Local Community Involvement in Protecting Malaysia’s Historic Buildings: An Exploratory Study: Fid-Bau Portal

Local Community Involvement in Protecting Malaysia’s Historic Buildings: An Exploratory Study

Mohd Asri, Muhammad Afiq Wasie / Harun, Nor Zalina

The local community contributes significantly to the preservation of historic structures. Through the participation of the local community, the preservation of historic structures will be enhanced. In addition to the benefits from a more efficient management perspective, the preservation of this heritage is also perceived to help the local population. Nevertheless, previous research indicates that aspects of heritage management and the involvement of the local community are still at a minimal level, with many previous studies focusing more on the uniqueness of heritage and conservation methods that link heritage subjects with culture and history than on strategic cooperation between stakeholders, particularly the local community. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify effective incentives that have been cultivated abroad that can serve as a model for ensuring the participation of local populations in the preservation of historic structures in Malaysia. To reach this objective, a qualitative method has been employed in this study. An examination of 150 prior studies at the local and international levels that focused on the participation of local communities in guaranteeing more effective preservation efforts for historic buildings. This study identified four sorts of incentives that can stimulate the involvement of the local community, thereby making heritage conservation efforts more effective: (i) communities that live near historic structures are more likely to be involved in conservation efforts; (ii) the community's sense of attachment and significant duty to preserve their heritage contained in a historic building; (iii) early introduction of children to the relevance of history; and (iv) implementation of economic activities as a container for the preservation of historic buildings. This study concludes that the local Malaysian population lacks the motivation to maintain historic structures. However, as evidenced by research conducted abroad, encouragement that has been successful in improving local community motivation to protect historic structures can be utilised as a model to inspire conservation within Malaysia's local community.