On The Far Side

On 2000’s New Year’s Day, streets like Penang’s Lebuh Chulia saw rental shot from RM300 to RM4000 overnight, pulling the rugs under tenants’ feet causing them to flee by the thousands, leaving old buildings and shop houses unattended till today. What more, countless classical houses – fondly termed as Straits Houses leftover from 19th century heydays – unfortunately felt the backlash too. Many years have passed since and places like Penang, Ipoh, Malacca and Johor are taking the brunt of an irreversible destruction at full gallop.

What’s the story ?

Hark back to yester-years , the Control of Rent Act 1966 blankets all buildings completed before 1st February 1948, loosely classifying some 38,000 structures as “pre-war building” with about 12,600 or one third of them located in Penang. Johore came in next at 5,659, Perak 5,531, Malacca 4,135 and Sabah being the lowest with only 181.

Rightly so, the Act was an offspring of noble intention for preventing unscrupulous landlords from charging high rental and protected tenants when housing was in great demand after World War 2.

Now here’s the twist

Satirically, the Act wrong-footed and landlords who initially victimised tenants were slowly casualties themselves as tenants profited by sub-letting the premises at a higher rate. Low rentals collected by landlords also did not allow for proper upkeep and buildings eventually deteriorated into slump areas. Nonetheless, with the passage of time, it is felt that the Act lost its usefulness and that market’s supply-demand forces should be allowed to determine rental rates in the 21st century.

Crafted by people and time

For one to have an eye for these baroque homes, the history of the Peranakan – or better known as Nyonya Baba – must be delved deeper as they’re the ones credited for perfecting the Straits Houses as we know today.

When Admiral Zheng He arrived at our waters in 15th century with Princess Hang Li Poh, they weren’t the first. Historical facts show Southern Chinese has landed in Malay Archipelago more than five hundred years earlier and called these scattered islands “nan yang” or south east. As early as 10th century, Chinese from Fujian and Guangdong came and cross-marry with Majaphahit kingdom’s Hindu Malays including the Acehnese, Balinese, Bataks, Amboynese and Javanese in Indonesia.

Today, apart from Penang, coastal Perak, Malacca, Kelantan and Terengganu in Malaysia, Peranakan Cina communities are found stretching from Phuket island in Thailand, Sumatran’s Palembang, Medan, Borneo’s Pontianak, Singapore and all the way to Java and Bali island.

In the Philippines, they are known as the Mestizo Chinese and Jose Rizal, the celebrated Pilipino nationalist is one of them. Indonesian laws were passed circa 1870s forbidding half-blooded Chinese from owning agricultural land and this pushed them further into trading sector, often venturing into the Straits of Malacca where their lifestyle rubbed off on Peranakan Cina in Malaysia. This explains why intricate nyonya kebaya and sarongs we have came to love today bears similarity to Javanese and Balinese styled couture.

Inner sanctum

Being businessmen who spoke impeccable Malay, smattering Hokkien and mostly English educated, Peranakan families naturally populated town areas and adopt the latest building trends – European neo-classic was fashionable then – and added a tad of local characteristics with wooden window and door frames carved with tropical floral, fauna and sometimes, mystical motives such as dragon and phoenix.

Baroque houses were built to incorporate main hall for guests, a dining hall, washroom, kitchen and a smaller secondary casual hall for close friends and relatives.

The secondary hall is separated from the main hall by a wooden partition with small openings formed by ornate carvings for “char bor kan” (unmarried maiden) to take a peep at the guests; like Malays of olden days, a Peranakan damsel is forbidden to get up close with guests. During special household celebrations, guests are invited to enjoy a Hidang Tok Panjang spread of food with the host and guests sitting in one long table and “char bor kans” are given the chores of helping in the kitchen and serving dishes to guests.

One would note that many Peranakan Cina prefer to live in shop houses, where business is done at ground floor and home is on the first floor. Wooden windows with ventilation fins became the hallmark of these shop houses.

The frontage may be as narrow as 7m but it is not uncommon for a shop house to have a length up to 35m while “hoe giak” (rich) households may live in houses with length up to 100m with an ancestral praying hall included. To ventilate its long interior, “khim cheah” or an open courtyard at mid section which forms an air well is a distinct feature of a Baba Nyonya home.

Hidden world of feminism

Typical of Asian chauvinism, men – known as Babas – spend their time trading, travelling and entertaining customers while the ladies – nyonyas or bibiks – are left to tend the household. Within the interiors of her domestic world, nyonyas run riot with their feminine repertoire splendidly with ornate embroidery dressing table cloths, curtains, bed sheets and furniture – she’s truly queen of the castle and every nook and corner resonates it.

And hell can they cook … but that’s another interesting subject worthy a separate chapter. Simply put, the Peranakan Cina gave birth to a unique set of lifestyle, food and fashion.

Today’s dilemma

That was 100-200 years ago.

Sadly, as today’s modern cities and towns are revitalized, or sanitized, such beautiful homes have been left to rot by the tides of change. If one takes a slow drive along the old streets of Georgetown, ugly sights of windows and doors without frames are rampant on abandoned shop houses; the work of drug addicts prising them off for resale to rogue antique collectors.

The sword called in to protect dwellers in 1966 has unwittingly protected the Straits Houses instead for half a century and, ironically, withdrawing the sword was just as bad.

“I have been staying at Gat Lebuh Ceylon since the 60s’, I don’t know where to go after this”, says Sagar Mahendran, 62, who makes a living hawking kuehs and bread in neighbouring streets. Fortunately for him, selling the old house he is currently occupying prove to be an uphill task for the landlord. Property buyers prefer swanky areas like Bayan Baru or Pulau Tikus.

It’s a good problem to have and tenants like Sagar could only hope lady luck won’t run out on them. To upkeep the many 38,000 houses affected is overbearing but to institute them heritage sites is unfair to landowners. Nonetheless, a glimmer of hope is seen in places like Penang’s Lebuh Pantai and Ipoh’s old town where old buildings are taken over and spruced up by banks, lawyer offices and hospitality businesses. Malacca’s Jonkers Street is one excellent example of legacy being self-sustained by tourism.

For the first time in 1999, Peranakan architecture got some limelight when stunning shop houses in Taiping’s Jalan Panggung Wayang were featured by Malaysian postage stamp. Otherwise, images of these outstanding structures remain tucked inside the dusty pages of history books.

From an anthropological standpoint, Peranakan’s highly stylistic houses are an evolutionary masterpiece that best portrays ethnic intermesh not found anywhere else in the world. And for the traveller, baroque Straits Houses is an enchanting way to experience nostalgia and touch the past before they bow out forever.