New Look For Malaysian Heritage?

New Look for Malaysian Historical and Cultural Heritage?

The purported guardians of the Malaysian heritage will soon find themselves tasked with redefining the appropriate context for a country with the new political awakening.

This scenario may be the direct result from the recent 12th General Poll which saw the country’s minorities voicing their discontent through the ballot boxes. Key amongst their woes is the feelings that the minorities are systematically sidelined from the mainstream of Malaysia’s political, economical, and educational sectors.

Nevertheless, it is perhaps timely too that calls made by those who won in the elections championing the fight for justice and equality in the political arenas should entails similar voice calling for greater but more importantly equal representation in matters constituting minority cultural heritage and their historical contribution to this nation.

Only through an earnest and strong effort brought forth by this new political reality can the fate of minorities in Malaysia see light at the end of the tunnel. This noble quest will offer deserving minorities and their forefathers whose forgotten sacrifices made through the generations be recognized and accorded the rightful place in Malaysian History.

Visit Muzium Negara and the State Museums in this country (with the exception of a handful like in Penang), and you are bound to be confronted with a dire situation where exhibit highlights on minorities’ history, culture and social economical involvement is almost non existence and if they are, the exhibits are mere patronizing and left you with a foul aftertaste. Nothing is more infuriating when you come face-to-face with minority related exhibitions that sorely lack research and depths, and insult our intelligence.

State Museum Boards in Melaka, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, are in my view the top culprits in marginalizing minority communities in their choice of exhibits. PERZIM of Melaka for example, has over the years founded and built more than ten separately themed museums. A few were runaway success with tourists flocking for ample photography opportunity yet none focus any significant feature on the state’s rich and diverse communities like the Peranakan and the Portuguese.

Recent development in Singapore is another great concern to Malaysians who love our heritage. While Malaysia profusely claims to be the cradle of Baba and Nyonya heritage, the recently launched Peranakan Museum in downtown Singapore opened its door to a few surprises. Featured prominently in its main collection and a pride of its curator is the jaw dropping ancestral Baba Nyonya wares and artefacts from Penang!

This event is tantamount to a Cultural coup and should serve as an alarm to our heritage amnesia guardians. Malaysians can ill afford to have its priceless heritage sold to the highest bidder and let it fell into foreigner’s hands. All of us bear some of the blame too and we must seek answers on why and what happened to the much hyped Jabatan Muzium dan Ankuiti initiative in the 90s to have the Malaysian version of a similar Peranakan Museum in the Malacca historical enclave.

This dreadful situation is also compounded by a band of cultural chauvinists who has for too long guilty of ignoring the historical development in this country. Instead, these self appointed cultural and heritage gatekeepers perpetrated historical interpretation that borders cleansing of the country multi ethnic composition.

Perhaps it is appropriate that we demand a different breed of dedicated historians and conservationists who value and ready to embrace the multi racial and multi religious components of our Malaysian Heritage. They will boldly tackle new role as the heritage and history vanguards to take diversity and historical accuracy in Malaysia to greater heights.

In turn, Malaysian museums will gradually showcase these revolutionized interpretations of our diversity and history. They will be the undisputable establishment and the perfect platform to unify and to usher in a new era of mutual understanding and learning from one and other for all Malaysians.

Treasures for Suffolk House

Penang soon can boost another heritage project and may help in its effort to be listed under UNESCO listing.

Below is the article on The Star posted on Wednesday April 2, 2008.

Treasures for Suffolk House

By ANDREA FILMER

WITH a little luck, the Suffolk House, Penang’s sole surviving Georgian residential architecture, will be opened to the public by the end of the year.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government hoped to revive the house, which was first built in the 1780s in a pepper estate owned by Captain Francis Light, into a cultural, historical and art collection centre.

Lim was speaking to reporters on a visit to the home of antiquity collector Jasmine Tan, who had offered the majority of her collection on loan to be displayed at the Suffolk House.

“With this offer, we hope we can get things moving again at the Suffolk House that has been recently refurbished and renovated,” Lim said.

Guan Eng (third from right) taking a closer look at an antique marble table.
Taking up antique and art collection in 1982, Tan and her husband’s collection includes historic items in Malaysian history as well as European fine furniture, marble statuary and architectural items from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Among items available for loan to the state government is a handwritten document by Captain Light dated 1794 pertaining to land on the Prince of Wales Island.

“This is the oldest item in the collection that I managed to obtain through the years,” Tan said.
Lining the walls and walkways of Tan’s house are precious artwork and several stained glass windows rumoured to be made by William Morris, a principal founder of the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain.

A pair of Baba Nyonya bridal tables (left foreground) made with mother of pearl and Venetian glass are among Jasmine's antique collection.

Also on display to reporters were a beautiful wooden table with a marble top fashioned in the shape of the Penang state made in 1874 in Calcutta, a 19th century Srard piano, marble furniture once belonging to Eu Tong Sen (one of Ma-laya’s most successful and wealthy tin miners) and a pair of Baba Nyonya bridal tables made with mother of pearl and Venetian glass.

“Penang is linked by history to other straits settlements, so a lot of items in this collection are highly prized by other countries as well. “Thankfully, these items are still in Penang thanks to Tan and her family, and I think it is important for us to retain them here and not lose these pieces of history,” Lim said.

He also urged other collectors to come forward to offer pieces to be displayed at the Suffolk House.

Tan, on the other hand, thought it would be nice to share her prized possessions with the public after enjoying them personally.

“I have been to the Suffolk House and there’s nothing much inside, so I thought that it would be a good idea to use the collection to help promote and boost tourism in the state,” Tan said.

A 19th century Srard piano made in Paris in one of Tan's most prized possessions.
Penang State Museum Board curator Haryany Mohamad, who was present at the visit to assess some of the items, said it would take at least six months to catalogue all the pieces.
“We will also have to look into the placement and security of the pieces at the Suffolk House before any movement can be made,” she said.

State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang, state executive councillors Lydia Ong Kok Fooi and Lim Hock Seng as well as Bukit Mertajam MP Chong Eng were also present at the visit.