Melaka Oh Melaka..

I must say I share the same sentiments as the writer of this letter in THE STAR Opinions today:

MALACCA, a historical city. What promise these words breathe!

How sad it is then, when so much potential is thoughtlessly wasted with the building of a revolving tower, “Malacca to build 110m-high revolving tower” (The Star, Oct 11).
The idea of the tower is just too incongruous with the place where I was born and in which grew up in and which will always be my hometown in a deeply emotional way.
I have a vision of what Malacca, a historical city, should be. These words promise an experience.
When I am in Malacca, I would like to feel old Malacca. I want to walk around, or ride a rickshaw, and be transported back in time.
I want to walk around the Stadhuys, and be able to feel the Dutch influence. I want to take a walk near A Famosa, and be able to hear, far off, at the edges of time and imagination, the boom of cannon, and cries of warriors from days gone by.
I want to walk along Jonker Street, and be able to imagine that I am a Nyonya matron of old, on my way to a mahjong and gossip session.
I want to walk the corridors of the Malacca museum, and be able to imagine, just for a moment, the beauty of Tun Fatimah.
I want to stroll along the bank of the Malacca River, and be able to feel, if not quite see, the bustling entreport where merchants traded wares from East and West.
I am not against new construction. After all, the Malacca museum is a fairly new addition to the landscape.
But it has to be in keeping with the character of the city, and historically informed. I want to know how people lived in the past. I want to be able to walk in their shoes, if only for a short, deluded, magical moment.
Malacca is a place where people live with the past. I went to a Convent school where some of the buildings were older than my grandparents, with all the attendant ghost stories.
I had schoolmates who rode the rickshaw to school. I grew up knowing that this was where Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat fought for ideals that were not mutually exclusive, but tragically conflicted.

This is a land that knew passion, tragedy and drama. This is a land where magical things happened.

This is a land that knows more of the human story than any of us could ever hope to know.

And while we are hard at work building new attractions, what about conserving what we already have?

A MALACCAN,
Malacca.