Selling away the past

On Monday, we took a daytrip to Malacca, a historical city that has a long history of colonization by first the Portuguese in 1511, the Dutch in 1641 and the British in 1826. I didn't realize it until now, but to go to Malacca and then Singapore makes a lot of sense. A person can really draw the contrasts and comparisons between the two cities (well, city and city-state).

The riverfront in Singapore

The riverfront in Malacca

The two are very similar on one hand, and yet have headed in two different directions on the opposing hand. Both have old Chinese buildings that hug their respective rivers that course through the cities. Yet, Malacca is what Singapore was only a handful of decades ago. While Malacca is selling off its history as quickly as possible and leaving a shell of what it was, remnants of its once beautiful history, Singapore revitalizes, redesigns, and redevelops, keeping but refurbishing the old buildings while maintaining respect for what it once was--a British colony.  Let's consider Malacca first.

Welcome to antique avenue

Malacca is the name of both the state and the capital city of the state. The city center of the city of Malacca was registered as an UNESCO World Heritage same at the same time as Georgetown in Penang (in 2008). The city is well known as one of the best places to buy Chinese and Peranakan antiques--furniture, carvings adorning beds, intricate tiles that once trimmed the facade of buildings, statues, vases, etc. My mother-in-law's home is filled with items from Malacca, as are her siblings', collected over decades, long before shop-hopping there became popular. Jonker Street--the main avenue through the old city--is a narrow, cobblestone street that is lined with similarly narrow shops. Expats, students and tourists abound, exploring the river and the old colonial structures and the cheesy replica of a Portuguese galleon, poking their heads into the ancient storefronts and buying souvenirs and overpriced "antiques" that they think are antiques. The floors creak and groan under footsteps and the weight of hundreds--thousands--of objects old and new. Like Georgetown, the old city in Malacca is a throwback in time.

Peering to the entrance
of a tea house

But at what cost is it to the city and the aura of antique shopping in Malacca? Is Malacca selling its soul, its history? In a city known for vintage items that date back to the 1800s, it is getting more difficult to find true antiques. There are more and more instances of shop owners trying to play off newer items as "antiques." Tiles that once trimmed homes and storefronts in the old city have been chipped away and sold off, leaving a bland, naked facade. Many items--true antiques and those that aren't--are now brought in from China. Not that this makes it any better: Even Chinese temples were vandalized for their intricate trimmings of dragons and phoenixes on the roofs.

The moral of the story? Buyer beware. There's nothing wrong with buying non-antiques as long as you know what you are buying. It's a bit depressing that such an ancient city like Malacca is selling itself away without any control or bother to maintain its dilapidated buildings.