Penang Watch

Bangun poster

See here for more details of this wonderful art fest meant to revive interests in the World Heritage Status of Penang!

Ong BK

Saturday February 28, 2009
George Town needs revival
By LOOI SUE-CHERN

A LIVEABLE, safe, exciting and attractive city is what George Town needs to become after its recognition as a Unesco heritage site.

Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI) Penang fellow Dr Goh Ban Lee said the international acknowledgement was good for George Town, which had been on the decline since the 1960s, to lure locals and tourists back to the city.

“George Town needs to be an engine of growth, a place to raise families, safe, economically attractive, fun and equipped with basic facilities.

George Town won WHC status recently, but it may lose its WHC status just as quickly that it won it. Why? The policy for conservation is still unknown to most people-even the original proposal to UNESCO on the application for the WHC is not publicly available-though some folks say they can get it from the State Government through personal contacts. That is not good enough -any public documents need to be made publicly available to every citizen who want it. If the document is kept secret -it may well turn into history when the WHC status pass into history. This secretive information policy should be consigned to a list of our unwanted `heritage'!

Another report confirmed that the Weld Quay Clan Jetties are within the George Town World Heritage City zone  -so why is there no effort to make permanent the land lease for the clan jetties? It will become a world laughing stock rather than a world heritage city when more people get to know about this! Penang Watch has written to state govt to request a copy of the WHC proposal to UNESCO -to find out if, among others, the clan jetties were in the proposed WHC zone. There is no acknowldgement or reply to the mail yet. But this news report is as good as a confirmation. But we still hope that the state govt will furnish a copy of the WHC proposal so as to comply with the CAT principle and to help spread awareness on the proposal.