Star Q
ii. Kunjungan Sulung
Okay it's February 2016. I seem to have missed all the hullabaloo about the first day of January which marked the new year of 2016. I seem to have missed January totally! Apart from nursing a painful leg for almost two months, I think I have enjoyed the bliss of staying home on many occasions in January.
Anyway, it is February now and there seems to be a lot more things that I see around me that does not seem to look right, at least to me; one specific case is about an historical landmark in Georgetown, Penang. This old building steeped in history has unfortunately been demolished during the recent Chinese New Year celebration.
The demolishing of the historical landmark which is located on a 0.8 hectare piece of land, is supposed to make way for a high-rise, luxury hotel or some sort, an economically-wise move by the state government to generate a lot of income for the state. The state would also use the excuse of generating more job opportunities for locals to justify this act that has no regard for history. Here I focus on generating and not providing because there is a strong possibility, also for the sake of economically-wise endeavors, these jobs may not go to the locals but to foreign workers, for many obvious reasons.
I suppose the people who make all the decisions there do not see any kind of wisdom in saving such a building. I also assume that they think that they already have enough old buildings to last them a lifetime and more; so demolishing one old building is not going to make any difference.
Sadly these people do not have the foresight of, not only about saving the building and letting it stand there, but an option of taking it down brick by brick or section by section and rebuilding it on another part of the island where the land is less precious perhaps somewhere near other old buildings that have been deemed as national treasures. Unfortunately, now it is too late.
The greed of these people and their lack of foresight (in certain things) is going to be the downfall of this great states culture that is rich in history. If their reign of tenure happens to be a long one, the island may end up with modern high-rise buildings with it's culture and history lost in the process, which in my opinion, is what these people are garnering towards.
I suppose the people who make all the decisions there do not see any kind of wisdom in saving such a building. I also assume that they think that they already have enough old buildings to last them a lifetime and more; so demolishing one old building is not going to make any difference.
Sadly these people do not have the foresight of, not only about saving the building and letting it stand there, but an option of taking it down brick by brick or section by section and rebuilding it on another part of the island where the land is less precious perhaps somewhere near other old buildings that have been deemed as national treasures. Unfortunately, now it is too late.
The greed of these people and their lack of foresight (in certain things) is going to be the downfall of this great states culture that is rich in history. If their reign of tenure happens to be a long one, the island may end up with modern high-rise buildings with it's culture and history lost in the process, which in my opinion, is what these people are garnering towards.
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