Why keeping our heritage buildings matters

I WISH to begin this week’s column with two quotes that may not be by very famous people, but they expound perfectly what I’m sure is felt by many of us who share an interest in ensuring that our cultural and historical heritage continue to be protected, preserved, maintained, and secured for now and our future generations.

The first goes like this, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” (Marcus Garvey)

The second, thus, “There may have been a time when preservation was about saving an old building here or there, but those days are gone. Preservation is in the business of saving communities and the values they embody.” (Richard Moe, National Trust for Historic Preservation)

In recent years, we have seen many restoration and preservation works on buildings, structures, and places here in Sarawak; and there appears to be some concerted effort to continue to ensure that many historical places are kept in good order, or at least maintained at a certain level of usage and made accessible to the public.

I shall not endeavour to single out any specific structure or building or to comment on any, as a few have been rather controversial as to the way their restorations were done and as to their continued usage for commercial purposes or otherwise. This would attract many debatable points and issues of contention as well as plaudits and criticism, which are not the aim of today’s column.

I aim mainly to highlight and bring much-needed attention on the constant and urgent need to ensure the powers that be pay attention to the restoration and maintenance of our many buildings, structures, and places of historical value for us all. Ultimately they will be our remaining edifices, artefacts, and monuments of the many different people calling Sarawak home – a reflection of our varied cultures and common history.

Paying attention entails allocating sizeable monetary budgets every year to ensure that those buildings, which may be crumbling away in dire need of maintenance, rehabilitation, or renewal, must be urgently attended to. This should include recruiting capable and credible professionals, artisans, and craftspeople as well as volunteers (of which the Sarawak Heritage Society I’m sure would be more than willing to be of assistance).

Wikipedia has a very broad description of what ‘heritage’ is all about. It states, “Cultural heritage is the legacy of cultural resources and intangible attributes of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all legacies of past generations are ‘heritage’, rather heritage is a product of selection by society.”

This in itself opens up to us a very wide scope in which if heritage is an intangible product, can be used, abused, and indeed argued.

It’s easy enough to preserve most of our intangible heritage – for instance for the Chinese they have the tea ceremony for their weddings, the Malays the Akad Nikah, and so on. Such ceremonial practices will continue for the foreseeable future as long as there are elders in the families and the generations to come who will keep and continue with such practices. In some cases, I’ve also seen many diverse ceremonies either being shortened, modified, or readapted to suit various modern day expectations.

From what I’ve observed, I have seen a resurgence in recent years of a renewed interest in heritage culinary arts – in the food and other recipes of the past – learning how to prepare dishes and special dishes in the way and manner of our ancestors, using the ingredients and the various specific methods that they had used in days gone by. Suddenly gastronomists have found that they’ve rediscovered the real original and authentic tastes of the past – of their parents and forefathers before them. In most cases they are now craving for even more!

Ten years ago in 2011, the Sarawak Eurasian Association led by Datin Dona Drury-Wee published the ‘Legacy Cookbook’, which went on to win The Gourmand’s ‘Best in the World’ Award for Best World Cookbook. The 304-page splendidly designed, beautifully photographed, and creatively written volume had included life stories of 23 famous Sarawak Eurasian families and their signature family dishes, from nyonya peranakan, native (Iban, Bidayuh, Kelabit etc), to pure Eurasian or fusion recipes, all unique to the various individual families concerned. It is a spellbinding effort and a wondrous work – if you don’t already own a copy, I urge you to get one. It’s on its second print run and is available at most good bookstores. Contact the Sarawak Eurasian Association if necessary.

I applaud the Sarawak Eurasian Association for producing this publication, which will certainly stand the test of time, and will leave a lasting legacy to the newer generations of their unique heritage – a written history of what had made their early ancestors decide to venture to this fair land of ours, their way of life, and the many styles and manners of their family cooking.

Heritage foods of our other races, the Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Indians, Bidayuhs, and other ethnic groups encompass the whole spectrum of providing nourishment, authenticity, local availability, and specific needs for both young and old, from the simplicity of a back garden clump of wild ferns (midin/paku) stir-fried in a hot wok with some oil and a dash of salt; to an intricately prepared (for days!) bowl of ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’ array of costly seafood ingredients, herbs, rare mushrooms, and delicate cuts of meat. The mind boggles.

But back to my main topic of our heritage buildings.

Most tourists travel around the world in search of authenticity – especially when they are on the road to visit and admire places of unique interest, it’s always the buildings and structures of historical interest – and almost always they’re old or of some historical note. I’m sure that very few tourists go to a country just to admire their new buildings, shopping malls, bridges, or other modern day structures.

It was somewhat sad for me to view across the Sarawak River in Kuching in recent years that the rather unique and very special kampung wooden houses on stilts by the riverbank have almost completely disappeared. I just wonder what plans there are in store for what’s up ahead? They were wonderful scenic photo ops for tourists, especially when they were travelling in their tambangs on the journey between the Main Bazaar Waterfront jetty across river to Fort Margherita.

I recall sitting at the 14th floor Executive Lounge of Hilton Kuching many years ago at sunset with some Hollywood film producers, who had remarked that the view from there was worth ‘a million dollars’! If they return today, they’d be sad to see that the kampung houses along the riverbanks are no longer there.

It’s good to see that many of the older Brooke-era buildings and structures in and around the city have either been spruced up with restoration, a new paint job, or have being made reusable for some commercial enterprise. I’m sure that we all look forward to many more such endeavours to restore and renovate rather than destroy and demolish. It’s sad that already in recent years many privately owned older buildings have either been torn down to make way for new developments, or have been left abandoned to simply rot away.

In conclusion, I am ever hopeful that the Sarawak Heritage Society will continue to persevere and to encourage these owners to upkeep, restore, or renovate. I wish them the very best of luck in this area. Don’t give up the good fight.

Comments can reach the writer via columnists@theborneopost.com.

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