The remains of the unique and ornate tomb of Foo Teng Nyong which has remain unmolested for 138 years have ended up at a rubbish dump site in Jelutong, Penang.
She was the wife of a lawmaker, Chung Keng Quee, Member of the Perak Council of State. She was the mother of another lawmaker, Chung Thye Phin, Member of the Perak Council of State, and, during the absence of Eu Tong Sen, Member of the Legislative Council of the Federated Malay States.
There are those who say her tomb is nothing because she was nothing. Her connection to Chung Keng Quee, Chung Siew Yin, Chung Thye Phin, Chung Thye Chong and Foo Choo Choon notwithstanding, it is likely she was as much a philanthropist as her daughters Chung Huan Kang and Chung Siew Yin were. We know so little about 19th Century Malayan Women because they were viewed as unimportant and consequently very little was recorded about them. We need to preserve what records that do exist. And yet, here is one, carved in stone no less, that has been destroyed. And what carved stone it was too, festooned with dragons and qilin and other objects from mythology, something worthy of close study and consideration by experts for years to come.
There are those who accuse descendants of having sold off the land, profited by it, and then complain when developers destroy the graves situated on those lands. I have written a commentary on why descendants could not have sold of the land at the material time (circa 1953), simply because the law did not allow them to do so https://jefferyseow.blogspot.com/2022/09/here-is-why-descendants-could-not-have.html
I am not interested in money or any other type of compensation. I do not believe any legitimate descendant who honors Foo Teng Nyong would be interested. Nor, if I can speak for others, are any interested in having title to the land.
In fact, I do not now speak as a descendant but as as someone born a child of Penang who deeply cares for her heritage. We have seen so much taken away from us/ Control of our ports fell to the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company and the FMS Railways. Duties were introduced one item at a time until our Free Port Status, or what was left of it, was taken away altogether. Our buildings and monuments destroyed, by the Japanese leading up to and during their Occupation. And now, by our fellow Penangites. By our fellow Penangites!
I warned this would happen. Back when I was first informed at the beginning. I am now telling you the same can happen to the tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin, Member of the Perak Council of State and Member of the Legislative Council of the Federated Malay States.
Government can make this right. Government can make a difference. If they choose to. I ask the following to be done:
1. Government to require developer restore the tomb as government required of another developer when the Hotel Metropole (Northam Road) was destroyed.
2. Government to require developer to retrieve the remains of Foo Teng Nyong they caused to be removed and interred in Batu Gantong, to be reinterred in the restored tomb.
3. Government to gazette tomb and land of Foo Teng Nyong tomb a heritage site.
4. Government to immediately take action to put up signages at the site of the tomb of Chung Thye Phin, and to fence up and padlock the site.
5. Government to gazette the land and tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin a heritage site.
6. Government to immediately order the prohibition of any exhumation at the site of the tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin.
Government have ordered the restoration of things destroyed by developers. Here is what Government did in the case of the Hotel Metropole
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/2898?fbclid=IwAR0CcSmyKnDtiWXWftJ0DjZmQgUScvm-bsSR1IRYQ3uT-3dK9oaRTNuFHns
Ordering the restoration of what was destroyed is not new to Penang (see Hotel Metropole above) or indeed elsewhere
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/carlton-tavern-london-pub-rebuilt-illegal-demolition?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-article&fbclid=IwAR0wRpd_pV2Exc1VvBt20PlEJSN1O0FrOZQY0SyJRqa5wu7XYQ3A78b9UyA
Ordering the restoration of what a developer has destroyed is meant to serve as a lesson to that developer, as well as a serving as a lesson in advance for any other developers contemplating similar action (as may be the case with the tomb of Chung Thye Phin) in the near of not too distant future.
If Government are truly interested in Penang's built heritage which is part of its essence, its heart and soul, then surely Government would want to see this tomb restored and others like it, preserved and protected, would they not?
The government had proposed that the tomb be retained as part of the developments green feature, something that all developments need to have. The government felt pleased at having come up with the win-sin solution that it was.
The developer, thumbing its nose in defiance at the government, without reference to key stakeholders, and perhaps without even the proper legal authorisation, covertly made their way to the site and then noisily, if we take the words of the residents in that area, destroyed a structure untouched and and where people went to remember a revered ancestor for 138 years.
Please, Government, do not mimic a doormat and allow this developer to just walk away, scot free, after having wiped their feet all over Government, Government's proposal to retain the tomb as a green feature for the development, and Government's instruction for them to hold all other work in abeyance and revert to Government on Government's proposal.
Please, Government, take action to have them put the tomb of Foo Teng Nyong back the way it was, complete with its original resident whose remains were chucked off God knows where in Batu Gantong! Please, Government take action to ensure this does not happen to the tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin (and his wife Khoo Joo Bee of the Khoo Thean Teik family).
Government can make this happen. Please choose to do the right thing. Please choose to make a difference, now, today, to these two tombs and to te protection of built heritage against the ravages of developers into the not too distant future.
And You, dear reader, you too can help to make things right, if you choose to. Please send these:
1. Government to require developer restore the tomb as government required of another developer when the Hotel Metropole (Northam Road) was destroyed.2. Government to require developer to retrieve the remains of Foo Teng Nyong they caused to be removed and interred in Batu Gantong, to be reinterred in the restored tomb.
3. Government to gazette tomb and land of Foo Teng Nyong tomb a heritage site.
4. Government to immediately take action to put up signages at the site of the tomb of Chung Thye Phin, and to fence up and padlock the site.
5. Government to gazette the land and tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin a heritage site.
6. Government to immediately order the prohibition of any exhumation at the site of the tomb of Capitan Chung Thye Phin.
to these officials:
Governor of Penang: Ahmad Fuzi bin Hj Abdul Razak
https://www.facebook.com/tytpenang8
Chief Minister of Penang: Chow Kon Yeow
https://www.facebook.com/ChowKonYeow
https://twitter.com/chowkonyeow
chowkonyeow@penang.gov.my
State Assemblyman [ADUN] for Tanjong Bunga: Zairil Khir Johari
https://www.facebook.com/ZairilKJ
https://twitter.com/zairilkj
zairil@penang.gov.my
State Assemblyman [ADUN] for Kebun Bunga: Ong Khan Lee
https://www.facebook.com/JasonOngKhanLee
https://twitter.com/Jason_okl
ongkhanlee@penang.gov.my
Exec. Councillor for Tourism, Arts and Creative Economy: Yeoh Soon Hin
https://www.facebook.com/yeoh.soonhin.1
https://twitter.com/hin_yeoh
yeohsoonhin@penang.gov.my
Governor has not published his email address but may be written to care of his Confidential Secretary whose contact information is available
https://idirektori.penang.gov.my/papar_pegawai2.php?idp=4342
mrahman@penang.gov.my
The Deputy Governor has an email address
https://www.gemaputera.com/.../perbadanan-pembangunan.../
mbak@pdc.gov.my
Another official whose email addresses you may wish to have:
Mayor of the City of Penang Island (Datuk Bandar Pulau Pinang)
http://www.mbpp.gov.my/.../pengurusan/profil-datuk-bandar
datukbandar@mbpp.gov.my
If enough people do that, government will be empowered to act against developer. You can make a difference. Please choose to make a difference today.
Thank you
Researcher of Biographical Dictionary of Mercantile Personalities of Penang and Through Turbulent Terrain: Trade of the Straits Port of Penang, both jointly published by the MBRAS : Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and Khazanah Nasional Berhad's Think City.
No comments:
Post a Comment