Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) said despite having officially listed “several thousand” buildings outside the Unesco site worthy of preserving, the state government said these could be demolished.
In a statement today, the group reminded the state that it was obliged to protect heritage properties under the State Heritage Enactment 2011.
PHT said the enactment remained a piece of unused legislation, as a state heritage commissioner had yet to be appointed and a council had yet to be set up.
It said this was a disappointment for those who had fought for heritage buildings to stay over the years and had them inventoried to be protected.
“And if the state sets the example of selling its own heritage buildings without any conditions for their preservation, and the city council approves the demolition of those buildings, how then will our authorities have the moral fibre to impose restrictions on others?” PHT questioned.
The group said with the recent clearing of Peel Avenue bungalows on a 6.4-acre land the state stood to lose more than it bargained for.
The bungalows served as colonial-era housing for the civil service and were used by Penang’s civil service before being sold to a private hospital last year.
The state government has touted the land-sale as a catalyst for double-digit growth in the state’s economy in medical tourism and creating new jobs in the process.
Saying several heritage bungalows outside George Town’s heritage site were saved from destruction due to the state’s intervention, including one owned by another private hospital, PHT asked why the Peel Avenue bungalows were not similarly protected.
PHT pointed out an irony in that the private hospital, which they claimed to be Singapore-owned, valued and loved their “black and whites” bungalows back in the republic.
The term “black and whites” are used to refer to colonial-era civil service bungalows in Singapore, where they are afforded conservation protection status by the authorities there.
PHT said it was not against development but was against those who had “no respect” for Penang’s past, local sentiments, the environment and its hills.
“Conservation is one of the greatest examples of recycling, re-use and respect. In that respect, we feel Penang boleh (can). The battle in Penang has been bottom-up and people led, to save our precious history, the reminders of our forefathers, their skills, their achievements, their stories.
“Penangites have very strong feelings for our past. It has been a very long and very consuming battle.”