Keeping old city breathing amid modernization

Keeping old city breathing amid modernization

Fransiska Prihadi, Architect, Jakarta

How do we remember a city? Is it by the roads and buildings that
we pass through? By the food we eat? By unfamiliar faces of
people we meet on the street? We could find thousands more
answers, but it would still come back to the sense of place in
our mind.

The sense of place is defined by time-historical and political
time, they do not work with timetables, lists of departure and
arrival times. Old cities usually leave one with a certain image
of a frozen "here, now and then" place.

As one of the cities that is considered as Malaysia's most
historic place, Malacca has an interesting blend of Chinese,
Portuguese, Dutch and British influences. We can still see the
old architecture of Malacca is being preserved.

Malacca was once the most important trading port in the region
but is now little more than a sleepy backwater. Ancient-looking
junks still sail up the river, imbuing the waterfront with a
"wants to be" timeless charm. The city remains full of intriguing
Chinese streets, antique shops, townhouses, temples and nostalgic
reminders of the now-departed European colonial powers.

One of the relics from the Dutch period in Malacca is the
massive pink town hall, Stadthuys, built between 1641 and 1660.
It's believed to be the oldest Dutch building in Asia and
displays all the characteristic features of Dutch colonial
architecture (read incredibly weighty doors and louvered
windows). The building houses government offices and the
Ethnographic Museum, which highlights aspects of local history
and culture.

The ruins of St Paul's Church, built by the Portuguese more
than 400 years ago, stands in an attractive setting atop St
Paul's Hill. It was regularly visited by St Francis Xavier, who
was buried here for a short period before being transferred to
Goa in India. The church fell into disuse when the Dutch arrived,
but is still surrounded by Old Dutch tombstones.

Buildings on St. Paul's Hill and all along River Side Street
(including the old shop-houses) are now all painted red. It's
indeed amazing to see how much he Malacca Municipal Council is
trying to conserve the old part of city, no matter how audacious
it may seem.

For a few decades, the Malacca Municipal Council was on
improving economic and infra-structural conditions of the state
by doing lots of heritage conservation.

One could notice all the signboards of building constructions
while strolling through Malacca's old town, especially in some of
the Malaccan townhouses in Heeren Street.

As a mix of European-Chinese influences with local tropical
compromise, many of the Malaccan townhouses are no longer
utilized as intended. Some have already turned into tourist
hotels, giant swallow birds' nests, antique shops, bars and
cafes.

One cannot escape the feeling that these townhouses are
manipulated to draw tourists, businesses and property
speculators.

Tourism is undeniably one major reason that keeps the old city
of Malacca breathing.

For a comparison, Jl. Kali Besar in Jakarta is also struggling
to keep the soul alive. Although the government claimed that
tourism would be a major reason to improve the old part of town,
one would easily feel that it's being abandoned.

If we agree to think simple, the heritage of an old part of
town could be labeled successful if it is esthetically pleasing,
then "taste" would be a later topic of discussion. The old
historic buildings along Jl. Kali Besar are not ephemeral, it has
duration. Conservation plays an important role, gives the
surrounding its texture and communicates its solidity. By
exploring the expressive potential of Kali Besar Street, only
disappointment rises when we see the situation now.

When one goes to an old city anywhere in the world, there are
great expectations of how it's being preserved for various
reasons.

Tourist agencies worldwide sell the local heritage of a city
with "try authentic experience" packages to tourists and
visitors. They turned heritage issues into a global commodity for
greater mass consumption.

Even when we let the consumerism save our old part of Jakarta
(as it happened in Malacca), Kali Besar might have to wait longer
to breath again among the clothes and underwear that's being
dried along the river.