Malacca, the Forgotten City, the lost sister of Singapore – is a city that has suffered many depredations. In its early establishments – as noted in several posts on these pages – it was the entrepot of Chinese trading interests in South East Asia. Specifically, the Chinese came in search of tin which is abundant in various places along the Malay peninsula. But then its strategic position and sheltered location came to the attention of European colonial powers who battled over it for many centuries. First came the Portuguese. Then the Dutch. Then, finally, the English. Contrary to prevailing post-colonial narratives, the greatest harm caused by these European nations were in relation to each other, not to the local populations. The Portuguese, Catholics, built cathedrals. The Dutch, Protestants, pulled them down. The British, fearful of the French, destroyed the old walls of the city – an act of historical vandalism. Malacca changed its tenor and its shape over the centuries according to these vagaries. At the same time, though, the various occupants built many lasting features of the city and consolidated its distinctly cosmopolitan character. In one of the most famous streets, Goldsmith Street, for example, there are still three places of worship almost side by side – a Hindoo Temple, a Chinese Temple and a Mahommadan mosque. This was the deliberate design of the Dutch who gave each religious community grants of land next to each other, forcing them to live together. The British continued this policy and united the many different communities under the benign umbrella of the English language and British education.
The decline of the city did, nevertheless, occur under British rule. The administration of the Strait’s Colonies was moved from Malacca to George Town on the Prince of Wales Island, and this left Malacca much diminished. It was inevitable. Although it had once been one of the busiest ports in the world, it was never a deep port, and with the onset of industrial scale shipping its inadequacies were exposed. George Town was by far a better port for modern ships. The departure of the British administration reduced the city to a historical relic and it was never again to regain its former glory. Locally, it became known as “Sleepy Hollow”; its institutions were neglected and it was largely forgotten.
Views of the Bartam River
(now commonly referred to as the Malacca River.)
The most onerous depredations suffered by the city, however, have been in modern times. It is the same story everywhere. While nationalists and chauvinists and post-colonial ideologues whine about the evil Europeans, once they secure independence – merdeka, as the Malays call it – they then begin to trash their heritage and squander the wealth generated by colonial infrastructure and institutions. Perhaps the worst cases of this are in India. The present author spent some time in Calcutta – once the “London of the East” but, under modern Indian rule, a swarming, rat-infested, tumble-down travesty of crumbling architecture. Malacca is not quite as bad, but it is still a monument to post-colonial corruption and bad taste. The rot was stopped, thankfully, when it was declared a World Heritage city by UNESCO in the early 2000s, but much of the damage had already been done. (No one wants to admit the plain fact that the UNESCO World Heritage scheme is largely a device to prevent post-colonial independence nationalists from vandalizing their own countries. They have to be bribed with large amounts of UN money to desist from reckless and tasteless development.)
St Paul's hill shown
in its original relationship to the coastline.
One thing in particular is a great shame: greedy business developers, in cahoots with corrupt government administrators, reclaimed large swathes of land from the sea, effectively cutting the city off from the Malacca Straits and hence destroying its entire maritime character. The city was once cradled around the high-point of St Paul’s Hill (Bukit St Paul) but now there are expanses of low-lying, poorly constructed reclaimed land – an urban wasteland, really – extending several miles into the Straits. The old city now lies inland and suffers from a severe lack of cooling sea breezes. The developers might have moved up the river and reclaimed swamp land. Instead they reclaimed land from the sea and in doing so did irreparable damage to the historic character of the city. Worse, the authorities then turned the old city into a Disneyland theme park with garish gimmicks and lame, contrived attractions. Never mind the colonialists: the vandalism and self-harm committed by the Malays since independence has been epic. This is the post-colonial reality that no one is prepared to admit, let alone address. Intellectuals still score cheap points writing books about the big bad British, still – still! – blaming them for every evil created by corrupt and small-minded nationalists since independence.
Views of Dutch Square before the depredations
of modern tourism destroyed its charm.
For all of that, Malacca remains a city of considerable charm. It is still a place of magic. Destructive land reclamations continue, appalling modernist developments remain the norm, and the Disney-ification of the heritage zone goes on, but the historical communities (especially the Straits Chinese) retain vestiges of rich traditions. It is sometimes called the city of museums. There are, indeed, dozens of small museums around the city – with much duplication and much rewriting of history to satisfy post-colonial, nationalist narratives; but the city as a whole – the old part of it, anyway – is a multi-ethnic museum of great worth in itself.
The posts on this page consist of a photographic record of many aspects of the city, but especially its now lost relationship with the sea. All of the views in the pictures below are gone now, replaced with empty concrete block shops and condominiums. There is no foreshore. The once famous pier is gone. There is nowhere for lovers to stroll. Tragically, the city is now cut off from the coast. Bereft of natural features, the tourist industry is propped up with plastic dinosaurs, 'Pirates of the Carribean' shows and Disney-world trishaws playing endless loops of 'Hello Kitty'. All of this is typical of modern tourism in general, of course, and not peculiar to Malacca - wherever one goes one must search out the authentic magic of a place below the tacky post-colonial veneer.
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Yours, Harper McAlpine Black
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