Malacca - My Lingering sense of place

In spite of living in Ipoh for the last 20 odd years, the tiny Historical City of Malacca, that small town 2 degrees north of the equator, has always been the place that I choose to call home. It was the place that I did not want to leave, the place that pulled me back when I was away, and the place that I dreamed about and spoke of with reverence. If any place is home, it is Malacca, that uniquely quaint town with streets that are narrower than your hips, that has a rhythm and character all its own, from its people, that exotic cross-cultural ethnic mix of  Baba- Nyonya, Chitty and Portuguese, to the uniqueness' of her built environment. The Malacca of today is a rich mélange of Dutch, Portuguese, British, Chinese, Indian and Malay influences which reflects so much of her past glory. The Malacca culture is a tapestry woven over six centuries of this diverse ethnic customs, folklore and traditions.

Malacca was founded at the start of the 15^th century by a Sumatran; Prince Parameswara. Due to her strategic location on the Malaccan Straits she quickly became the most important port in South East Asia. Here gold, silk, tea, opium, tobacco, spices and countless other items were traded. Chinese, Indian and Arab merchants settled there and this rich port was the key to controlling the spice trade that brought about the early east-west power struggles. Prince Parameswara adopted a pro-trade policy that included keeping sea-lanes open, eliminating pirates and establishing appropriate legal and administrative institutions to encourage trade. The city’s wealth attracted European interest of the sort that arrived heavily armed. In the 16^th century she was conquered first by the Portuguese, and then the Dutch who controlled her for over 300 years before ceding her to the British in 1824. Malacca gradually began to lose her pre-eminence as an entreport in the region, this happened after the British East India Company lost its monopoly of the China trade, the British could not make their treasury revenues at Malacca cover the Government expenses and Malacca required financial assistance from the other two cities in the Straits Settlement, namely Singapore and Penang. The British began to concentrate heavily on Singapore and Malacca soon became a sleepy backwater. The city’s decline was a blessing in disguise as it meant that the beautiful mixture of Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and Islamic architecture largely remained intact.

In a country where so much is new, Malacca is one of the few places where you get the feel of Malaysia’s past history she has managed to maintain her sense of distinctive historical and cultural identity. Her glorious past is hidden behind each facade of the centuries old buildings. Every step you take down her narrow roads, there will be a piece of historic treasure waiting to be told. Her culture is seen in the rich Baba-Nyonya, Chitty and Portuguese lifestyles in terms of cuisine and traditions which are evident in present day Malacca. Malacca possesses a living heritage that needs to be preserved at all cost for generations to come. Although it is the third smallest state in Malaysia it is undoubtedly the wealthiest in terms of history, culture and cuisine. The history of Malaysia really begins in Malacca, thus aptly named the Historical City of Malaysia.

 Malaccans eat, live and breathe these rich influences and their lives resonate with these influences and are made all the richer by it. People create a relationship with places and come to understand them through their senses.  Before there is memory of speech, there is memory of sense. Our experiences of places are not only built up from visual cues, as our  knowledge of the environment also includes crucial information derived from taste, touch, smell and hearing. A sense of place can be what makes a place somewhere special and different; it does not have to be spectacular but just have the sensory necessities that together create something significant, something unique, a sense of belonging, of interest, of place. Society is the place where we learn to develop our potential and become competent. Belonging, on the other hand is the place where we can find a certain emotional security. It is the place where we learn a lot about ourselves, our fears our blockages, as well as our capacity to give life, it is the place where we grow to appreciate others, to live with them, to share and work together, discovering each other’s  gifts and weaknesses. Malacca is my sense of place, my place of belonging.

  

  “A place is sensed, senses are placed as places make sense, senses make place” (Feld)