Culturalmapping and Heritage Trail in Kuala Kangsa
Culturalmapping and Heritage Trail in Kuala Kangsa
Abstract
Kuala Kangsar is the Royal Town of Negeri Perak. It was established in the
1720s. The name Kuala Kangsar is believed to be derived from the kangsar plant
(Hibiscus flocussus) that grows in abundance along the banks of the Sungai
Kangsar. Another strong suggestion claims that the name was handed down by
explorers and settlers who had established a settlement at the mouth of the river.
They called their new home Kuala Kurang Sa, a short form for Kuala Kurang
Seratus because there were 99 tributaries that flowed into the Sungai Perak
around the area. Kuala Kangsar became famous and remarkable not only because
of its title as a royal town but also for its heritage and historical factors. There are
a lot of heritage assets in this area. Because of these reasons, Kuala Kangsar has
become popular and appealing to attract more tourists. This paper will identify
and classify the heritage assets in Kuala Kangsar. The identifications and
classifications will be based on some methods which consist of site
familiarisation, unstructured interviews, visual observation and literature
reviews. After heritage assets identification is done, this paper will develop the
Cultural Mapping for Kuala Kangsar where Cultural Mapping is a tool to
illustrate all the heritage assets’ location and position in mapping and graphics.
Finally, this paper will introduce the Heritage Trail to link all these heritage assets
in Kuala Kangsar.
1
Corresponding Author. Email: normazlan@kpkt.gov.my
Nor Mazlan Mohd Yunus, Esmawee Endut, Shahrul Yani Said
Cultural Mapping and Heritage Trail in Kuala Kangsar
INTRODUCTION
When Sultan Idris Murshidul’adzam Shah (1877-1916) ascended the throne, he
selected a site on Bukit Chandan to build his palace, thus becoming the first in a
line of sultans to live at Bukit Chandan and be buried on the west side of the
Sungai Perak. His palace, completed in 1895, was named Istana Negara. The
royal ambience that characterises Kuala Kangsar started to take shape with the
high ground at Bukit Chandan as its focal point. A townhouse for the Sultan,
Istana Kota, was completed in 1903. It was also known as Istana Hulu, as it was
upstream from Istana Negara. Today, this palace houses the Sultan Azlan Shah
Gallery. The wooden Istana Kenangan, built in 1926, was used as the royal palace
while Istana Iskandariah was being constructed to replace Istana Negara. A
number of other palaces occupied by various members of the royal family dot
Kuala Kangsar, including the Istana Chinta Berahi and Istana Kasar Ma’amor,
which were built by Sultan Idris for his two wives. Istana Bendahara was the
residence of the last Raja Bendahara of Perak, a son of Sultan Idris. In 1906, two
newly completed houses of the Sultan at Bukit Chandan became the first houses
in Kuala Kangsar to be lit with electricity, which was powered by a power station
located at Bukit Chandan itself (Dr. Neil Khor, 2017). Kuala Kangsar has a lot
of heritage assets to be recognised and appreciated. This paper will identify the
heritage assets in Kuala Kangsar before developing the Cultural Mapping and
Heritage Trail in order to ensure that all these assets are connected with each
other.
Kuala
IKangsar
This paper also will explore the practices of establishing the Cultural Mapping
in Canada, Portugal and Asia (Nepal and Thailand). The main purpose is to
identify the similarities and divergences of practices among three different
localities. Based on this exploration, the similarities and differences will be
translated in detail in the table below:
the project, explore the implementation, conduct synthesis, finalise the map and
promote the map to the public.
From the Portugal perspective, they are also concerned about the
community’s involvement but they prefer to identify the assets first, especially
tangible assets. Then they proceed to data collection, and next they produce a
multi-layered picture and establish the framework of Cultural Mapping. Based on
the Portugal practices, they are very particular with public participation and also
activists, researches and political influence. These situations have proved the
importance of Cultural Mapping to be in line with public needs and to garner a
bit of political will. Finally, the Cultural Mapping projects are able to fulfil the
people’s needs from the heritage sites.
When this research looked into the Asian practices specifically in Nepal
and Thailand, it was found that they are also concerned with the identification of
heritage assets for both types of assets which are tangible and intangible. Then
they proceed to establish the framework of ideas and practices, and allow the
public to participate in this exercise for them to share and exchange their views
and opinions. For Asian practices, they also consider the protection of human
rights and respecting the traditional knowledge. This aspect is very significant
and outstanding compare to the other two practices. Maybe for the Asian society,
there is a stronger need to protect and more concern on human rights and
traditional knowledge which are in line with Asian customs and cultures. For the
Asian practice, the number of stages is less than Portugal and Canada, which is
four stages only. Portugal and Canada have six stages in practice of preparing for
Cultural Mapping in their country, and among the two, Canada is more detailed
and comprehensive.
Cultural Mapping is the method and platform to identify the heritage
assets on the site, inventorise all assets, connect them, produce the profiles,
highlight their strength, potential and also weakness, and finally approach the
community to get their feedbacks and responses. These principles and keywords
can be used for designing and producing the Cultural Mapping for Kuala
Kangsar. The elements, contents and items of the stages and steps can be
duplicated in the Kuala Kangsar context and practise. Perhaps these stages and
steps can help develop the best Cultural Mapping of Kuala Kangsar in line with
complimenteng the public needs with the appreciation of heritage assets in Kuala
Kangsar.
achieve the purpose and approach. This paper will illustrate how the Heritage
Trail will be implemented and constructed. This paper managed to generate the
table of stages in preparing the Cultural Mapping, propose the Cultural Mapping
illustrations and lastly propose a Heritage Trail for Kuala Kangsar as shown in
the table and maps below:
Table 4: The Proposed of Stages in Preparing a Cultural Mapping for Kuala Kangsar
No. The Stages in Preparing a Cultural Justification
Mapping for Kuala Kangsar
1. Planning and Designing the Objectives To ensure that the Cultural Mapping is
and Framework totally useful and practicable.
2. Identification of the Heritage Assets, Both To produce the inventory and profile
Tangible and Intangible for all heritage assets in all heritage
sites.
6. Producing the Cultural Mapping into To create and produce the most interesting,
Pictures, Infographics and User-Friendly attractive and practical Cultural Mapping
Mapping in the future.
CONCLUSION
In this paper, there are three major aspects that have been acknowledged and
explored which are the identification of heritage assets in Kuala Kangsar, the
development of a Cultural Mapping for Kuala Kangsar and finally the proposed
heritage trail for Kuala Kangsar. This paper managed to identify 22 heritage
assets in Kuala Kangsar based on visual observation, site visits, secondary data
collections and unstructured interviews. These heritage assets are consisting of
buildings, palaces, the oldest rubber tree, institutions, mausoleums, monuments
and handicrafts. These heritage assets can be promoted to boost yje attraction of
Kuala Kangsar as a heritage site and tourism destination. Besides identifying the
heritage assets in Kuala Kangsar, this paper has also managed to develop the
Cultural Mapping for Kuala Kangsar. This paper has analysed three Cultural
Mapping practices which are in Canada, Portugal and Asia (Nepal and Thailand).
Based on this analysis, this paper found that there are six stages that need to be
implemented in preparing the Cultural Mapping for Kuala Kangsar. These are the
best practices to be carried out for the development of the Cultural Mapping for
Kuala Kangsar. At the same time, in order to ensure that all heritage assets will
be manageable and connected properly, a Heritage Trail has been introduced as
a mechanism to achieve the purpose.
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