The photo above shows typical Malaysian architecture which is getting harder and harder to find, since wood does not last long in this climate. The forrest does provide some special hardwoods which are long lasting, but Malaysian buildings seem to have a history of general neglect making an easy excuse by developers to pull them down. Here in Alor Setar in 2001, two significant old Malay wooden houses were relocated by the State Government to this Malay Heritage Village area and put on display. They are very beautiful from both the outside and the inside, but sadly do not get many visitors. After the now routine temperature checks and ID recording, etc, you can enter the houses, but no photos are allowed inside. One of the guards actually got up to show us around; the first sign of anyone working in a ‘museum’ to seem interested in showing it off to visitors!
These classical houses are built on granite stilts which serve several purposes: it protects the building against flooding, it provides cooling air circulation, the basement can be used for livestock, and by putting the wooden feet on top of concrete pillars, the wooden structure is protected from the teeth of termites! There are several hardwoods native to Malaysia (this one is meranti) which are also termite-resistant, and understandably, all these woods are very expensive nowadays. The ventilation inside the houses is excellent as the inside is well protected from direct sunlight and airflow is encouraged by beautifully carved screens above the windows. The living space inside is divided into small rooms, and the kitchen space is easily identifiable by the increased open space between the wooden floorboards. This meant that kitchen rubbish could be simply swept into the space below the house.
Interestingly, Isabella Bird notes in her book ‘The Golden Chersonese’, that the Malays keep the inside of thier houses very clean, but she dispairs at the smelly accumulated rubbish underneath. Now she was writting in the late 1800’s, and yet one can still see neat houses along Malaysian country roads which are surrounded by rubbish (mostly discarded tins, styrofoam boxes, and plastic bags).
Rumah Tok Su
This house came from Kampung Permatang Kerat Telunjuk, Bandar Bahru, about 200 km from Alor Setar, and is over 100 years old. When the Japanese surrendered in World War II, before the arrival of the British, the Communists took the opportunity to harass the villagers. So the villagers met in this house and decided to form an organisation called ‘Barisan Pemuda’ to counter the activity of the Communists and fight for independence.
Rumah Sri Banai
This house, with its elongated roof, came from Kampung Banai in the Kubang Pasu District of Kedah. The ground level was formally used as a Community School.
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