PENANG: Identity, tourists and an important decade ahead

Penang has changed dramatically since it was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage list back in 2008. Since then, Penang went from being known for its computer chip factories to a highly-instagrammable destination bustling with both local and international tourists. It’s estimated that every year (bar this year, for obvious reasons), at least six million tourists flock to the island city to taste the food, smell the island air, and take in the sights and sounds of a city that wears its culture and heritage on its sleeves.

A lot of Penang’s rise in tourism can be attributed to one of Asia’s most popular celebrations of arts and culture: the Georgetown Festival. For a month every year since 2010, the festival takes over Georgetown to feature talks, galleries, experiential classes and performances by both local and international artists. It’s unique in how it does it as well, as these events run you across the old town in the hopes that you'd stumble upon Penang’s many murals and quaint histories.

As a result, Georgetown Festival (and by extension, Penang) grew quickly in stature, establishing itself as a global destination designed for tourists to dive into local art, culture, history and festivities.

Joe Sidek, the festival’s creator and former director, believes that most of its successes were down to the collective effort of Penangites who welcomed the idea and the UNESCO listing with open arms.

“Yes, I was a festival director, but we had a good chief Minister, state councilors and councils, and even drain sweepers that were supportive. A lot of volunteers helped every year, and interns and staff.” said Joe Sidek, the festival’s creator and former director. ”I was a lucky captain. I had a good ship and I had great waters to sail on because people were very supportive.”

Building the Penang narrative

Joe, himself a proud Penangite, held a strong appreciation for the arts and wanted to showcase a strong Penang narrative on the global stage by drawing inspiration from the city and its histories.

“All I knew was that I wanted to build a brand, I wanted it to be known, and I wanted it to have a strong narrative,” said Joe. “A lot of the inspiration came from Penang. There weren’t lots of performing halls or galleries like Kuala Lumpur, so we had to work around the city as the canvas. The walls, the doors, the people and the stories.”

With Georgetown’s rich history as the festival’s canvas and more than a hundred festivities to see during the festival, Penang had also begun to reflect its cosmopolitan past as a thriving and multicultural settlement during the Bujang Valley and Colonial eras - something Joe, in hindsight, concedes he should've spent more time on.

“While I was running the festival, I wasn’t exposed to the narrative of Penang … there’s a strong Malay narrative that I didn’t know of. One of the things that I want to do [now] is tie the Malay narrative of Kedah, Perlis and Penang. That’s one of the things that I regret - the local flavours that I could have added a lot more of,” said Joe.

“We have such an interesting and diverse culture and we can celebrate diversity as it is. Every state has its story. We’re very lucky in Malaysia because we grow up surrounded by tradition and culture.”

The dark side of being a popular destination.

In 2012, a Penang-based Lithuanian artist by the name of Ernest Zacharevic approached Joe Sidek and George Town Festival with an idea to paint a series of murals across Georgetown to celebrate Penang and Penangites.

His most famous mural, “Little Children on a Bicycle” is drawn on the walls of a century-old building on Armenian Street and was inspired by an actual photograph he took of two children playing on his bicycle. Today, it’s an instantly recognizable icon of Penang, with plenty of tourists still queuing up for Insta-worthy photos of ‘one of the world’s best street murals’. Some even say that the mural had struck such a chord that it inspired the creation of hundreds of other murals in towns and cities across the country.

Recently, however, Ernest echoed the sentiments of a growing number of Georgetown residents who saw the mural, the street and city slowly fall into the traps of over-tourism and gentrification.

Ernest described in an Instagram post that a once quiet street filled with a few antique stores and a RM6 barber had been replaced by ‘all kinds of insta-friendly consumable concept stores’ that satisfied the tourist’s thirst for the ‘authentic Penang experience’.

“This part of Georgetown is a UNESCO Heritage site, and it has been threatened with the removal from UNESCO’s list due to failure to protect its culture, architecture and community. Myself and many others blame my work for Armenian Street being a center of [a] tourist route in Penang, and honestly I’ve been contemplating painting over it in hopes to put an end to that circus. But I think the time where it would make any difference has passed,” said Ernest, calling for stricter regulations and enforcement to preserve these culturally fragile places.

Joe Sidek feels similarly, adding that while Ernest understands the positives that his murals had brought to Georgetown, situations like these have exemplified the need to have consistent dialogues between all of the stakeholders to avoid being struck by tourism’s double-edged sword.

“I am all for having dialogues, but I don’t believe that we can preserve everything. It’s a challenge with tourism, money and commercializing, but at some point, the government of the state needs to have [some] development and modernity,” said Joe, adding that despite this, Georgetown and Penang had still held on to some its charms with some parts of Penang still remaining intact.

“I think we can take some pride in it. We’ve not refurbished too fast … it didn’t become too homogenic and pristine. Penang still smells [a certain way] when you go out on the street, and I love it."

However, a growing number of Georgetown residents are beginning to feel differently about it. In the past few years, many have spoken up about Georgetown’s whirlwind of tourists and its surface-level transformation at the expense of the very reason behind its UNESCO listing.

This once closely-knit, cosmopolitan Georgetown community which prided itself in the arts and culture (among other things), often found itself as the ugly duckling in the face of tourism and development. As the trend continued, many within the community themselves gave in to the tourism economy, selling themed t-shirts and postcards rather than local delicacies and artisanal goods. For many local residents, Georgetown’s very own identity is changing against their wishes, and not enough avenues have been built to stand the tide against it.

Today, however, the state readies itself for a transformative decade ahead Penang’s long-drawn battle between preservation and development continues to rage past Georgetown’s fragilities and across many facets.

At the moment, the state government is facing pushbacks from various local groups on its multi-billion Ringgit plans to develop Penang. With a few land reclamation projects, a grand hotel in the heart of Georgetown and an ambitious Transport Master Plan, these projects are squarely in the sights of concerned Penangites who have spoken out about its necessities, and the impact to Penang’s environment and heritage preservation.

For now, Georgetown’s fragilities and its unique arts and culture scene remains hidden in the peripherals and somewhat unattended to.