Heritage Is Just Some Dead Wood

We are one by one tearing down our precious heritage – the latest act of vandalism was in Chendering of the lovelorn song, a picnic area for us town-born kids, and home of the Masjid Raja. The last was the subject of this latest mindless act: the Masjid was pulled down by a demolition squad sent in by the authorities, just as the Istana Kolam was, in recent times, when officialdom sent in the hackers and the wreckers and took yet another bit of our past. They will re-build Chendering beach too into a mile-wide 'heritage' pedestrian McMall to keep up with the times if they can find purchasers for the load of sand that’s scattered about, but you just wait, just as they had to sell an old piece of Masjid Raja because there were no takers - was the Trengganu Museum asked? - when it was just lying there amid broken bits of old rubble and shattered bits of carvings and glass, and the tearful remains of old Trengganu, they too will sell Chendering beach to the highest bidder to make way for concrete.

The gem that has emerged from it all is this glib quote from a man purporting to be the State Religious Affairs Department Commissioner — and I shall give you his name — he is Datuk Shaikh Harun Shaikh Ismail. And this is what he said (as reported by the New Straits Times, but I’m putting back the quotes):

”I am not aware of the history behind Masjid Raja.”

The man has so many titles he should be given another one, but I shall not stoop so low as to name it.
This brings to mind an old Irish Earl (of Galway?) who burnt down an old ecclesiastical palace. When asked why, his answer was pat: “I thought the Archbishop was inside!” In our case the Religious Commissioner would have said, "I didn't know that History was sitting in there, mate!"

Well, so farewell then Masjid Raja, you were just an old mosque with some unique design features and was the house of Tengku Seriwa Raja Tengku Abdullah who bequeathed it to the people of Chendering for their place of worship. Mosques can be built with a ton of bricks and money from the state coffers and by hefty contractors all ready for the job. The new mosque will accommodate 2,000 people, said our state panjandrum; so two-thousand reasons then why the old Masjid Raja should be demolished.

Sad.

Photo: New Straits Times