In the evenings after whole-day sessions, the Harpswell ASEAN Program for Women’s Leadership organises dinners for the participants at different venues, followed by talks by USM Vice Chancellor, corporate leaders and ministers.
One of the program’s highlights is a dinner and talk post-George Town World Heritage Excursion. Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, the former Penang’s Chief Minister, would deliver a talk on George Town-Melaka UNESCO Heritage Site.
This year, it’s held at Lagenda Cafe – about a week before my sessions on Communication and Technology.
Like most Penangites, I always look forward to good food.* So I arrived early at the cafe and saw that Prof. Noraida, Prof. Datuk Rashidah, Dr. Alison Pavia and Dr. Leila Mohajer were already there.
I decided to sit by the wall, the dead end. I thought often the speaker and Professors would sit at the head of the table. Plus, I thought I could focus on the good food – away from intense intellectual dinner discussions** 😉
Dinner conversations with Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon
My plan, as outlined above, didn’t go as expected… God had a better plan =)
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and Professor Alan Lightman with KANITA technical staff – adjusting the LCD projector before his talk on UNESCO World Heritage Site, Georgetown and Melaka.
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and Professor Alan Lightman decided to sit at the end of the table. They sat across me.
Professor Alan Lightman is the Founder and Chair of the Board at Harpswell Foundation.
Turned out, I had interesting conversations with Tan Sri and Alan. Zetty Anis Kang, 2018 Harpswell participant, also joined in. It became merrier.
During the course of our conversation, I found out that they were room mates at university, made great jokes and poked fun at each other. I had a good time with Tan Sri, Alan and Zetty.
From front to back, clockwise: Prof. Rashidah Shuib, Nadzirah, Prof. Noraida Endut (Director, KANITA), Zetty, Yours truly, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, Prof. Alan Lightman, Dr. Lily Chan (Vice Chancellor, Wawasan Open University), Dr. Leila Mohajer (Administrative Director, Harpswell ASEAN Program) and Dr. Alison Pavia (Executive Director, Harpswell Foundation)
After dinner, Tan Sri delivered a very interesting talk about the journey taken towards gaining the coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site, during his helm as Penang’s Chief Minister.
Visionary leadership
The journey started in 1996 when Tan Sri chaired Penang State Steering Committee and went through many challenges. I learned it’s long, tedious processes involving many stakeholders. Finding “common grounds” for those parties involved were more difficult than it sounds.
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon’s talk on finding
the common grounds on cultural tourism and heritage.
One of the key hurdles was convincing the many stakeholders, largely made up of businesses, building owners and, to some extent, waqaf lands. I understand, to help educate the stakeholders, the “Economics of Heritage” workshops were conducted.
Besides that, to be practical, the original size of proposed heritage site was reduced to the current size, which includes the buffer zone (in purple, see the following map)
A Tourism Malaysia Map of George Town World Heritage Site
Along the way, he and his team faced many resistance (and a lot more…). He had to make some tough calls. As Tan Sri put it, “I got bruised from this…”
According to Tan Sri, Prof. Emeritus Datin Paduka Dr. Zuraina Majid played a crucial role in presenting the case for George Town and Melaka to the panel of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Finally after about 12 years, thanks to Tan Sri and many key people who made it possible, George Town and Melaka are listed as World Heritage in 2008.
What I learned…
From Tan Sri’s talk, I learned a trait of a leader. That is, believing in the vision of George Town as a World Heritage Site and seeing it through, together with the team and people, making it a reality. A visionary leadership.
Now Penang is enjoying the fruits of the labour–George Town and Melaka being listed in the coveted UNESCO Heritage Site. If you wonder how best to experience the arts, cultures and heritage of George Town? Head to the annual GTF (George Town Festival) – it will run from 13-28 July 2019.
Watch 2019 GTF Trailer here.
Till then,
Dr. Aisyah =)
*There was no pictures of food 😉 Lagenda Cafe’s food are delicious, the service’s great and I was in a good company.
** As an introvert, I look forward to less talk – even at social events 😉
***Afraid the story about George Town getting the UNESCO World Heritage may be a little truncated, incomplete. I definitely recommend you to attend Tan Sri’s talk – to get a better overall view of the journey.
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