokehouse of Lunas. 

Diana Daymond on behalf of The Malaysian Cultural Group