September - October 2007 Volume 4, Issue 5 Heritage News A bi-monthly newsletter of the Perak Heritage Society. For Members only. Greetings! They did it! The Merdeka Stadium, still under restoration, was transformed into a huge performance space for the big Merdeka celebrations. In the run-up to Merdeka Day 2007, our dailies went all out to instill pride and nostalgia with reminiscense, how life has changed over the last 50 years and how much Merdeka remains etched in memory. Much talked about is the corporate-sponsored supplement in the NST, a set of facsimiles of ‘The Straits Times’ from 26th August 1957 to the day after Merdeka. Interestingly, parents are keeping them for their children as ‘heritage’ collection. From The Straits Times, 31 AUG 1957. Papan Memories was the big event of the year. Why go to Papan to celebrate Merdeka and the end of WWII? The answer lies in the co- operative Papan community and the enduring spirit of Sybil Kathigasu who operated a clinic here during WWII. Merdeka can be celebrated anywhere, but where else can we take over the town for a night but Papan? Read Sook Mei’s report on centrespread. Heritage is essential to tourism as tourists want to experience authentic historical sites. In the Nanyang Siang Pau, columnist Zheng Min Lie wrote: …The competitive edge of tourism Malaysia lies in what the other countries cannot compare: our nature, heritage and folk culture and lively communities. They require little investment and development. They are enduring and uniquely Malaysian. For a brief report on the Perak Tourism Seminar, go to page 2. 25th September was the Mid-autumn Festival celebrated with lanterns and PHS Committee lots of yummies: mooncake, pomelo, baby yam and lots more. Was your President : Law Siak Hong lantern the brightest and prettiest? V-Pres. : Mohd Taib Mohamed Hon Sec : Lee Su Win Selamat Berpuasa and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to our Muslim Hon Treas : Lim Pui San members and friends! For a taste of ‘Raya’, join us on the Chemor heri. Members : Charlie Choong trail in October. Sign up now! To our Hindu members and friends, an early Khaw Siok Choon Happy Deepavali. Lim Bor Seng Editorial Committee Lau Sook Mei Law Siak Hong Mohd Taib Mohamed Peter Vong Charlie Choong DTP : J Ad graphics Views and opinions ex- pressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Editorial Committee. Verification of facts and sta- tistics are the responsibility of the respective writers. 50 years later ... from the New Straits Times, 31 AUG 2007. Coming Events / Your Say Page 2 of 8 PHS Movie Night Saturday, 27 October PHS heri.trail: Surprising Chemor! 7.15 pm On this trail, we will share with you some “best-kept” secrets, including a vanishing trade. As it is the festive season of Hari Raya Puasa, we will visit a kampong house for festive delicacies. Be warned, Chemor may not be the same again! Date Sunday, 21 October Time 8 am to 4 pm Meet Ipoh Railway Station at 7.45 am. Car-pool. Cost Members and those below-18: RM25; Non-members: RM45 Booking Su Win: 012-288 6888 by 14 October Heri.trail: Kampar: Kinta’s new boom town With the new UTAR campus, new railway station and impending municipal status, Kampar is set for rapid development. What will happen to the old town and its heritage communities? We will pace the streets to see some fine old buildings. Then we hop to the new town for contrast. Date Sunday, 25 November INDOCHINE Duration 8 am to 6 pm Starring the glamourous Meet at Ipoh Railway Station by at 7.45 am. French diva, Catherine Deneuve, Car-pool and travel in convoy. the film is a story of passion Cost Members and those below-18: RM20, Mon-members:RM40; and revolution in lunch and refreshments on your own account. colonial Vietnam, Booking Su Win: 012-288 6888 by 23 November an epic of love and war. Come see the demolished Alma Baker House, PHS Movie Night - Saturday, 24 November : BEYOND RANGOON and other beautiful sites in Perak. The movie won the 1992 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. NORMAN’S RUIN English subtitles. E-mail from Nick Cofill, PHS member By donation: RM10 per person, light refreshment included While motoring north to Papan last Saturday, 18th August, for some Duration : About 3 hours mischievous adventure, I happened to snack at Gopeng - as one does Bookings: Charlie: 019-571 9691 these days to avoid the tiresome fare available on the North-South Expressway. Naturally enough, having been on the recent PHS walk through the town, I returned to the familiar coffee shop for some tasty char siew pau and an iced Ipoh kopi puteh, kosong. While munching, one of those young, quite good-looking pups came over (who, unfortunately, often aren’t the full quid) but nevertheless, he did manage to focus my attention to the row of fine early timber shop-houses next door. It was to my disappointment - but not my horror (we can’t be dramatic about these things) - that I noticed the front upper storey above the five-foot-way had caved in. Building debris was scattered everywhere. Such is the decline of our streetscapes. I felt in my minds’ eye that the pup should be called Norman. Norman brought Nick’s attention to PERAK TOURISM SEMINAR the dilapidated building (below) Venue and date: Syuen Hotel, 13 and 14 August, 2007 Photos : Nick Cofill Organisers: Perak State Government & Perak Tourist Association From different perspectives, tourism is a ‘big game’ and it is, for now, the main bread-winner for heritage. This seminar reflects the desire to improve tourist arrivals in the state as we looked at various aspects of the tourism industry. The most interesting presentation was given by Prof. Dr Amran Hamzah, who showed slides of what he found at the various popular tourist attractions: the pathetic and appalling conditions of the infrastructure and facilities which we are familiar with. Not easy to understand but clearly important is the matter presented by Sivaprasagam Govindasamy, GM of the Syuen Hotel. In his presentation, Page 3 of 8 Being Around he expressed the need to enhance the role of the private sector in the Below: Press advertisement tourism industry, turning on the state machinery in tourism to focus on in The Straits Times, promotion and supporting services from local authorities. Saturday, 31 AUG, 1957. Text from YOUR The state has opted to brand Perak tourism as “eco” and “nature” tourism. AUTHORIZED FORD Top of the list was the Royal Belum Forest, followed by Kuala Gula Bird DEALER associated with Sanctuary and the Matang Mangrove Forest. One of the workshops came Ford Motor Company of up with the idea of packaging the Kinta Valley to show off the industrial Malaya Limited. heritage of Malaysia. Remember the days when our beauty queens would introduce themselves at international pageants that they come from the land MALAYA To the majority of people of rubber and tin? outside Malaya our country means rubber, tin and padi from a pear-shaped peninsula EMPOWERING PERAK inhabited by many races. Law Siak Hong took in the dinner talk: ‘Perak’s Contribution to Merdeka’. To all those who share its Nearly 500 diners attended the event jointly organized by the National heritage, it means much more Archive and the Perak Academy, and delivered by Tan Sri Datuk Abdullah -- for we see more than these Ahmad and Emeritus Professor Dato’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim. Most of them material things. stayed past mid-night, when the evening finally ended. We see the natural resources as a means of a more Let’s get it straight. Stunned or stung, I was more concerned about pride abundant livelihood. We see in our cultural heritage (political history) and how that might be sustained in the wealth of our land a in our beloved state, this land of grace. The Perak sultanate is endowed way to a higher standard of with natural beauty from the sea to the hills, forests rich in biological living for us and our children. diversity, communities with enduring traditions, a fascinating social history We see the green jungle as and material culture. Let’s start with Ho Tak Ming’s thought in the souvenir a competitor to be held back, programme: so that we can plant our estates, build our homes and “In a sense, the genesis of Malay nationalism lay in the incident kampongs, develop our cities at Pasir Salak in 1875 (Ed: Where the British Perak Resident, and extend our roads. We JWW Birch was murdered)…The development of the tin industry see the people… who by their in the 19th century in Perak, and particularly in the Kinta Valley, progress in education and as a result of the influx of Chinese miners, spearheaded the responsibility of citizenship, country’s economic development. By the early 20th century, will ensure that Malaya Perak also featured prominently as an agricultural centre, with maintains her honoured place amongst the free nations of rubber contributing significantly to the State’s wealth. Until the the world. Second World War, Perak was the richest and most advanced of the Peninsular Malay States, with the largest population, And then we see the people the largest number of sizeable towns, the best-developed as a Nation… of many races infrastructure, and the most schools. Perak was indeed the and creeds, all playing their country’s premier state…The close co-operation between the part in making this country of ours rich in understanding, three major races in Perak was an important contribution to culture and economic achieving national Independence.