KUALA LUMPUR: An historical building that bore witness to a significant chapter in Malaya’s journey to nationhood is in danger of being lost.
An annex of SK Tunku Putera, in Baling, Kedah, is on the brink of collapse. The block is inside the school complex, formerly known as Baling English School.
This was where the 1955 Baling Talks, which were the impetus for Malaya obtaining independence, were held.
A major section of the roof has caved in, exposing rare photographs, historical documents and artefacts, to the elements.
The Public Works Department has condemned the block, declaring it off-limits.
An unplanned visit by the New Straits Times to the school, built two years before the talks were held, revealed the heart-breaking sight.
Then a teachers’ quarters, the block was cleared out and “sanitised” to accommodate Malayan Communist Party leaders: Chin Peng (its secretary-general), Chien Tien (MCP’s Central Propaganda Department chief) and Rashid Maidin, who had come out of hiding to demand legitimacy for the terror organisation.
On the Malayan side were chief minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Tun Tan Cheng Lock (MCA’s first president) and Singapore chief minister David Marshall.
Just a few metres from the teacher’s quarters, up a slight incline, is the actual half-wood-half concrete school block where the talks were conducted, under the intense glare of media spotlight.
Black-and-white newsreels and Pathe film crews documented the event that transfixed the globe.
The outcome of these talks would shape the world, post-World War Two, and would either stop the march of communism throughout Asia or enable it to spread, unfettered.
Two sets of a long tables and three chairs were arranged to face each other inside the school block.
The six men stared down at each other as the communists laid down their demands. The discussions were tense, heated and protracted.
The fate of the country hung in the balance.
Although the Baling Talks, held over two days from Dec 28, failed in its goals, it proved to be an acid test for Tunku, to show the British that Malaya could stand on its own, sue for peace, stop communism dead in its tracks and restore order.
The talks, held just 20 months before Malaya broke free from the shackles of colonialism, was the seminal chapter in the journey to nationhood that cemented Tunku’s case.
It enabled him to head for London almost immediately after that to demand early independence.
Malaya’s ability to bring the MCP to heel became the overarching argument that formed the cornerstone of its case for independence. Tunku argued that if this fledgling nation could deal with the scourge of communism that had thwarted the British for 12 years, there was nothing it could not do.
Today, this block has been turned into a music room.
The furniture, chairs and tables used at the talks are in storage, somewhere in the school.
About 50m down the road from the school is a colonial mansion, which was then the Baling District Officer’s official residence.
An imposing structure in the district by itself, the mansion was used during breakout sessions between Tunku Abdul Rahman and his entourage, where they huddled together before and in-between the meetings.
It is now off-limits and unoccupied.
It’s ironic that secondary school students often have to rely on Google and YouTube for information on the talks, when they could relive the event by visiting the place.
Locals say the school gets a steady stream of visitors, including students, historians, academics and history buffs, to those who are simply curious.
Visitors from Thailand also flock to the school but they often leave disappointed when they find out that there is almost nothing to see.
On their side of the border, communists trails have been preserved as tourist sites.
Jaafar Ismail, 93, had the distinction of witnessing history as it happened.
Known to locals as Pak Lang Jaafar, the former gardener of the school was entrusted by the authorities to prepare the accommodation for the CPM delegation.
Like many, he is hopeful that the authorities would fund a restoration campaign and give the site the importance it deserves.
He recalls how he went about tidying the school compound as well as the billet that housed Chin Peng and his comrades.
The one thing that puzzles him to this day is the fact that the communists came only with the clothes on their backs and yet did not touch the canned food and drinks that he had been asked to prepare for them.
“They food and drinks remained as I had lined them, when they left the school to go back into the jungles. Up until I retired, I took great care of everything that was part of the Baling Talks. It is a sad case now.”
Checks by the NST show that despite its national significance, the buildings have not been gazetted as a National Heritage Site. It is listed at number 179, as a mere “Heritage Site”, which means that it does not get the same attention as the former.
Kedah chapter of the National Historical Association deputy chairman Syamsul Anuar Ismail said the school must be gazetted.
“This school witnessed a pivotal chapter in the country’s struggle for independence.
“At the moment, it is listed only as a heritage site. This is not enough as it must be made a national heritage so that it is preserved. The site’s significance to national history cannot be ignored.”
The National Heritage Act 2005 says: “The minister (tourism minister) may, by order published in the Gazette, declare any heritage site, heritage object, underwater cultural heritage listed in the Register or any living person as a National Heritage”.
In making a declaration under the law, the minister “may consider, among others, the building’s historical importance, association with or relationship to Malaysian history”.
Section 68 of the act also spells out that “any person may nominate to the minister in the prescribed form any natural heritage, tangible or intangible to
be declared as a National Heritage”.
The act stipulates that the duty to keep a heritage site in good repair lies with its owner.
It also says that “where the commissioner is satisfied that reasonable steps are not being taken for properly preserving the monument, he may carry out such repair works, after giving any person appearing to the commissioner to be the owner of the monument two weeks notice of his intention to do so. All costs and expenses reasonably incurred to carry out the works then shall be reimbursed by such person”.
The Education Ministry has jurisdiction over this school
Will this piece of history be restored and preserved, or allowed to be lost forever?
The clock is ticking.