Publicomos

Réf.

43380

Type

technical report

Titre

ICOMOS Malaysia New Village Working Group - Report 1 (15 May 2022)

Langues

English

Auteurs institutionnels

ICOMOS Malaysia New Village Working Group

Lieu de publication

Kuala Lumpur

Pays de publication

Malaysia

Maison d'édition

ICOMOS Malaysia

Date

15/05/2022

Pages

251

Vol. & n°

v. 1

Mots-clés

concentration camps / national inventories / architecture / building typologies / architectural styles / building materials / economic aspects / social aspects / cultural landscapes / intangible heritage / sustainable tourism / types of tourism / sustainable development / oral tradition / rituals / displacement of population / human rights / conflicts

Pays mentionnés

Malaysia

Résumé en anglais

Over half a million villagers or one-seventh of Malaya’s population were relocated/resettled in over 450 New Villages between 1948 and 1960 following the Briggs Plan. It was part of a comprehensive counter-insurgency strategy in Malaya. The formation of New Villages not only changed the entire rural landscape of Malaya in the 1950s, but also marked the beginning of the implementation of town and village planning in Malaya, introducing health and safety concepts and a more civic-minded nation towards Independence. The NV progeny dates back to the concentration camps of the late 19th Century during the 2nd Boer War as a military tactic used to deprive the enemy of the support of a sympathetic population. The concept was later replicated by military authorities in various places. In general, none of these camps/secured villages continue in their original fashion to this day except as museum sites. The Malayan New Villages have, however, evolved and are today either absorbed by nearby urban centres or have developed into fairly important centres of population, economic activities, and/or cultural depositories of the local inhabitants in their own right. While most of the NV population were and are of Chinese origin, they have always included substantial numbers of non-Chinese inhabitants.
The Working Group (WG) was formed when the Shared Built Heritage (SBH), Cultural Routes (CIIC) and Historic Towns, Villages and Places (CIVVIH) NSCs were organizing a study trip to Kuala Kubu Baru, Fraser Hill and Rasa. The discussion of the historical and heritage background of the sites especially at Rasa were examined in some detail. Ar. Dr. Goh Ai Tee with the majority of the planning group was sufficiently enthusiastic to start an interim WG to research further into the subject. Members were invited at the suggestion of individual members of the WG and included non ICOMOS Members. On 10 March 2021, the Board of ICOMOS Malaysia approved the formation of a New Village Working Group (NVWG) consisting of ICOMOS Malaysia Members and invited specialists from various disciplines. The NVWG started with 7 members from ICOMOS Malaysia and 8 invited experts on April 2021. The working group aims to study the potential of showcasing selected New Villages as National Heritage as well as candidates for UNESCO world heritage listing. ICOMOS Malaysia NVWG will also act as a central Data Bank collecting research works and archive materials relating to New Villages in Malaya. In this regard, various aspects were scrutinized:
1.New Villages and Planning 2.New Villages and Security
3.New Villages and Management4.New Villages and Religion
5.New Villages and the economy6.New Villages and Education
7.New Villages and Social aspects8.New Villages and Missionaries
9.New Villages and Food10.New Villages and Culture
A total of 5 online meetings with members and 2 online meetings with potential collaborators as well as 3 webinar talk series were organised for position-sharing and research outcomes. This publication will be our first annual report recording this endeavor.

Document joint

ICOMOS Malaysia NVWG_Annual Report 1_220515.pdf

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike (BY-NC-SA)