Heritage gets a RM50 million boost

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — Late last month, Malaysia made the headlines when Unesco listed Georgetown and Malacca as World Heritage Sites.

This country's rich cultural heritage has not been fully supported by the government all these years but Budget 2009 will "provide an allocation of RM50 million for conservation works of heritage sites in Melaka and Pulau Pinang, to support activities undertaken by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private sector".

When contacted by The Malaysian Insider, the executive director of Badan Warisan Elizabeth Cardosa didn't want to sound ungrateful but said "RM50 million is really not enough".

Suffolk House in Georgetown cost an estimated RM5 million to restore.

And, of course, there are more questions than answers for now: how will the money be allocated, will it be through the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, is it to be split equally between Melaka and Georgetown, and so on and so on.

Once again, as it is proving with this Budget… it's another case of "better than nothing".