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Portuguese folk sidelined by MelakaGateway project

The upcoming island concept MelakaGateway project lies smack in front of our Portuguese Settlement. It is an off-shore development that would involve a massive 600 acre reclamation of the sea fronting the Portuguese Settlement and its neighbouring areas. The impact and effects on the eco-system, the environment, the marine life, its spawning grounds and habitat, the tidal and mud/sand siltation patterns will of course be enormous.

This will, without any argument, drastically and tragically effect the livelihood and lives of the poor fishermen and their families and the great majority of the fishermen that ply the intended  areas are from the Portuguese community.

Besides these there is great concerns about the proximity of the project to the shores of the Portuguese Settlement. There is already testimony in the Pulau Melaka project where the resulting narrow waterway between the man-made island and the shore has now become a clogged up, mud-filled and rubbish trapping swamp with undulating depths that pose a danger to those who venture there.

That stretch has ceased to be a safe and fertile ground to fishermen who uses the butterfly nets (langgai/langgiang) to catch shrimps.

So there is a strong likelihood that our Portuguese Settlement will also inherit a similar  narrow, mud-filled  rubbish-strewn, smelly, ‘dead’ and dangerous waterway in the aftermath of this MelakaGateway project.

The fishermen’s woes and the swamp-waterway is only part of the tremendous negative effects the project, its size and its proximity will have on the existing shores, and particularly on our globally known Unesco-recognised and history-linked settlement, its community and its unique, (living) intangible heritage.

With all these expected negative effects and problems it is rather perplexing that certain fundamentals relating to reclamation has not been duly observed here:

1) It is required by law that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study and report be carried out for any reclamation project above 50 hectares (stated under  the Environment Quality Act 1974).

This MelakaGateway project covers 245 hectares (609 acres) and would require a Detailed Environment Impact Assestment (DEIA) report and its findings made assesible to the public, while giving ample time and opportunities for feedbacks, discussions and engagements  before any work on the project commences.

2) Accompanying that, there should also be a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Report with research made on the effects and impacts of sea-reclamation on coastal population/communities.

These reports carry research and surveys in the form of field observation and questionnaires on:the effects/impact of sea reclamation on the:

  • Environment,
  • Ecology,
  • Topography,
  • Sediment flow and distribution,
  • Tidal currents,
  • Morphology,
  • Mangrove and mud siltation displacement and redistribution,
  • Marine life and its loss and destruction,
  • Spawning and breeding grounds of marine life,
  • Soil erosion,
  • Fishermen, their long and short term loss of fishing grounds, Income and  livelihood,
  • The coastal populations,
  • The defined and particular communities, their socio-cultural dynamics, their  temperaments, their historio-cultural links and attachment to the sea and  its environment, the ambience/atmosphere that feed their spirits,their role in specialised industries like tourism and business activities related to it and their unique living heritage,
  • Floodings, and
  • Quality of water.
So far there has been no news of any of these compulsory reports or if there were, the public has not been made aware of them. So far, no one from the community has been approached for field study, participated in any research or answered to any questionaire related to this reclamation project.

No official discussions

There has also been no official discussions between the developer, the state Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), the Department of Environment (DOE), the Fisheries and the Drainage and Irrigation Department with the JKKK and  representatives of the Portuguese community.

Efforts and requests have been made to UPEN, being the main government agency on these matters to arrange meetings and discussions with the developer and other related government agencies for several months but no confirmed date has been fixed so far. Requests for such meetings have also been made to the developer but nothing definite has been fixed so far with the responsibility falling back to UPEN.

We have to this day absolutely no knowledge of the technical specifications of the project including its actual distance from our shores.

Well, we can wait a little while still but the problem is large barges, tug-boats and huge excavating vessels have already appeared and begun their works to the disadvantage, danger and difficulty of the fishermen.

What is really disturbing is that the works has begun even without the production or public display of the compulsory DEIA and SIA reports and without any proper engagements with our Portuguese community who are facing the impactual brunt of this reclamation project and its subsequent development.

The earlier reclamation works have resulted in the depletion of our marine resources besides becoming incondusive to the seasonal arrivals of the shrimps of which our cottage products of ‘belacan’ and ‘cincalok’ rely on and are made from.

Our fishermen have already been hit hard and now they are going to be hit harder still with the massive loss of fishing and spawning grounds and constant interruptions to their fishing activities,if these are still made possible, that is.

They will deserve the quantum of compensation that corresponds to the extensive loss of fishing grounds, the long-term loss of income and a long duration of hardship and difficulty brought about by this gargantuan project.

Losing view of the open sea

The neighbouring Hatten project has already robbed us of our sunsets. Now we are about to loss our access and uninterrupted view of the open sea, an irreplaceable feature that feeds our spirits and nourishes our soul.

For some the sea,its environment and ambience may just be an added indulgence but for us it is an attachment, a genetic compulsion, an inseparable part of our psyche, an integral part of our socio-cultural dynamics and the force that drives our living heritage.

So now it appears that the sea and all its endowments belong to giant developers and the rich with communities living by it and of it for centuries have absolutely no say on its utilisation and hold no leverage to it at all. And it is even more tragic like in our case where the appeal of our unigue and enigmatic heritage having sanctuary in the strategically located Portuguese Settlement becomes a marketing feature to be exploited unreservedly in this scenario.

Yet no respect, gratitude or consideration is given to us but to be treated and rode over as one pleases and to be told in unspoken terms that we are in no position do anything.

It is not right, what is being done to us and how could the  reclamation works begin without the approval of the Malacca state government and its related agencies. Or have they already given the necessary approvals even without the fulfillment of fundamentals demanded by Law and without any discussions, dialogue and solutions to the matters concerning the fishermen and the affected communities?

We the Portuguese community appeal to the Chief Minister Idris Haron and the Malacca state government to order  that all work on this project be stopped immediately and indefinitely until the DEIA and SIA study and  reports have been properly done and the findings made accessible to the public.

Following which all queries and feedbacks from the public and communities affected should be looked into and discussed with assurances commitment and solutions to mitigation actions, required adjustments to the designs and specifications  with provisions towards the reduction and softening and where possible,eradication of the negative impact and effects of this MelakaGateway project.

A fair, dignified compensation corresponding to the extent and duration of the fishermen's loss of income and difficulties imposed on them by this project should be formulated and offered to the affected fishermen.

However, if it is found that the project could in the long term result in the eventual demise or disintegration of our community and our living cultural heritage, then the MelakaGateway should go back to their drawing boards, shift their project elsewhere and undo whatever changes and destruction to the the areas they had over-zealously earlier worked on.

It is imperative to note that the luring appeal and marketable traits  of the Portuguese entity cannot just be exploited for tourism and other commercial purposes and crassly ignore or brush aside its interests, concerns and fears on impending threats that may shred the fabrics of its identity and continued existence.

The Portuguese Settlement is the core and cultural sanctuary of the broader Malaysian Portuguese-Eurasian community and a vibrant living testimony of the global Portuguese spread.

There is a price tag on this development project but no price tag can possibly be placed on our Portuguese community and its heritage. It is priceless and irreplaceable.

The Malacca state government should take care of  it as the rare ‘gem’ that it is.


MICHAEL SINGHO is president, Malacca Portuguese-Eurasian Association.

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