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Surviving Traditional Village Heritage in Rapid Urbanization: The Case of Kajang Town
Hafez Zainudin1, Aloysius Yapp2.
The Greater Kuala Lumpur development initiative by the Malaysian government
which began in 2010 has brought a tremendous economic benefits and opportunities for the
people of Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding towns. However, this ambitious project has also
altered the physical landscape of traditional villages in the neighbouring areas as well as the
lifestyle of people affected. Kajang town is one of the smaller towns located in the outskirts of
Kuala Lumpur city affected by the development. The purpose of this paper is to investigate
the surviving and remaining cultural heritage among traditional village communities in
Kajang and to identify the promising cultural heritage that can be preserved digitally. The
study was focused on traditional cultural ceremonies which are still being practiced by
communities in villages located along Jalan Cheras, which were directly affected by the
Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) MRT project which is apart of the Greater Kuala Lumpur
development. This project has impacted the lifestyle and activities of the villagers and there
are risks of cultural heritage loss among these communities. Qualitative research method
was employed through discussions and interviews with the local community, village elders,
local museum curator and through visits and observation of the remaining villages. The
result suggests that some of the loss of natural heritage such as orchards and rivers have led
to the loss of cultural heritage of villagers in ceremonial activities. However, there are also
opportunities towards the preservation of the cultural heritage of Kajang villages through
new media identified through this study, considering the positive support from youths
towards cultural activities. The result acquired from this study will be used to further develop
research work on digitization of tangible cultural heritage of this unique town.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
- Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
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