Interpretation of Criteria for Assessment of National Heritage Listing in Malaysia Helena Aman Hashim Faculty of Built Environme
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INTERPRETATION OF CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE LISTING IN MALAYSIA HELENA AMAN HASHIM FACULTY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2017 INTERPRETATION OF CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE LISTING IN MALAYSIA HELENA AMAN HASHIM THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY FACULTY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2017 UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: Helena Aman Binti Hashim (I.C/Passport No: 640621-10-7472) Registration/Matric No: BHA 100006 Name of Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: Interpretation of Criteria for Assessment of National Heritage Listing in Malaysia Field of Study: Conservation I do solemnly and sincerely declare that: (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Candidate’s Signature Date: Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature Date: Name: Designation: ii INTERPRETATION OF CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE LISTING IN MALAYSIA ABSTRACT Cultural heritage is commonly protected internationally through a process of listing and gazettal. These properties which are listed cover a broad range of building types starting from the modest vernacular domestic housing to majestic government administration buildings. Countries with an established history of protecting cultural heritage in this manner provide criteria for listing which are accompanied by a set of guidelines to guide the assessment of cultural significance. These guidelines are necessary as although countries may appear to have similar criteria, their applications and interpretation are unique to each nation. In Malaysia, the criteria for listing National Heritage are provided under Section sixty-seven (67) of the National Heritage Act 2005. There are at present fifty-one (51) properties listed as National Heritage Buildings. The list comprises of many different of buildings types. Nevertheless, traditional Malay houses located in villages across the country and the ubiquitous traditional Chinese shophouse found at the core of Malaysia’s historic town centres are currently not listed on the National Heritage list. In addition, although Malaysia has proceeded to list properties, the government has not produced a set of guidelines that will ensure cultural significance is identified and assessed in a proper manner. Clear guidelines are necessary to mitigate potential disputes from owners when properties are selected for listing. Hence the objective of this research is to establish principles to guide assessment of cultural heritage for National Heritage listing for 7 out of the 9 criteria for National Heritage in the legislation. In addition, this research also seeks to establish principles to guide the assessment of the traditional Malay house and the traditional Chinese shophouse for National Heritage listing. The research is carried out in 2 stages and applies a qualitative research approach. In the initial stage, draft principles for assessment are identified from text rich semi- iii structured in-depth interviews with eleven (11) purposefully selected Malaysian heritage managers. The opinion of two 2 groups of experts, one Malaysian and the other international are then subsequently sought to validate these draft principles. Cross-group analysis is carried out on the responses from these 2 groups of experts to triangulate the data. New findings arising out of the experts’ groups were verified through established literature and World Heritage precedents. A total of forty-five (45) principles were formulated to guide assessment of the cultural heritage. In addition, seventeen (17) principles are explicitly identified to assess traditional Malay houses and another nine (9) principles for traditional Chinese shophouses. These principles comprise of factors that are involved in the process of assessment such as indicators of significance, considerations, explanatory notes and eligibility or ineligibility considerations. The results also showed that the uses of several criteria are potentially connected in an assessment. It is hoped that the development of these principles as a guide for assessment of cultural heritage for National Heritage listing will facilitate stakeholders involved in the related field both in Malaysia and the South-east Asian region. Keywords: National Heritage, gazettal, criteria, traditional Malay house, traditional Chinese shophouse. iv INTERPRETATION OF CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF NATIONAL HERITAGE LISTING IN MALAYSIA ABSTRAK Bangunan warisan biasanya dilindungi di peringkat antarabangsa melalui proses penyenaraian dan perwartaan. Bangunan-bangunan yang disenaraikan meliputi pelbagai jenis bermula dari perumahan domestik vernakular yang kecil hingga bangunan pentadbiran kerajaan yang megah. Negara-negara yang ternyata adanya budaya memberi perlindungan warisan secara ini, menyediakan kriteria penyenaraian yang disertakan dengan garispanduan untuk membimbing penilaian kepentingan budaya sesebuah bangunan. Garispanduan ini perlu kerana walaupun kriteria yang di gunakan oleh sesebuah negara mungkin kelihatan sama seperti negara lain, penggunaan dan pentafsiran kriteria adalah unik bagi setiap negara. Di Malaysia kriteria untuk penyenaraian Warisan Kebangsaan di nyatakan di bawah Seksyen enam puluh tujuh (67) Akta Warisan Kebangsaan 2005. Pada masa ini terdapat lima puluh satu (51) bangunan yang telah disenaraikan sebagai Bangunan Warisan Kebangsaan. Senarai ini terdiri daripada pelbagai jenis bangunan. Namun begitu rumah Melayu tradisional yang terletak di kampung-kampung di seluruh negara dan rumah kedai tradisional Cina yang terdapat di pusat bandar, bandar-bandar lama di Malaysia masih belum disenaraikan sebagai Bangunan Warisan Kebangsaan pada masa ini. Di samping itu, walaupun negara Malaysia telah menyenaraikan bangunan warisan nya, kerajaan masih belum pada masa ini menyediakan garispanduan untuk memastikan bahawa kepentingan budaya warsian dikenalpasti dan dinilai secara betul. Garispanduan yang jelas adalah perlu untuk mengelakkan kemungkinan berlaku nya pertikaian oleh pihak pemilik apabila sesebuah bangunan dipilih untuk di senaraikan. Demikian objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mewujudkan prinsip-prinsip bagi 7 daripada 9 kriteria Warisan Kebangsaan yang terdapat dalam akta bagi membimbing penilaian v bangunan warisan untuk penyeneraian sebagai Warsian Kebangsaan. Di samping itu kajian ini juga bertujuan untuk mewujudkan prinsip-prinsip bagi membimbing penilaian rumah Melayu tradisional dan rumah kedai tradisional Cina sebagai Warisan Kebangsaan. Untuk membentuk garispanduan ini, kajian di jalan secara 2 peringkat dan menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif. Di peringkat pertama, draf prinsip penilaian di kenalpasti dari temualbual mendalam yang kaya dengan informasi yang telah di jalankan secara separa strukur dengan sebelas (11) pengurus warisan di Malaysia. Pandangan daripada 2 kumpulan pakar, satu daripada rakyat Malaysia dan satu lagi yang terdiri daripada pakar antarabangsa telah didapatkan untuk mengesahkan draf prinsip tersebut. Analisis secara silang kumpulan (cross group) dijalankan atas respon yang telah diterima daripada 2 kumpulan pakar ini untuk tujuan triangulasi data. Penemuan baru yang timbul daripada kumpulan pakar-pakar ini telah disahkan melalui sastera dan contoh-contoh yang telah di gunapakai untuk Warisan Dunia. Sebanyak empat puluh lima (45) prinsip telah diwujudkan sebagai prinsip-prinsip untuk membimbing penilaian bangunan warisan. Di samping itu, terdapat tujuh belas (17) prinsip-prinsip yang telah di kenal pasti khas untuk menilai rumah tradisional Melayu dan sembilan (9) lagi prinsip-prinsip untuk rumah kedai tradisional Cina. Prinsip-prinsip ini terdiri daripada faktor-faktor yang terlibat dalam proses penilaian contohnya petunjuk signifikasi penting, pertimbangan, dan faktor bagi kelayakan atau tidak kelayakan untuk penyenaraian. Keputusan juga menunjukkan bahawa penggunaan beberapa kriteria boleh mempunyai hubungankait dalam sesebuah penialain. Adalah diharap pembanguan prinsip-prinsip penilaian untuk membimbing penilaian bangunan warisan bagi penyenaraian sebagai Warisan Kebangsaan akan dapat vi memudahkan pihak berkepentingan yang terlibat dalam bidang yang berkaitan di Malaysia dan di rantau Asia Tenggara. Kata kunci: Warisan Kebangsaan, pewartaan, kriteria, rumah Melayu tradisional, rumah kedai Cina tradisional vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the University of Malaya and