Users' Perception and Post-Conservation

Azim A. Aziz & M. Haziq Zulkifli, Int. J. of Herit. Archit., Vol. 2, No. 4 (2019) 496–508 USERS’ PERCEPTION AND POST-CONSERVATION EVALUATION OF KAMPUNG TELUK MEMALI MOSQUE IN IPOH, PERAK, MALAYSIA AZIM A. AZIZ & M. HAZIQ ZULKIFLI ATSA Architects, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ABstract The 108-year-old traditional Malay timber mosque structure, Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque has been successfully relocated and restored to a new site in an urban township of Ipoh city in Perak state, Malaysia. The conservation process of the mosque has been fully anticipated by the local community of both old and new site until its completion by the end of the year 2017. In 2018, the building has received its official certification from the local authority, and a handover ceremony has also been held to the rightful landowner, as well as the local community. This is a subsequent study to the previous relocation and conservation programme of the mosque, with the aim of investigating on the users’ perception and post-conservation evaluation in terms of the aspects of comfortability, awareness and maintenance. The study is vital in engaging future conservation project in a similar approach, involving any built heritage structures with direct community participation. Keywords: conservation, evaluation, mosque, timber, users. 1 Introduction After efforts of more than 3 years, the historic timber mosque of Kampung Teluk Memali has finally come to fruition. The mosque has now been serving the local Muslim community of around 100 people as a local surau (small mosque) in Taman Seri Bougainvillea, Bandar Seri Botani in the city of Ipoh, Perak. The mosque’s unique feature of the Perak traditional archi- tecture now stands out harmoniously in the urban township area, with the original building elements are seamlessly intact, without any juxtaposed additions (Fig. 1). The initial relocation mosque programme was deemed as nearly impossible as many hur- dles were expected, right from the earlier permission, relocation, timber treatment and rein- stallation programme, but most importantly, financial factor in actualising the whole process. The limited funding has hampered some of the processes, but it had not put an end to the whole conservation process. With the new conserved mosque is being used and fully functioned for various communal and religious activities for about a year, it is timely to investigate the users’ perception and post-conservation evaluation of the building. The local community has been anticipated for a new place of worship in their neighbourhood for the past 5 years, so their overwhelming response was highly cited, but how it was unfolded upon the mosque completion remain unknown. 2 literature REVIEW Adapting heritage building to the new site and usage can be challenging on how it can be adjusted and suited to the current expectation. Also, a successful conservation programme must have a compatible use in place, and retain its historic character and conserve significant fabric, but it can still introduce new services as well as modifications and additions [1]. © 2019 WIT Press, www.witpress.com ISSN: 2058-8321 (paper format), ISSN: 2058-833X (online), http://www.witpress.com/journals DOI: 10.2495/HA-V2-N4-496-508 Azim A. Aziz & M. Haziq Zulkifli, Int. J. of Herit. Archit., Vol. 2, No. 4 (2019) 497 Figure 1: Aerial view of Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. With the lack of exposure and knowledge on the usage of heritage buildings, the public as end users may find it difficult to adapt it to current or modern lifestyle. Furthermore, the heritage conservation efforts in Malaysia may seem only belonged to a group of specialised people – building professionals and experts, but not the public at large [2]. To further develop conservation filed in this country, more concerted efforts should be encouraged to involve the public in the scene – in terms of promotion, education, awareness and even direct participation. The public interest and participation in conservation very much depend on its initial stage. The public interest (or disinterest) in a heritage building conservation depends on its initial state of conservation [3]. He highlighted that the very bad state the building is, the public and the stakeholders involved are likely to neglect it. This will spur the further deterioration of the heritage building, while inversely, a good condition will create a positive response and stir up more interest and attention, resulting in the increase resources allocated for its conservation. 3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES This study is aimed to examine the users’ perception and post-conservation evaluation of the relocation and conservation of Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. To further investigate and achieve the study aim, the study objectives have been outlined in terms of the aspects of comfortability, awareness and maintenance. 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Several methods were used to obtain the research objectives of this study. The primary data were collected through face to face semi-structured interviews with the local community of Taman Seri Bougainvillea neighbourhood, of whom most are the end-users of Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque. This is the best method for collecting data required to be examined and determined based on the three main indicators. Based on the accumulated data and information from the literature review and the field research, it has been analysed and leads to the findings. Then, it leads to the fruition of results and conclusion, presented with several recommendations. 498 Azim A. Aziz & M. Haziq Zulkifli, Int. J. of Herit. Archit., Vol. 2, No. 4 (2019) 4.1 Questionnaire Distribution A set of semi-structured questionnaire was prepared and used in surveying the users’ perception and review of the mosque in the post-conservation stage. The Muslim community of Taman Seri Bougainvillea in Bandar Seri Botani, Ipoh, Perak, especially the mosque com- mittee members and mosque users were selected as the target group for this questionnaire. They were specifically selected based on probability simple random sampling in order to get a broad perspective of all mosque users. As their numbers were small, plus with their limited time available for the interview, due to their status as full-time employees in government and private sectors, only 54 respondents were interviewed for this study. Nevertheless, this was instrumental and essential to extract accurate data collection for the study. 4.2 Questionnaire Design The questionnaire was divided into four sections that look into the respondents’ general background, overall existing building conditions, comfortability and mosque building functions and users’ feelings and future conditions of the mosque. Each question is presented with multiple choice answers, as well as linear scales from one to five, with five represents the best when it talked about the general mosque conditions, comfortability and feelings towards the mosque. The first section talked about the respondents’ gender, age and visiting frequency. While in the second section delved into the user’s view on the general conditions of mosque building, of each facility provided, as well as the maintenance side. In the third section, the questionnaire looked into the comfortability and usage aspects, on how it can be further improved and upgraded. In the last section or the fourth section, it explored the users’ attachments and feelings towards the mosque and how the mosque would be in the future. 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5.1 Users’ Demography Based on the respondents’ background, it can be analysed that the majority of the respondents are male from the age group of 31–40 years old, with 77.8% and 55.6% respectively. They are also frequent users with 62.5% use the mosque on a daily basis. Thus, it can be inferred that the majority of the users are youth (below 40 years) and also served as the main breadwinner for their young and small family, with a couple of numbers of children. This is vehemently apprehensible as most of them are full-time employees in both government and private sectors. 5.2 Overview of the Existing Building Conditions As a heritage and a century old age building, the Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque had used to stand sturdily despite the dilapidated conditions on its former site in Kampung Gajah, near the Perak River in Central Perak district of Perak state. Being abandoned for the past 20 years, it had withstood against all elements without major defects and deterioration. Since last year, the mosque has been given a new fresh lease of life with the relocation and restoration of its Azim A. Aziz & M. Haziq Zulkifli, Int. J. of Herit. Archit., Vol. 2, No. 4 (2019) 499 mosque building components. Every single part has been preserved, replaced or make good with additions of new and modern facilities on the new site. Therefore, the end-users were asked for their opinion about the current conditions of the mosque building in the post-conservation stage. In this second section of the questionnaire, four questions were raised, with the answers selection were posted as on a linear scale, with one is not satisfied, and five is the best condition. Based on the question, the majority of the respondents, with 50% of them agreed that the mosque in good condition. While 37.5% of the respondents, however, believed it is in a satisfactory condition, and only 12.5% of respondents thought the mosque in its best condition. In this regards, the majority of the end-users believed the mosque is still in good condition, in this post-conservation stage. This is reckoned as the mosque has been used for a year, as it is still in an infancy stage. Besides that, a proper conservation procedure was established and done in the rebuilding of the mosque to ensure that the mosque can be re-used and re- purposed as an Islamic place of worship for the next 100 years (Fig.

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