The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Old year, New Year, Bad news, Good news...Updates from 2011 & New Year 2012

2012-01-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

Holy moly!

It's January 2012! Happy New Year everyone! Yes it's almost 3 weeks past New Year's celebrations but I think that it's still valid. LOL.

Anyways, it's nice to be back in the blogsphere after a long hiatus. I'm not going to apologise yet AGAIN as I am sure that everyone is bored with my apologies for irregular postings of late. It's been super hectic bah, and just as I got settled in to start blogging again, urgent stuff keeps popping up.

Just a quick recap on past events...

TRUE LIES: ATKINSON SHOPPING MALL REJECTED?! REALLY?

Remember that I mentioned SHTDA (also known as LPPB) had rejected the shopping mall project next to Atkinson Clock Tower? Apparently, the developer contacted the SHTDA people and chewed out the Director - which promptly caused him to RETRACT his earlier statement about REJECTING the project.

Bottom line: THE ATKINSON CLOCK TOWER IS STILL IN DANGER.

Which makes me wonder about SHTDA - where's the INTEGRITY, yo?

I mean, what dirt does the developer have on the SHTDA bigwigs that they are forced to kowtow to their demands? Scandals? Corruption? Why is SHTDA obligated to bow down to developers, anyway? Who is at fault here? All I know is that, it's the people of Sabah who will ultimately suffer and lose their heritage because of greed and bad judgement.

Right now I'm cursing these buggers under my breath because just like everyone else, I wanted to start 2012 with optimism and positive thoughts. Kimak oh dorang.

Sigh.

On a positive note, my PAM Sabah Chapter's "Colonial Townships in Sabah: West Coast" book is out.

...but you won't find my name credited on the book's cover, despite the fact that I wrote the entire book, did almost all the architectural illustrations, photos, research, etc. Because according to the book committee, "this is PAM's book". Riiight :/

Aaaaanyway....

The book covers 12 townships including Weston, Beaufort, Membakut, Bongawan, Kimanis, Papar, Kinarut, Jesselton (now KK city), Menggatal, Tuaran, Tamparuli and Tenghilan. Why these towns? Well, most of them were established along the North Borneo Railway, one of the living legacies left by the British in North Borneo.

This book was by far more difficult to do than my PAM Sabah Chapter's previous book on Resorts and Hotels. Between the hours of doing research, traveling to various towns, interviews, charming/begging my way into people's homes/shops to take photos, studying old photos sourced from various departments and identifying architectural details, writing, captioning and planning the layout for all 268 pages and some last minute requests to add extra end notes/illustrations in the book, I was physically and mentally exhausted by the time the book went to print. In the last two final days, Davis (my graphic designer) and I were practically camped inside the publisher's office. Madness.

In an ideal world, it would have been nice to have at least another week or two to go through a final spell-check, but in order to meet the 12.01.2012 launch date, post production had to be rushed somewhat. As such, readers may find a couple of small typos. Lesson: Never, ever fully rely on a book committee to properly spell-check your text. You might as well just do it yourself. Or get other writers to assist you (if they have the time).

Apart from these minor glitches, I do hope that those who want to know more about the towns in Sabah will consider getting 'Colonial Towns in Sabah: West Coast'. There's a lot of interesting info in it - from the origin of the name "Weston" to the shocking story of human sacrifice in Tamparuli in order to build a bridge. As the project's sole researcher/writer, I did the best that I could, given the 12 months that I had to do the studies on these 12 townships. Perhaps in the future I can write more based on further studies and interviews.

There's room for improvement and addition to facts, information, etc gathered in this book of West Coast colonial towns in Sabah. I'm mostly happy with the end result, as we succeded to find and link several old photos - from two separate eras, and two different sources - in an attempt to rediscover the history of these featured colonial townships.

I'm also glad that lesser-known Sabah colonial towns like Menggatal, Kimanis and Tenghilan are finally represented in a book. Hopefully it will inspire fellow Sabahans to unearth more information about their town's history :) siok bah.

For those who would like to get this book, I believe that PAM Sabah Chapter, i.e. the book's owners will be selling it at RM135 to their members at the PAM Sabah Chapter secretariat in Damai Plaza in Luyang, Kota Kinabalu.

For more enquiries, contact PAM Sabah Chapter at 088-232524 or 088-261313 or check out their website at www.pamsabah.com. Also heard that the price in bookstores will be RM150. So if anyone is interested, you know who to contact (---> PAM Sabah Chapter).

BONDING WITH GAYA STREET

An upcoming event in February 2012 will be 'Bonding with Gaya Street' organized by the North Borneo History Enthusiasts (NBHE) group with Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK). It's going to be an amazing exhibition with many interesting stories compiled by the members of the NBHE group.

More details about this event in an upcoming blog post.
Here's a link to the group's blog: http://nbhe.blogspot.com/

REGISTERING HERITAGE SABAH NGO

We've decided to finally register Heritage Sabah as an NGO. I'm currently going through the technicalities of our constitution. Will update everyone on the registration progress as soon as we have news.

...and that pretty much covers most of the stuff that I've been doing for the past few months till January 2012.

Panat eh. I need a rest.

Cheers!

Richard
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog.

REJECTED! But it ain't over yet...

2011-12-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Yes. The Central Board has finally announced that it has rejected the proposal of the 16-storey Commercial Shopping Mall project next to Atkinson Clock Tower!

In the newspapers today...

Our reaction...

As far as I’m concerned, however, the announcement of the rejection is only a temporary measure…

I was informed by Jefferi Chang, our representative at the LPPB Workshop that during the 2^nd day Q & A session, the Central Board came under SERIOUS fire from various invited NGOs, who condemned not only their decisions regarding ACT but also other non-heritage related projects. What other recourse did the Director of Town & Country Planning (who's also chairing the Central Board, btw) have, but to release this announcement to placate the angry masses?

Seriously...

...imo, it's kinda interesting how the Director was so quick to tell the local media that the developer can re-submit their proposal, which could mean that indirectly he and Central Board still supported the shopping mall project and hoped the developers would still try to build their shopping mall next to Atkinson Clock Tower... true or not?..

(forgive my cynicism but I am inclined to think they reckon announcing the rejection of the mall proposal, the heritage lovers will forget about this issue - then after the next GE, they can quickly put the project back on fast-track! My sincere apologies to LPPB staff, but there are too many inside stories from our deep-throats within LPPB circles and its associated government departments that cast a lot of suspicions on the true motives of LPPB's top people. Seriously folks, where did you think we get our intel from?)

Just a recap...

A few of us (myself, Jefferi and Ms. Lim - the lady who filed the judicial review on ACT) had been invited to participate in LPPB's Sabah Planning Standards Workshop held on the 13^th and 14^th of December 2011 at Palace Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. I myself was only able to attend the 1^st day – cos I had to finalize my upcoming book for PAM Sabah Chapter titled ‘Colonial Townships in Sabah: West Coast’ (more about this book next week) which was scheduled to be sent for printing tomorrow (16^th December 2011). Jefferi and Lim represented on behalf of Heritage Sabah.

Anyway, it was on the 2nd day of the workshop that things got interesting. Catfights! Dogfights!

Dang. Missed it!

Still, I'm prepared to give LPPB the benefit of doubt... maybe they are genuinely learning from their past mistakes and from the looks of it, our invite to participate in their recent planning workshop may be the first steps in the right direction. Ok lah, we kasi chance sama dorang...

Nevertheless, it was important to have Central Board’s official rejection of the project announced publicly in the newspapers.

It was important because when we started this campaign in a bid to save our city's historical clock tower, almost everyone we approached said we would not be able to stop this project, because it was a done deal behind closed doors between LPPB and the developer.

Hence...to be able to hold off this heritage-busting commercial development for 2 years – and with the growing public awareness and pressure from the public, caused Central Board to reassess and revoke their prior approval of this project…is a show of EMPOWERMENT for the Rakyat (people of Sabah) who still believe in the importance of having a fair and transparent government.

WE HAVE A VOICE.

WE WANT TO KEEP OUR HERITAGE.

WE HOPE THAT

THE SABAH STATE GOVERNMENT IS LISTENING.

Still, this is much welcomed news. A victory is still a victory, and for the time being we can celebrate the campaign's initial success. We still have a long journey ahead, but I hope that the supporters of this campaign will keep on going...

I'd like to thank each and every one of you for giving your time and interest to support the Save Our Heritage Atkinson Clock Tower Campaign...the 2287 people who signed our online petition + the 6684 supporters on our Heritage Sabah Facebook Page + the 1553 written signatories that we collected throughout the entire campaign = more than 10,000 individuals who believed that saving our last surviving historical sites of Kota Kinabalu city is more valuable and important than having yet another bloddy shopping mall.

Thank you so much.

Our next objective: To get Atkinson Clock Tower area, Gaya Street, Australia Place and Town Padang protected under a Heritage Preservation District - and away from the hands of unscrupulous developers!

Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Original photo credits: Morris Hilarian, Pol Chin (Nex), Edgar Gillingan, Dalbert Lee. TQ guys.

Atkinson Clock Tower updates: Project REJECTED by Central Board

2011-12-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

Best news we've had all year.

But more updates coming up soon. This isn't entirely over yet.

Cheers,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

My poor, neglected blog...

2011-12-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Next week, I will be back and blogging on a regular basis. Why have I been absent? I'll explain in my upcoming blog post.

For now, I leave you with this pic of Kuala Penyu's wooden shophouses, taken in 1971.

Will be back with lotsa new material (and rants) next week!

Cheers,
Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

A traditional Dusun house from Keningau District, 1962.

2011-10-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Yes, it's been a while and I hope that you guys bear with me as my absence from the blogsphere usually means that I'm overrun with work commitments. I had a run-in with food poisoning and migraines - too much time in front of the computer screen, my doc says. All's well now, though.

Here's a treat: an old photo of a traditional Dusun house taken in 1962. The roof is constructed from nipah and the walls from split bamboo. Taken back when Keningau was still surrounded by jungle, nowadays there's hardly any big trees left - a result of over-logging of the state's natural resources.

Will be back with more articles in the next few days. Have a nice working week, folks.

Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Road trip with Jiki John: (Part 2) - Bongawan

2011-07-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

After exploring the heritage shophouses in Kinarut and the Old Kinarut Mansion...

...Jiki and I decided to head to Bongawan, another local township established during the days of British Colonial rule. I have been here a couple of times - first with travel writer Wendy Hutton and later with another friend Tova Waage. It's one of my favourite towns in Sabah and also one of the rare places left that still has traces of British Colonial architecture.

Bongawan town, located 60 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu is believed to have derived its name from the ‘Seingawan’ tree – a shady stopover for locals going to the weekly Tamu. It's kinda funny how so many places in Sabah derive their names from trees, don't ya think? Another version of the town's name is said to have been derived from the word 'Bangauan' referring to the egret, a local bird species found in the town's surrounding area.

What makes Bongawan town so special is that there are three rows of wooden shophouses and a vibrant ambience about the place that makes it a noteworthy place to visit. The people in Bongawan are friendly and are quite aware that their old shophouses have a proud heritage legacy. Heck, the Bongawanites even erected a signboard to state the fact, which is kinda awesome.

NOTE: I've been to other places like Beaufort town, which sad to say, a lot of the locals there have this strange anti-western colonist mentality, which they confuse with historical buildings and heritage. Go figure :P Personally, I think this anti-British/colonial sentiment was a result of social brainwashing by local political parties in the 1970s. Come on, Beaufortarians - in WWII, those Allied troops saved your natives asses! Whotever lah.

Prior to this visit with Jiki, some people whom I met while in Bongawan once told me that the earliest shophouse was built in 1921; four rows built by a Japanese contractor while the rest was completed by a Chinese contractor in 1939. While it makes for an interesting story, it did raise some questions about the history of the place and its connection with the Japanese during WWII.

Today, while we were walking around Bongawan, Jiki and I had the great fortune of meeting with two knowledgeable locals - the first one being Mr. Wong - known fondly by shopkeepers as 'Pangiran' (which is an official Bruneian royal title, but in context of his nickname probably means 'Mr. Big Shot'. LOL).

Check out the bargeboards detail on the old 1929 shophouse.

The affable old chap wanted to set the record straight about the history of the old Bongawan shophouses; according to him, the shops were built by a Chinese contractor Liaw Kon Yong. Pangiran then took us into the corner shoplot on the oldest block (1929). With kind permission from the shop's owner, Pangiran, Jiki and I went in to take a closer look inside the old shop.

Ooh! Excitement!

Originally, all the old shops in Bongawan had a freshwater well in the middle of its small courtyard. The courtyard was the bathing, washing and drying area separating the kitchen, the shophouse and the living quarters above it.

LOL. The owner kept some freshwater Tilapia fish in his well. Modern infrastructure has allowed the shophouses to be supplied with piped water, hence the well was no longer as important as it used to be.

We also noticed a date '1 12 1968' etched into the concrete in the internal courtyard. It was probably the date in which the courtyard floor was cemented or upgraded.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Here's some fun stuff to do in Bongawan town...try to see if you can spot these columns with filleted corners. This feature was a popular finish for wooden columns during the period from 1910-1930 in North Borneo. You can tell the age of the shophouse simply by looking for these column treatments ;)

According to Pangiran (Wong), the story of how the first old Bongawan shophouse was extended had some truth to the story, but instead of just four, SEVEN shoplots were built in 1929 and three more were built in 1939.

Here's the proof...

...can you see the separation of the shoplots' structure? Had they been built as a whole row, the column would have been placed in the middle (as was the rest of the columns along this row of shoplots).

(click on photo to enlarge)

So he took us to meet Mr. Chong Then Yu, who owns one of the old shoplots built in 1952. He was also very accommodating and eager to share with us the story of the town and how it was built.

Mr. Chong showed us a copy of the original land deed for the Bongawan shoplots which dates back to 8th July 1929. While Mr. Chong was telling Jiki more about history of Bongawan....

...I took the opportunity to take some measurements of the old 1952 shophouse's features, including the newel post at the staircase. Newel posts = British colonial architecture. Cool.

According to Mr. Chong, of the three rows of shops, the first row was built in 1929 (7 lots), extended with another three lots in 1939 (we'll see the extended shops later in this blogpost), with another opposite shoplot - also built in 1939 by Mr. Liaw Kon Yong. The shophouses were built during, or just before the time of the Japanese occupation in North Borneo. It would actually make more sense that the shops were built by a Chinese contractor, not a Japanese one. An additional row of wooden shoplots (without bargeboard ornamentation) was later built in 1952.

A theatre once existed behind the shoplots built in 1952, but has since been abandoned/demolished.

Pangiran had to go, so he left us in good hands of Mr. Chong who took us to see the opposite shophouse also reportedly built in 1939. The owner of the shop was resting, so we chatted with his wife - who happened to be from yet another colonial town, a place called Kimanis.

Such a friendly auntie! WE LOVE HER.

Interestingly, the history of Kimanis is intricately linked, not to the British but to the Americans - namely a little-known settlement called Ellena...But we'll save her stories for another blog post...

...isn't the (little-known) history of Sabah (North Borneo) just amazing? Who would have guessed that you'd be able to learn so much from a trip outside of Kota Kinabalu...sadly, a lot of these historical places will soon be gone if there is nothing done to preserve them.

In truth, there's a lot more technical work that goes into architectural heritage research than just popping over for a casual visit. As you may have noticed in my blog post, there are some discrepancies in the historical timelines and narrative accounts of people and even locals residing in a particular township. Therefore, it is common practice to gather as much information (and ask the same questions to a wide bunch of people) before making the best conclusion of the true history of a place.

I intend to come back to Bongawan to study the architecture and history of the place in detail. But until then, it was time to go - so Jiki and I thanked the friendly Bongawanites who had kindly taken the time to talk to us and share their knowledge and stories...we had an awesome trip and hopefully, we'll be able to go on more road trips in the future. If you, dear reader would like to join us, drop me an email at ricson_23@yahoo.com and we'll make some plans.

Much awesome-ness!

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Road trip with Jiki John: (Part 1) - Kinarut

2011-07-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

An interested friend of mine, Jiki called me up and asked me if she could tag along for a day trip to one of our historical but forgotten colonial townships in Sabah. I was planning to go to Kinarut, one of the places featured in my upcoming book on Sabah heritage towns to compile some measurements of the existing structures there.

Jiki holding information showing early photos the Old Kinarut Mansion.

The plan was to visit the Kinarut heritage shophouses before going off to visit the Old Kinarut Mansion, one of Sabah's remaining historical ruins.We left Kota Kinabalu at around 8.00 a.m. and had breakfast before driving to Kinarut township. The town of Kinarut, located 20km south of Kota Kinabalu is one of the train stops along the Sabah Railway system that connects between Beaufort town to KK city.

The origin of the name 'Kinarut' is a mystery - although it is widely believed that the moniker was derived from "China Road', referring to the area in which early Chinese settlers lived and traded coal with the steam train operators and locals who commuted via train along the West Coast Division.

So we arrived at Kinarut old township and spent about an hour exploring the place...

Kinarut township currently has two old wooden shophouses with architectural styles that date back to the early 20th century (c.1901-1929). The 'cross-boxed' timber railing that can be seen in the centre of the photo above can be seen as early as 1910 in old images of Jesselton township, North Borneo.

The town flourished as a result of the world's demand for rubber and the subsequent construction of the North Borneo railway line that runs in front of the town's original rows of wooden shophouses. In its glory days, the Kinarut Rubber Estate established during 1910-1911 was the biggest rubber estate on the west coast division of North Borneo, after Sapong Estate.

These days, the weather-worn, dilapidated shophouses in Kinarut town are no longer inhabited by their original Chinese families - most of the shop lots are currently sub-divided and rented out to small business owners of various ethnicities. It's a pity, but word has it that the Kinarut heritage shoplots are living on borrowed time as the land has allegedly been bought over by a commercial developer company has just finished building several housing projects outside of the old township area. Habis la - somehow I doubt that the developer (WK) will have any intention of preserving these historical relics or even bothering to incorporate its architectural details into the design of whatever they intend to build after they demolish these 80-year-old buildings.

...taking some measurements of a timber bracket supporting the upper floor above the shop's five-foot-way

....it's exactly four inches thick...

It seems inevitable that the current crop of young Sabahans in their 20s and 30s will be the last generation to see these historical North Borneo buildings before they disappear. That is, unless by some miracle, the Sabah State Government sees it fit to declare these colonial townships as a living heritage of the local community and make an effort to channel some funding and kickstart a project initiative for the buildings' repairs, preservation and maintenance.

It was a Saturday and Tamu day in Kinarut town. Someone tried to sell Jiki some fresh fish. Haha.

It's actually easy to see the potential of these old shophouses. If repaired and conserved, these buildings and their unique architecture could be transformed into a budget backpackers accommodation for tourists and locals who want to experience actual local Sabah life by train. Visitors can stop at Kinarut train station and stay overnight before continuing to Beaufort township and other destinations for sightseeing - and perhaps a bit of Padas River whitewater rafting.

Interesting architectural facade of one of the two shophouses' rear elevation.

If demolished, the town of Kinarut will lose the only two distinctive buildings that give this township its historical character and significance in the annals of Sabah history.

...so Kinarut locals, it's up to you if you want to preserve your historical legacy...

Later, we make our way to ruins of the Old Kinarut Mansion...

Built by W.F.C Asimont, a German citizen appointed to manage the Kinarut Rubber Estate between 1910 and 1914, it was said that the construction of this mansion took 250-300 Javanese labourers to complete! Materials from as far as Hong Kong was shipped to Kinarut for this lavish residence, which was reputed to have had over 40 rooms in its heyday. Asimont employed Chinese, Bajaus and Dusun locals to maintain his residential estate - and according to some written accounts, this man also demanded to be carried around on a sedan chair by four burly Punjabi bodyguards. A bit of a little Napoleon, if you ask me...haha..

Here's a bit of trivia...

Asimont's grand mansion in Kinarut was believed to have measured approximately 60 feet wide x 60 feet deep with brick arches and Greco-Roman columns supporting an upper floor level. With red clay floor tiles and whitewashed walls, the house reportedly had 45 doors, 152 windows, and 42 large kerosene lamps.

From my study of old photos and written accounts about this mansion, I have deduced that the primary areas - its main entrance, living room and dining area were situated in a semi-octagonal space and facing AWAY from the current main road. Reason: Back in the day, the main access to the house was from behind the hill, where the rail tracks came right up to the foot of the hill on which the house was built.

Jiki being eaten by mosquitos.

According to Sabah Museum reports, the mansion was ordered to be dismantled by the BNBCC, reasons unknown. I can only speculate that due it was Asimont's sympathies with his German homeland (which at that time was waging World War I) and his rather obvious ambitions to become the Governor of North Borneo (he was probably betting on Germany winning the war), it was only justified that his house - the symbol of his aspirations - was to be torn down.

A large number of the mosaics that adorned this mansion was reportedly shipped to Malalap Estate for its buildings there. We have no idea what happened to those buildings, but apparently the rest of the building material was gradually taken away by local villagers (haha) for their own houses.

...the big staircase (which is pretty much the only element that is still intact on the site) is actually the access way to the kitchen area, not the main entrance.

Jiki and I had a very interesting time exploring the ruins of the Old Kinarut Mansion, pretending to be CSIs (Conservation Scene Investigators) and trying to piece together what Asimont's 'palace' must have looked like. The site itself is MASSIVE. I am in the process of establishing the Heritage Sabah NGO, and it would be a really great idea if this NGO could collaborate with Sabah Museum, archeologists, Sabah history buffs and volunteers to help excavate and document the Old Kinarut Mansion's pieces of bricks, columns, floors and walls - so that we could one day have enough data to restore the house to its optimum condition again, for tourism as well as for historical purposes.

IMO, we need to restore the remnants of North Borneo's architecture heritage in Sabah, so that the future generations of Sabah-born Malaysian will have something to be proud of - a testimony of our colonial past and place in the annals of Malaysian history.

I'll post up Part 2 of Road Trip with Jiki John tomorrow - next, we went to Bongawan...and found out some really interesting information about this town...stay tuned...

Cheers,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Atkinson Clock Tower Judicial review: Our fight so far…

2011-07-21T02:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

No, the clock tower isn't safe yet.

I’m sorry that I haven’t been blogging of late. The court hearing of the Atkinson Clock Tower judicial review on 12^th July has finally allowed the plaintiffs – and by extension, us, the public to view the minutes of the meetings held by SHTDA, Central Board and City Hall.

Team Atkinson: Counsel Marcel Jude, assistant Rafeeqa, Madam Lim and Jefferi Chang.

The defendants (whom I shall refer to as Team Shopping Mall), through their counsel the Attorney-General (AG) has tried repeatedly to quash the request of the plaintiff Mdm. Lim and Jefferi Chang to obtain the meetings’ minutes. This time round, the plaintiffs’ counsel redeemed himself and was able to convince the judge to order the defendants to surrender the documents which they had claimed were 'classified'. Bravo!

Why are the minutes so important?

Because it records all the comments made by those involved during the meetings in regards to the decision to build the 16-storey shopping mall next to the clock tower.

I won’t go into the specific details until I have confirmation from the plaintiffs that they have all the documents that they have requested. With the help of the plaintiffs and our supporters, we will break down the minutes and scrutinize every detail of the proceedings before I can post it up online as public information.

It is everyone’s right to know what happened during these Central Board meetings. Rumours and strong speculation of corruption and misuse of power have come to the attention of Team Atkinson - and whether or not it is true, with the minutes exposed, it is hoped that the public will finally be able to know the truth behind the ‘silent’ commercial project that would have already been built by now – if not for information leaked through Facebook about this project.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Here’s a quick recap of transpired events from last year (2010) till now. Several events have been omitted but are available on my blog – just search ‘Atkinson Clock Tower’ and you will find the relevant blog posts. Also, check out the Heritage Sabah blog as well as Free Malaysia Today online news portal.

It’s been an emotionally exhausting process for all those involved to get to this stage of the judicial review. Thank you to all the supporters and especially to Madam Lim, Jefferi Chang and their counsel who have stuck with us and carried this case despite the attempts of the AG and defendants to get their case thrown out of court. It didn't work - and now we have access to see these supposedly 'secret' documents. It is a milestone case for the rakyat - to take the local authorities to court and demand accountability for their actions. However, this case is far from over - cos if my hunch is right, this is just the beginning; a lot of shocking information will be exposed during the scrutiny of the minutes. So stay tuned, folks.

Meanwhile...

...I have been studying the clock tower (hence my absence from blogging) and am now doing some architectural drawings of its original façade built in 1905. Over the past 106 years, the Atkinson Clock Tower has undergone a few facelifts. Based on written records and photos, the façade has been upgraded at least four times since 1905 – the most recent for the Silver Jubilee celebrations. I've managed to obtain access to the original drawing of the refurbished clock tower drawn up in 1959!

(Thank you, Sabah Museum)

For those Sabah history buffs out there, can you tell the approximate year/time period in which the clock tower was last upgraded? Clue: Check out the 13-point star – which represents the 13 states of Malaysia, when our nation was formed in 1963. Prior to that, it was believed that the weather vane depicted a rooster, a common motif used on British weathervanes.

Will update this blog again tomorrow. I’ve some interesting findings that I would like to share about the study of the original Atkinson Clock Tower façade.

Cheers everyone.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

BERSIH 2.0 - and the Atkinson Clock Tower judicial review 12th July 2011

2011-07-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

It was a hot sunny day on last Saturday 9^th July, 2011 – And yet I felt an uneasy tingle down my spine as I looked into the streets from my vantage point at Starbucks Warisan Square in Kota Kinabalu. It was WAY too quiet in town. It was the day of the BERSIH 2.0 rally and I had come down to show my support.

Yes, I’ve spoken my fair share of trashtalk about West Malaysians and their general ignorance of East Malaysian culture ...but I make an exception to this event.

How was KK city? In anticipation of a Bersih 2.0 rally in Sabah, the police were barricading many of the main roads leading into the city, with truckloads of policemen stationed outside main areas like the KK town padang and in front of Marina Court condominum, to name a couple of places. Best yet – the usual throngs of pilaks (illegals) were nowhere in sight. SERIOUSLY.

However, with the next hearing for the Atkinson Clock Tower Judicial Review coming up tomorrow (12^th July 2011), I can’t afford to go down to KL right now as we have our own battle to save our last heritage site here in KK.

Latest updates...

(click on photo to read the article written by Casey Lee)

So after spending my afternoon ambling around in an-almost empty KK city I headed over to the nearest wifi hotspot (Starbucks) to update on the BERSIH stuff that was happening over in KL.

Perhaps some may argue that the cause of BERSIH 2.0 has yet to reach East Malaysians shores. It’s an ocean away for many and I’m sure a lot of people here in Sabah assume that it’s just a ‘West-Malaysian problem’. Again, it's a short-sightedness on our part, fellow Sabahans.

OMG. Check out the crowd in KL.

A moment in history - a brave, young nation of Malaysians taking a stand for ~~their~~ our future.

...BUT THEN...

When photos like these were blasted onto the internet, just minutes after it happened, my heart sank – it is painful to see peaceful fellow Malaysians being bombarded with water canons and tear gas (I was told that the stuff is horrible with a sharp metallic taste). WTF is wrong with our government, using force on everyday Malaysians on a peaceful march?

It broke my heart to see this...

Read her story.

Some idle Sabahans will find this photo funny. Others might even say ‘serves her right for being a part of this rally’. But these brave Malaysians are taking a stand demanding a fair election and government transparency - ask, yourself: what have you done for your own country, fellow Sabahans?

Read HERE of a true acccount of another Malaysian’s experience at the BERSIH 2.0 rally in KL – being tear-gassed. Doesn’t this make you think? What direction is our country taking?

More importantly, where will you - as a Sabahan-born Malaysian - stand at the moment of our nation's inevitable and upcoming crisis?

And here's another : http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-bersih-20-experience.html

A young Sabahan woman shares her experience during the rally: http://feistgeist.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/090711-long/

...and more notes from other Malaysians who attended the KL rally...

The BERSIH 2.0 Sabah rally was SO sad....click to watch!

I don't have any photos of that day in KK city but check out this awesome video by Flanegan Bainon and Jefferi Chang who were there. Funny as hell, but disheartening...sigh...tsk, Sabahans...

Frankly, I had somehow anticipated the BERSIH 2.0 Sabah rally turnout to be lame – for two reasons: firstly, Sabahans in general mostly don’t know what’s going on with the BERSIH 2.0 rally and don’t understand the reasons for the rally itself. In many aspects of Sabahan life, most locals prefer to have an ‘ignorance is bliss’ attitude…it’s only when they themselves are directly affected/livelihood deprived only they will start making noise - and even then they’d prefer it if others make noise for them so that they can stay out of trouble...for so-called descendents of headhunters (whom by the way, imo, are grossly over-rated) most modern Sabahans including their so-called leaders are kinda chickenshit when asked to walk the talk…

Secondly, it’s always a big mistake when you allow any political parties to take over what should have essentially been a people’s rally. Not a great idea.

And hence, the Bersih 2.0 Sabah rally, imo, did NOT make any impact at all. Dayum, I should have booked my plane ticket to KL to join in solidarity with my kick-ass Malaysian brothers and sisters demanding a better future for our beloved nation.

My fellow Sabahans - times are changing in Malaysia – and they are changing fast. More and more Malaysians are taking the risk to be vocal and challenge the status quo of current government that has allowed corruption and abuse to fester and make a nest in the seats of administration to the point that unqualified, incompetant people can take high posts in government departments and ask for thousands of ringgits in bribes in order to approve a development project in Sabah.

Which brings us back to the issue of the Atkinson Clock Tower controversy...we have a chance to stop such a project that will cause irreversible harm to our city - but what are we doing about it? Everyone who has read about this scandal knows that for such a project to get its initial approval, there must have been money slipped under table to smoothen over the deal - as is with many other development projects in Sabah. Yet many still keep silent and resign to our fate, saying 'apa buli buat' (what can we do?).

Actually, there's a lot that we can do.

For starters, come to the KK High Court hearing on 12th July 2011 @ 9.00am.

Learn the truth behind how this project was approved.

Sabahans talk about change - for wanting better things, equality and respect from our fellow Malaysians but what do we actually do to facilitate that change? Yes, we gripe, we complain, yet we are too comfortable where we are. We do not – and are secretly, not willing – to be courageous on our own turf in fear of verbal backlash and social ostracization by our own local communities, friends and even families.

We chicken out because we are afraid.

But how long can we stand to live like this?

The fight to save our heritage - Atkinson Clock Tower - is a small first step for Sabahans to stand up and voice out for better government transparency and accountability. We want to know how heritage-destroying projects like this get approved - and how we can stop it.

If you are free, come to KK High Court tomorrow.

Cheers,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

NOTE: All photos of Bersih 2.0 were sourced from Facebook. God Bless to the brave Malaysians who came out and walked for our nation.

Atkinson Clock Tower Judicial Review - POSTPONED AGAIN - to 30th June 2011

2011-06-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks...the Atkinson Clock Tower judicial review has been postponed again.

Without revealing too much (trust me I would love to divulge the details of what transpired in court) the case has been adjourned to the ~~13th July 2011~~ 30th June 2011.
Yeah I know, the dates keep changing. (eye rolls :P )

It was a frustrating day in court because I personally felt that certain steps could have been taken on the part of the plaintiff's counsel to avoid the postponement. But what is done is done, and an advantage has been given to the defendant to disqualify the judicial review on technical grounds.

Not many of our supporters were able to make it to the court hearing...it was held on a Monday, after all.

But those who came wore their 'Save Our Heritage - Atkinson Clock Tower' T-shirts.

Thank you for the support, guys.

Meanwhile, our gathering at the clock tower was published in the local news...

NOTE: Ignore the caption 'RM5 million requested' - it's from the tagline of some other article not related to the news on the group campaign. LOL.

Thank you, Borneo Post.
Also, Thank you to See Hua Daily News...but I haven't found the newspaper clipping yet. Coming soon.

So, after an emotionally draining morning at the KK High Court, one of the plaintiffs - social activist Jefferi Chang and I go for lunch on Gaya Street - where Jefferi gets into a rather heated debate with one of the Gaya Street shopkeepers over the merits of having a shopping mall next to the clock tower.

Yup, that's the fancy brochure of the 16-storey shopping mall.

Apparently, the lady was one of those approached by the 16-storey shopping mall developer Benteng Pulangan Sdn. Bhd. to purchase shop units of the proposed shopping mall. While she insists that she did not book a shop unit, she claims that a friend has already done so.

Interestingly, she was not keen on surrendering the brochure to us for further scrutiny.

Hmm. Whotever-lah.

I do hope that the shopkeeper and those like-minded will understand that heritage lovers and advocators are not trying to stop them from doing business. However, there are still some solely business-minded people who do not seem to understand that the proposed 16-storey shopping mall building on the hill will permanently ruin the heritage value of the 106-year-old clock tower!

They do not see the negative long-term effect that the building will have on the entire Gaya Street area. If the heritage value of the 106-year-old Atkinson Clock Tower is sidelined, sooner or later - so will the old shophouses at Gaya Street!

Gaya Street today only maintains its cultural significance and popularity because of its history, its mixture of shops and its small town ambience. Tourists do not come to Gaya Street to see yet another stupid shopping mall but to experience the local community - defined by the old architecture, tree-lined streets and the sense of place.

With the defendants - City Hall, SHTDA and Central Board's counsel using certain tactics to get the judicial review of the Atkinson Tower project thrown out of court - coupled with the ignorance and greed of certain parties invested in this shopping mall project, the fight to save the Atkinson Clock Tower and its surrounding area will be a long and arduous one.

Public awareness and the rakyat's ongoing support will determine whether or not we can win this campaign. But it is regrettable that neither Sabah Tourism Board nor the Sabah Tourist Guide Association, has issued any public statement in regards to their stance in the case of the Atkinson Clock Tower controversy.

PAM Sabah Chapter (the architect's association), Sabah Museum, local historical societies, retired government servants, tourists, KK city youths and 2,270+ online petitioners have spoken out in support of conserving this historical area - hence, it reflects badly on Sabah Tourism Board and its known associates to not even have an official stand on the matter.

Look at the angry turtle!

Hmph.

I hope they will come come out with a statement soon.

Nevertheless, it is time that those who still believe that Sabah can change - and be free of this massive sickness of corruption that plagues our state - to step up and fight for this cause.

Win or lose, this campaign to save the Atkinson Clock Tower is already written in our state's history - it's time to decide which side you choose to be on before your involvement (or non-involvement) is etched into stone. For those who have actively supported this campaign - you have already made a difference.

Thank you, and keep supporting our fight to save our last heritage site in KK city.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

If Sabahans actually lived in trees... (Part 3)

2011-06-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

I've been visiting this online website called DeZeen Design Magazine, featuring tree house projects from around the world.

This one is AWE-INSPRING.

Called the Tree Hotel by Tham & Videgard Arkitekter (again, Swedes), the cube structure is covered on all sides with mirrors, its reflection of the surrounding trees makes it look floating and almost invisible. Macam Predator punya camouflage.

Love.

Interior shots.

NOTE: All images sourced from DeZeen Design Magazine. Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2011/01/12/tree-hotel-by-tham-videgard-arkitekter/#more-111382

I have to say, I really dig the whole concept, albeit the mirrors being a bird hazard...LOL.

The design to me, challenges the conventional idea of what a tree house should look like and gives the structure a rare and timeless quality.

Visually, it looks fantastic.

If Sabahans actually lived in trees... (Part 2)

2011-06-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

So here's another tree house project...this time it's from Japan.

It's supposed to be some sort of tea house.

Known as Takasugi-an, which literally means, “a teahouse [built] too high,” is more like a tree house than a teahouse. In order to reach the room, you have to climb up the freestanding ladders propped up against one of the two chestnut trees supporting the whole structure. The trees were cut and brought in from the nearby mountain to the site.

Holy Moly.

Architecturally, it's like...wow. But I have a feeling, though that the owner secretly hates having guests over for tea time. To me, its architectural language says 'GO AWAY and LEAVE ME ALONE'. lol.

Interior shots..

NOTE: All images sourced from DeZeen Design Magazine. Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/03/12/takasugi-an-by-terunobu-fujimori/#more-25992

The convergence of cherry tree, plaster wall and tatami mat.

Nice kettle.

But I'd never be able to live here.

CLAUSTROPHOBIA.

Still, an interesting piece of architecture.

If Sabahans actually lived in trees... (Part 1)

2011-06-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

There’s this ongoing joke that a lot of West Malaysians still think that people from Sabah live in trees. Which is racially and socially offensive, to say the least. But, on that note…

…check out this architecturally inspiring tree-house design by Swedish designers Inrednin Gsgruppen

(no...I have no idea how that’s pronounced either) that a friend tagged me on Facebook.

It’s quite amazing, no?

NOTE: All images sourced from DeZeen Design Magazine. Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2011/05/27/the-birds-nest-by-inrednin-gsgruppen/#more-130112

Lovely interiors. Sabahans should be so lucky.

That said, I’m not sure I like the idea of sleeping on a curved bed. Ergonomically it looks really uncomfortable not to mention space wasting cos you’ll never, ever use the weird corners of the bed. Normal beds are rectangular-shaped for good reason.

Still, this tree house is pretty interesting.

After all these years, I still believe that architecture has to be both functional and inspiring at the same time. The trick is to find a good balance between both.

I’ll try to post up some other interesting works of architecture from around the world. Maybe it’s time to go back to living in trees, since the property prices in KK are ridiculous these days.

Blog Reader's Photo - Atkinson Clock Tower Photo Shoot 18th June 2011

2011-06-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

A photo from last Saturday's group photo shoot at the Atkinson Clock Tower, taken by Dalbert Lee of Kota Kinabalu.

Thanks for the support, Dalbert.

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Photoshoot for the Save Our Heritage Atkinson Clock Tower campaign - 18th June 2011

2011-06-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

It was great weather for a photoshoot! Save Our Heritage!

The Heritage Sabah group organized a picnic and photoshoot event to promote the 'Save Our Heritage Atkinson Clock Tower' campaign. Invites were sent via the group's Facebook community page.

Click here to read more about the controversial shopping mall project that threatens this historical site.

It's been almost a year since the Atkinson Clock Tower case came out...and frankly a lot of people think that the issue has been resolved. Typically Sabahan - after the initial hoo-haa, we tend to become complacent again...that's why our people are so easily exploited, imo.

Here's a reality check: The shopping mall project has NOT been cancelled. Unless we continue to call for the project to be scrapped, chances are it will go on as planned. The trees will be cut, the hill will be cut - and the clock tower will be blocked by this fugly, fugly shopping mall!

Sorry HJJ, but this is just f8 bullshit. You can't build a shopping mall here without cutting its trees.

The Heritage Sabah group asked members of the public to attend in support of the event. It was amazing cos people actually came out and some even wore their Save Our Heritage T-shirts that the group had printed and sold for the campaign. Sorry that we did not have enough t-shirts to give away but the group is operating on a very limited budget for this self-funded effort.

Psst...Minister Ng Yen Yen - a little help please? I mean, if you can splurge RM1.8 million for Facebook promo... kof kof...

Nevertheless, everyone who could attend, came in high spirits. We gathered at 9.30 a.m. at the foot of the clock tower and did a short recap of the 16-storey shopping mall issue. The clock chimed at exactly 10 a.m. - much to the surprise and amazement of those who were there for the first time. I believe at that moment, they understood the true meaning and value of this 106-year-old heritage landmark of our city.

This could very well be the last photo shoot to be held here at the Atkinson Clock Tower.

If Team Shopping Mall win the judicial review, the Atkinson Clock Tower site is doomed. We will never again have the pristine greenery, nor the scenic historical ambience that the site currently offers.

If Team Atkinson wins the judicial review, those who attended this photoshoot today will become part of Sabah history. The case sets a precedent for all other commercial development projects of the future, especially for heritage-sensitive areas. For once, the younger generation of Sabahans (none whom are aspiring politicians, as far as I know) have taken a public stand and shown their concern and love for their city.

We love KK city.

Please don't let greed and corruption destroy our city's last heritage site with another useless shopping mall.

A heartfelt thanks to all whom attended today's photo shoot session, for putting up with the hot sun, mosquitos - and that random person playing the ukelele and singing about shopping malls.

Click to here watch!

Hee.

To all my blog readers, please support and remember to attend the ACT judicial hearing on Monday, 20th June 2011. Find out first-hand what all this fuss is about. We'll be there too.

Have a great weekend, guys.

Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Note: Facebook video credit to Phyllis Chin. Thank You!

Karamunsing Old Cinema - A potential venue for Sabah's rising film industry?

2011-06-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I was passing by the Karamunsing Shopping Complex (that a lot of people think will collapse one day of structural failure - if it does I blame overloading, imo) and lo behold, Chan Furniture Store that has been utilizing the old cinema has moved out!

Not many young Sabahans realize that this building used to be one of several independent cinemas that were quite popular back in the golden age of celluloid film. Way before the era of those rather icky laser disc parlours and GSC multiplexes, these little indie cinemas were the highlight of the youths living in the time of the BERJAYA administration in Sabah.

I've been inside this old cinema when Chan Furniture was still in business here. The interiors are quite interesting; however I presently do not have any photos showing what it looks like inside. According to sources, the reason the tenants moved out is because the owners allegedly claimed structural failure to be a concern. Riight. From what I can see, there is nothing wrong with this building except for the fact that it is ripe for an architectural rehabilitation to restore it to its former glory.

Sabah's film industry is on the rise - what with more and more Sabah-born film makers making their presence and voice audible in the Malaysian - and international scene. This old cinema - known to some as the BERJAYA Theatre - could be a catalyst for the growth of the state's film industry, if given some love and attention to its restoration.

There's a real potential here to turn this old cinema into a place where Sabah's creative film-makers can showcase their work and projects. The location is ideal - situated right in the centre of town and close to all the existing amenities and food outlets that would support such activities. Rather than tear it down to put up another lifeless commercial/office block, why not use available funds to revive this building?

Yours sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Welcome to Kota Kinabalu - and its world-class City Bus Terminal

2011-06-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Just joking - our KK city bus terminal sucks!

These photos were taken this morning.

ENJOY.

...looks like a watering hole for wild jungle animals...

...if morning coffee doesn't work - try electrocution for that extra BUZZ...

Every time some random officer from City Hall announces yet another new shopping mall or flyover to be built in Kota Kinabalu city, I just feel like crumpling up the newspaper and lighting a huge bonfire with it.

Solve your city's public transport woes first lah, woi!

...hundreds of ~~immigrants~~ people in Kota Kinabalu city rely on public transport to get to work, whether it is from the suburbs into the city or otherwise. Yours truly is also one of those hapless people, btw.

The KK City Bus terminal has been ailing for YEARS without a proper and efficient design and even poorer infrastructure support. I'll have you know that this mud-filled photos are not a result of some freak rainstorm or flood because...

...I took this photo 3 months ago...

...and THIS was taken in February this year.

Clearly, the infrastructure has NOT been improved much since the KK bus terminal was unceremoniously chucked to this empty patch of land from its previous site behind Centre Point Shopping Complex (yup - the original bus terminal was where Warisan Square is now).

All that has been provided for the bus drivers, taxi drivers and daily commuters is a single file of booths (not even enough seats/waiting space for commuters), one public toilet facility located at a little corner of the huge bus depot (it has to be huge cos all the buses in KK are stationed here) and a tent for the City Bus drivers. I mean, come on! Such poor facilities for an East Malaysian capital city!

Updated photos:

On days when it is not a mud pit, the KK city bus terminal is a total dust bowl.
Is it a designnnn concept?

Is DBKK is trying to recreate the Wild, Wild West? Why not use actual stage coaches?
The only things missing here are some tumbleweeds and a cactus.

An efficient transportation system is critical for good urban planning of a city. With such poor public transportation facilities, more and more people will opt for personal vehicles and this is one of the reasons why KK city is becoming increasingly jammed.

Instead of proposing more ~~wonky~~ flyovers in KK - it is high time for Kota Kinabalu City Hall to fix the KK City Bus Terminal. Come on, you owe it to the citizens of KK.

Atkinson Clock Tower judicial review - POSTPONED to 20th JUNE 2011

2011-06-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

The judicial review of Kota Kinabalu’s oldest landmark, the Atkinson Clock Tower, was postponed again following a hearing at the Kota Kinabalu High Court at 9am today. From what I understood, both plaintiff and defendant teams were given time to get more information for their cases that they had to iron out before the hearing could proceed further.

Judge David Wong Dak Wah adjourned the case to 20^th June 2011 after defendants - The Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) and Kota Kinabalu City Hall - failed to convince the court that minutes of the city planning committee meeting (in which the land adjoining the Atkinson Clock Tower was discussed), was readily available for public inspection according to law.

Btw, did you know that you can actually walk into DBKK and request to see the minutes of meetings by the city planning committee? By law, the Sabah public has a right to do so under Section 18 of Local Government Ordinance.
And now you know! ;)

Meanwhile, heritage lovers from the SAVE OUR HERITAGE - ATKINSON CLOCK TOWER campaign came to the KK High Court to show support for the plaintiff's case despite the rainy weather.

Check out our huge banner! :D

I hope that despite having a strong supporting argument that Team Atkinson does not become over-confident and will proceed to go over the case facts, evidence, etc with a fine-toothed comb to pick out any loose ends that Team Shopping Mall may use to counter their suit. Don't be complacent. Seek advice and opinions from others who are not involved in the issue so that you have a different perspective of the case and from all angles. Just my opinion. This is not a case that you want to lose.

Meanwhile, I strongly the public to follow the development of this judicial review, as it will set a precedent for the future of the clock tower and heritage conservation policies in Sabah. It is also important for the public to know their rights in regards to the inspection of public records and to ensure that local authorities practice effective and transparent policies and procedures.

With best regards,

Richard Nelson Sokial

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog.

Note: Architecturally, I do not understand why the high court is decorated with bunga manggar - Malay wedding decorative lights. WTF. Only in Sabah - sigh!

UPDATE: The Atkinson Clock Tower judicial review is tomorrow!

2011-06-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that the Atkinson Clock Tower case that was postponed - and postponed again - and postponed one more time is scheduled for tomorrow (7th June 2011).

I really have no idea why the KK High Court keeps postponing this case. Some people say that it's done to wear down the pro-heritage people and so that KK citizens forget about the controversy - but let's give our judiciary system the benefit of the doubt, shall we?

I do hope that justice will prevail in the end and that the judge will rule in favour of the rakyat and not SHTDA and its developer. KK city needs a nice public park, not another shopping mall destined to be a big white elephant - and worse, destroying any heritage value that the 106-year-old clock tower may have.

The suit was filed by housewife Mdm. Lim Swee Geck and social activist Jeffery Chang, naming SHTDA and DBKK for their role in approving the 16-storey shopping mall without consideration of the historical clock tower.

3D illustration of what the 16-storey shopping mall will look like (in size). The scale of the building and the clock tower is accurate - following the actual site plan. I took out the trees to show HOWCLOSE the shopping mall is to the historical clock tower. It's So Ugly, right?

So if you are free tomorrow morning at 8.30am, please come and support the judicial review at the Kota Kinabalu High Court, next to DBKK...it's the white building with bunga manggar outside its black metal fence.

With thanks,

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Arkitrek Camp - Mantanani island 2011 (Conclusion)

2011-05-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Just a typical morning on Mantanani island...

We had two days left to finish the MCP Learning Centre (the official name of Albi's Chicken House).

It was crunch time - we knew it and everyone had their pokerface on as we silently ate our breakfast.

The Arkitrekkers had put up the roof the night before. Today, we had to finish the bottle wall, slanting bamboo wall elevation, floors and the massive driftwood wall on the east elevation.

Sarah's illustrations of the interlocking driftwood wall. The boys joked that the drawings looked like trees in compromising positions.

"Kamasutra for trees". LOL.

The two gappers had to leave the island early. Farewell, Jack and David B - thank you so much!

...but Ian came back and we were joined by Anna and Fraser, friends of David A. from UK.

Being put in charge of completing the bottle walls, I was feeling a bit under pressure. Albi - our key construction guy and expert with the chainsaw, had taken ill and was not able to cut the timber pieces that I needed for the original bottle wall design.

Pieces of leftover plywood from the camp's previous projects were to be used instead of sawn planks.

This meant that the original wall design had to be simplified.

Meanwhile, Fraser, Anna, Pui Cheng and Michelle were cutting bamboo and figuring out how to put the slanted wall frames together.

The boys - Zee, David and Daniele were working hard on completing the building's raised timber decks, while Pui Cheng and Ian were deciding how to put the driftwood wall together. Will was busy hammering pieces of driftwood onto the posts to complete the elevation facing the sea while Tina was working with Albi to drill the metal brackets holding the slanted walls.

Zee, David A and Will helping Ian and Hasheem lift a driftwood log into place.

Come noon and the Arkitrekkers were 80% finished with the building. The kids from Albi's village had come out and watched with curious fascination as the Arkitrekkers raced against the clock to get the building done.

I saw an opportunity to utilize their little hands and roped in the kids to help complete the bottle walls. Giving clear instructions to them, the Mantanani children - led by Idham, Fadli and little Epot formed a mini crew of bottle outsourcers, bottle washers and bottle stuffers - as we systematically filled up the walls with plastic bottles that had been found on the beach and collected by the volunteers at Camp Mantanani.

The island kids were extremely enthusiastic about being part of this project - and I believe that it gave them a better sense of awareness, ownership and pride over this building - that would be handed over to them once the Arkitrekkers were gone.

The artistic effect of the bottle wall is a way of conveying new ideas of how the Mantanani people could make something pretty out of stuff they would have normally thrown away.

(Click to enlarge photo)

Aesthetically pleasing...but at the same time scary - just imagine how many discarded plastic bottles are thrown into the world's oceans each day? Something to think about.

Everyone loved the hammock that Michelle designed and made. Bravo!

Meanwhile, the driftwood wall was finally finished and as the last reinforcing steel nut was screwed in, the kids had already started to climb onto the wall like a jungle gym.

Later, the bamboo walls that Fraser and the girls made were installed. The walls worked worked perfectly and were very comfortable to rest against.

We finished the timber deck floor just as Camp Mantanani's staff showed up with cakes and tea.

Food!

Hooray, we finished the building!

The MCP Learning Centre was now officially completed! Well done Arkitrekkers!

That evening, the whole group celebrated their first night in the building with rice, barbecued chicken and lamb. Aida was the main chef. We made a huge bonfire from the pieces of rotten driftwood that we had cleared from the site.

Later, Aida took out a laptop and we looked at the photos showing the development process of the structure that we had just built.

The finished building was kinda awesome actually.

After dinner, some of us decided to sleep in the MCP Learning Centre instead of our regular hammocks at camp. It rained heavily that night, the heaviest that we had ever experienced in our two weeks on the island. I guess it's the universe's way of testing our building. LOL.

Note: It was nice to find out later from Ian that Albi had commented that he had found a genuine appreciation for the Arkitrekkers and said he even learnt a few things from us as well. Hasheem had already booked his spot to nap in the MCP Learning Centre, and Mel was elated that Camp Borneo now had a proper place to conduct activities on Mantanani.
The building would be the first phase of Camp Borneo's collaboration with Arkitrek, the next being an extension to the building with a shop for selling local island products such as driftwood sculptures, etc. I can already foresee the MCP Learning Centre as a meeting point for not only Camp Borneo's volunteers but also for a 'bridge' for the two village communities living on the island.

Saying goodbye to Mantanani...

Leaving Mantanani the next morning, we took our final photos as remembrance of the Arkitrek Camp experience. While several of us will have the chance to come back and see how the building has matured over time, some of the participants may never be able to visit this building again.

I am posting up my notes as a shout out to those awesome individuals of the first Arkitrek Camp, to remind them from time to time of what we achieved as a team - and that when enough like-minded people get together, we can make a difference in the world we live in.

It was a pleasure and honour to have been part of the first Arkitrek Camp and my salutes to everyone who was involved in it; Arkitrek Founder Ian Hall, Melanie Chu, Sarah Greenlees, Daniele Cohen, Pui Cheng (who never got called by her first name Vivian), Zee, David Arnott, Will Smith, Tina Celestial, Kitler the cat, Michelle Martin, David Beattie, Jack Allcock, Anna and Fraser, Yanti Saman, Albi and family, Hasheem, members of the Malaysian Police force on Mantanani (who helped us pull most of the heaviest driftwood) and last but not least the awesome Aida Rahman and her ukelele.

Three cheers for Arkitrek Camp!

Hip hip hooray!

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Arkitrek Camp – Mantanani 2011 (Part 4)

2011-05-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Little by little, the Marine Conservation Programme Learning Centre building (the Arkitrekkers refer to it as Albi's Chicken House) starts to take shape.

(Click photo to enlarge)

The absence of sporadic BUUURP! sounds around the vicinity of Camp Mantanani was an indication that Ian Hall had gone back to Kota Kinabalu on official business for a few days.

Meanwhile, I returned to the island with two gappers from UK – Jack and David B. The boys were ~~fresh~~ ~~hungover~~ fresh from their stay at Tinangol village in Kudat and were looking forward to doing something interesting during their stay at Mantanani.

In my absence, the rest of the Arkitrek Camp’s team had completed the building’s foundation and post structures – and were looking to putting up the rafters as soon as possible.

Living on an island for 2 weeks and working in a construction site doesn’t give anyone a lot of room to be glamorous.

Take Tina for example.

From this…

…to this. Hahaha.

Pui Cheng, on the other hand, was all business.

From this…

…to this!

She was in charge of gathering our driftwood and became a bit obsessed with her stockpile of logs.

See?! Hoarder. I’m pretty sure she was a magpie in a past life. LOL.

Life on an island makes you do strange things.

6-foot tall Sarah was always hungry. At one point during work, I was covered in sawdust - and she lurched over and told me that I looked like a biscuit. I was very scared.

Michelle had a close encounter with one of the island’s most notorious creatures; heard strange munching noises outside her tent one night, poked her head out - and found herself looking at a very surprised cow. Hee.

Boys gone wild!

Will gets jiggy with a pole.

Daniele wants to be a monkey.

David A…just wants to be...pretty.

I was the camp klutz, getting whacked on the head by a piece of driftwood and tripping over myself on several occasions at work. Aida was probably on Orange Alert whenever I stepped onto site. Being so accident-prone annoyed me immensely cos I’m usually awesome and stuff.

Apart from me and the one-time that Zee whacked his thumb with a hammer whilst fixing the roof, there were no occurrences of mishaps on-site as we adhered to the general safety guidelines that the camp facilitators had established before work commenced.

Plus, we were well protected.

Yellow hardhats - courtesy of Arkitrek!

But after more than a week of doing hard labour, it was clear that the Arkitrekkers needed to have a proper break from work - to chill out and revel in the fact that we were on a beautiful island in the South China Sea.

Daniele and Sarah made us all take a half-day break. The boys grabbed their flippers and went swimming out to nearby Linggisan island while I rented a kayak and roped in gapper Jack to go kayaking with me. The plan was to meet the boys on the island.

However, neither Jack nor I had ever kayaked before around Mantanani – and as you might expect, the two of us found ourselves stuck in the middle of a maze of coral reefs as we tried to paddle to Linggisan island! Crap!

Also, we also discovered that our kayak was taking in water. The imbalance in the kayak’s hull threatening to throw both of us – and all our stuff - into the water. By some miracle, we managed to pry ourselves out of the treacherous labyrinth of dead corals and make our way to Linggisan island.

Bare footprints in the sand told us that the boys had gone exploring the island. Gingerly, Jack and I traced their steps across a series of sharp rocks – where hoards of small, cockroach-like shrimp creatures scattered away each time we walked past. Creepy buggers.

We finally found the boys – and Pui Cheng - outside the entrance of the big cave at Linggisan Island. It was the most beautiful cave I have ever seen- an almost perfectly symmetrical grotto carved out from coral rock that made up most of Linggisan’s geological features. Above the cave - suspended in mid-air – were shady trees that gripped precariously to the bits of jagged rocks. The cave on Linggisan island was home to an endangered species of frigate birds and a colony of bats. The island was breathtaking. Spooky, but magical.

(Edited: I was later informed that the birds in the cave are German's Nest Swiftlets. The Frigate Birds roost in the trees on top of the island. LOL. My bad. I'm not well-versed in birds per se.)

The sun was going down. Jack and I decided to head back to the beach on our kayak; we would meet the others at the rendezvous point on Mantanani at the abandoned resort facing Linggisan island. In order to stabilize the water-addled kayak, I jumped into the sea and clung onto the rear end of the craft while Jack valiantly paddled us to shore. We only learned later that we didn’t plug the kayak properly, hence the reason why we were sinking the entire time. Noobs.

Judging from the insanely low tide occurring in the day, I had a feeling that there would be a full moon on Mantanani that night. And lo behold, as we reached the shoreline, a huge, yellowish perfect moon was peeking out from behind the island’s silhouette of trees.

Sarah and the girls had prepared a nice campfire on the beach. Zee was lying in the sand, admiring his abs. Pui Cheng took a while to let go of her driftwood-hoarding obsession; we caught her piling up sausages in a plate and leaving them by the fire, uneaten. Daniele and I played the ukelele and sang a hundred songs with the chords of C Am F G. Our usually soft-spoken Michelle was a laugh riot - and shall forever be remembered for describing our dinner as “tast(ing) like potato salad from home, but defferent”. The two Davids (A & B) were spiking Coca-cola with Gay Rum and passing them around while Aida and Tina took our now-buoyant kayak out for a spin. Of course, it started to rain and everyone ran back to camp, leaving Aida and Tina floating on the sea. LOL.

Of course, we all made it home safely.

It was a wonderful evening, full of adventures, good company - and of course, potato salad (but different, from home).

I’ll post up the last part of the Arkitrek Camp – Mantanani 2011 tomorrow.

Arkitrek Camp - Mantanani island 2011 (Part 3)

2011-05-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

Camp Mantanani needed an architecturally inspiring new building as their marine conservation centre-cum-learning centre-cum playground for the kids of Mantanani island.

The Arkitrekkers had a little over 2 weeks to come up with a building that satisfied that brief.

Here's our project site.
(click on photos to enlarge)

Over the next several days, the participants designed, brainstormed and presented their ideas in group discussions over what would be the best approach to designing this building.

We gathered suitable driftwood - and pushed...pushed...PUSHED! it all the way back to the project site.

Luckily for us, driftwood...well, kinda...drifts...

But it still took a lotta work to get the desired pieces onto site.

Nevertheless, it wasn't the worst job in the world. Far from it...

...we all got to snooze after lunch...

"Erm...Ian, there's a shoe on your head."

Ian: I know, but resting in a hammock on a tropical island makes me feel so sleefffy*zzzZZZzzz...

So, the Arkitrekkers finally amass enough lumber/driftwood to start construction. Apart from four concrete stumps (for a future shop structure), the overall foundation design for the building is actually an arrangement of driftwood logs laid on the ground. The main posts are cut, notched and placed onto these 'pads' with additional support of dimension timber, also placed on top of the driftwood pad.

As Michelle our Arkitrekker would probably say...

I just love her Yorkshire accent :D

The group had decided to build a single pitch roof structure slanting westwards at 13.5^o, with a raised floor on one side and a hammock on the other. There would also be a wooden deck built facing towards the beachfront.

Actually, the overall design concept is a bit more comprehensive and thought-out...I'm just simplifying my descriptions in layman terms in order to fit everything into this blog post. Sorry guys - hope that's okay.

There would be a 'bottle wall' at the entrance of the building and a slanting wall on the west elevation. The east side elevation would be a driftwood wall feature - made from large driftwood logs stacked on top of each other.

Onduline sponsored the roofing material.

...and Albi's brother, Hasheem was the main man in charge of putting the roof on.

Hey there, Hasheem!

On hindsight, it was an ambitious project, purely because of the logistics, time constraints as well as material limitations required to complete the task.

But since the Arkitrekkers (and Albi and Hasheem and Aida) were awesome, we managed to pull it off.

Hee.

Anyway...

(Left) Driftwood posts being erected. (Right) Will holds a timber rafter while Zee, David and Sarah assess from below. Tina, Michelle and Daniele work in the background. Pui Cheng is not in the photo...most likely she's wandered off somewhere, looking for more driftwood.

Designing and constructing the building proved to be a physical and mental challenge for every member of the Arkitrek Camp. Not only did the group have to contend with lifting heavy construction materials a.k.a driftwood logs but also putting up with the hot, scorching sun that bore down mercilessly on us daily from 9.30am till noon!

As Aida will attest, it was hot enough to boil an egg! In the sun!

(Translation) Pui Cheng: Albi, we're going to keep this wood to make...

Albi: ...chicken house...

Albi did not seem impressed with our design skills at the time.

He kept referring to our building as a 'chicken house'. LOL.

We were always relieved when the day came to an end. Most evenings, we would just jump into the sea to relax, but as the moon was waxing, the tide was getting very low as the days progressed.

However, we did take some time off to explore our surroundings.

There are two villages on Mantanani – one at each side of the longish-shaped island. An abandoned resort and a police outpost is located at the village facing westward towards Linggisan island, while the other – Albi’s village – is located on the opposite end where the primary school is situated.

View of Linggisan island from the village, west of Mantanani.

A kindergarten project under Arkitrek is currently underway near the Mantanani primary school.

There are also a lot of cows on the island.

Moo.

Mt. Kinabalu can clearly be seen from Mantanani island.

I shot this panorama right after taking the previous photo of Mt. Kinabalu. Amazing sunset hues at Mantanani.

I had to return to KK city for a few days to settle some prior work commitments.

Meanwhile...
Sarah celebrated her birthday on site with the Arkitrekkers at Mantanani...
...the group got bored and started racing hermit crabs...
...and of course, they continued working on the building...

...then I came back to the island and it was awesome. LOL.

I will update this blog again tomorrow.

Stay tuned for Part 4 and conclusion of the Arkitrek Camp - Mantanani 2011 experience.

Arkitrek Camp – Mantanani Island 2011 (Part 2)

2011-05-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

It was barely daybreak when the bus came to pick us up from Kipouvo village. I followed Ian into KK city to tie up a few loose ends before joining the others as we took to the road in the direction of Kuala Abai, where a speedboat was awaiting our arrival.

We were joined by Melanie Chu, General Manager at Camp Borneo. Also on the trip was Aida Rahman, the rasta-haired Camp Manager for Camp Mantanani (under Camp Borneo).

The journey to Mantanani took approximately 45 minutes by speedboat – passing through scenic mangrove tributaries and a village at the rivermouth, before heading out to the open sea.

I noticed that Aida, Melanie and Daniele had all brought along what seemed like miniature toy guitars on this trip. As it turns out, these ‘toy guitars’ were actually Ukeleles. Aida says that Ukeleles are becoming a ‘thing’ on Mantanani.

Of course, my imagination went into overdrive…

Hee.

A sliver of deep blue clusters soon appeared on the ocean horizon, giving us our first glimpse of Mantanani island. Soon, we reached the shallows of the beach - where everyone gasped in collective awe at the sight of the island’s raw beauty.

“OMG, look at the water!”

The amazing crystal-clear quality of Mantanani’s seawater, waist deep over a white sandy seabed captivated all of us newcomers to the island. My first instinct was to just jump in; alas I remembered that my handphone did not swim very well.

Camp Mantanani’s staff were on hand to help us off the boat and took our supplies onto shore.

We were introduced to Albi and his family, who help to run Camp Mantanani when youth groups visit the island for Camp Borneo’s activities. Albi is also the headman of the village where Camp Mantanani and the Arkitrek Camp’s project site are situated.

Aida and Albi took us to visit his village.

According to Aida, the island is inhabited by fishermen from the Ubian ethnic group, with a population of approximately 800 people. The Mantanani islanders make some minimal wages drying salted fish and selling it to the mainland towns in Kota Belud.

That's a lotta dried fish.

Albi doing his village headman pose in front of the school.

Aida and Mel saying 'Helloo' to the locals.

Just me in a Mantanani boat house, being awesome.

The crystal-clear water proved too much to resist...

...jump!

...Woo hoo!

...marvellous!

It was bound to happen at some point. Haha.

After throwing ourselves off Albi's village jetty, we went back to camp for Mel and Aida's briefing in regards to what they wanted the Arkitrek Camp participants to build. Camp Mantanani hoped to establish a marine conservation centre on the island to facilitate not only the activities of future camp participants but also a learning centre-cum-kid's playground for the island community.

Our site was a kid's playpen-with-tower known as 'The Magellan' that was built by past Camp Borneo participants.

Mel and Aida gave us an open-ended brief to re-use the structure or tear it down for the new building. We opted for the latter.

On the top left, is the sandy path that links the two villages on Mantanani island.

We were sad to learn from Aida that the rare and friendly Dugongs that once frequented the island to graze on the sea grass had now disappeared, most likely because of the fish bombing activities that are still prevalent in the waters around Mantanani.

Aida also explained several other key challenges affecting the social and economic status of the island people.

Rubbish washed up on the beaches of Mantanani is also an ongoing problem. Some of it is thrown away by the island's inhabitants. Some floating debris finds its way to Mantanani's beaches from the mainland, while other floating garbage is carried by sea currents from other places to the island.

We even found a plastic bottle from Thailand. Imagine that.

Camp Mantanani hopes to establish a place to promote marine conservation awareness amongst the Mantanani villagers so that they can provide better stewardship for the island for years to come.

As participants and volunteers, we realised that our project - if we succeeded - would be a catalyst for the aspirations of Camp Mantanani. It would empower the villagers of Mantanani to take ownership of their environment and to manage it sustainably, making use of materials that they never thought could be used for buildings.

As a group of young architects and designers, Mel threw us the gauntlet: To design an architecturally iconic learning centre and playground for the village children and visitors to Mantanani, using driftwood and other suitable materials salvaged from the beaches of Mantanani.

Were the arkitrekkers up for the challenge?

Next Post: PART 3 - Arkitrekkers build a 'chicken house'.

Arkitrek Camp – Mantanani Island 2011 (Part 1)

2011-05-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
...hope you all are having a nice week so far.

Ian Hall from Arkitrek messaged me on Facebook a few months ago and asked if I would like to volunteer for a summer camp for young architects. Prior to the invitation, I have known Ian for a couple of years now and is thus familiar with the kind of sustainable architecture work that he does.

One of his projects for Borneo Rainforest Lodge is a featured resort in my PAM-sponsored book Architecture in Sabah: Resorts and Hotels.

Arkitrek Camp is a 3-week summer school that invites graduates from architectural, engineering and construction backgrounds to build a sustainable design project in Malaysian Borneo.

Participants of the camp will have a rare chance to design and build a building using recycled materials such as driftwoods, plastics and other discarded items in an effort to promote environmental conservation and sustainable environments.

The project is in collaboration with Camp Borneo, a branch of Camps International.

The site of the Arkitrek Camp project would be an island called Mantanani, somewhere off the coast of Kota Belud. I had long heard stories of this beautiful island but have never had the chance to visit, so I gladly accepted the invitation and the chance to meet with some potentially interesting characters amongst the Arkitrek Camp participants.

The Participants

(...looks like a good-looking cast of Reality TV's SURVIVOR series, eh? :D)

The camp facilitators were Sarah Greenlees (UK) and Daniele Cohen (US). Both are currently based in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

My first contact with the camp participants was on a tour of Tg. Aru water village.

Welcome to Sabah!

Nice.

Why did we choose Tg. Aru water village as our first stop? Basically, to get the participants to understand the architecture, the people and the social challenges faced in Sabah, particularly water and waste management systems.

These boys and girls aren’t your typical tourists, y’all. They comprise of architectural graduates and practicing architects who are here to make a critical assessment in order to understand the situation they may be facing during this Arkitrek Camp project. So if anyone in Sabah reading this blog post feels embarrassed by the dirty condition of our local stilt village – too bad lah – this is the reality of our local surroundings - and if you do not like what you see, maybe it's time to do something about it!

We brought the participants to the jetty area where some PTI* kids came forward and blatantly asked us for money! WTF.

We told the cheeky buggers to go jump in the water – which they promptly did. Hah.

*PTI means 'Pendatang Tanpa Izin', which refers to illegal immigrants. Sabah has a huge illegal immigrant problem which the Malaysian government ~~refuses~~ has been unable to resolve for decades.

Next, we brought the Arkitrek Camp participants to the Sabah State Mosque. Admittedly, I have yet to ever step foot into the Sabah State Mosque, so it was an interesting experience to do so together with the rest of the group.

For religious modesty, the girls had to wear some baggy clothing before being allowed to step into the mosque's premises.

Woo Hoo! Hilarity!

The Sabah State Mosque started construction in 1971 and it took 4 years for the building to be completed in 1975. It was an international collaboration, with three countries involved in the project – namely Malaysia, Italy and Eygpt.

The gold-embossed calligraphy decorating the walls and dome of the mosque are the masterpieces of Egyptian craftsman, while the entire floor area of the mosque are of pure Italian marble. The architecture of the Sabah State Mosque consists of geometrical shapes and patterns and is echoed in its waffle-framed floor structures and concaved internal spaces.

Check out that dome detail. The chandelier in the middle of the photo was imported from Italy.

Water, light and stone are key elements of the Sabah State Mosque’s design, conveying lightness and tranquility to the ambience and the call to prayer.

Leaving the mosque, we headed to the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) centre where replica houses of several native communities could be seen.

Here, I gave the Arkitrek Camp participants a crash-course of Sabah traditional architecture before we adjourned for lunch in Hinompuka, a community-based cafeteria enterprise run by PACOS.

Yummy!

Our next stop was the Green Connection Aquarium and Science Discovery Centre located along Jalan Tuaran. For those who have yet to visit this place, it's awesome. Check it out...

It's a great place to bring the kids.

Evening arrived, and we made our way to Kipouvo village in Penampang, where the participants shared their sketches and first thoughts of their city tour of Kota Kinabalu. I was impressed by the participants’ observations of the small nuances that they noticed about our city, its people and culture. Sometimes its takes an outsider to point out special qualities that we locals take for granted.

We spend the night at Kipouvo, drinking rice wine, doing a couple of short talks and generally preparing for our trip to the island tomorrow.

It was hard to sleep that night - what with the rush of anticipation and questions running through my head. What would the island of Mantanani look like? What adventures would we be having during our time on the island? What kind of building would we be designing?

Stay tuned for more posts on Arkitrek Camp Mantanani 2011...

Yours sincerely.

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Atkinson Clock Tower Judicial Review: POSTPONED (again!) until 6th JUNE 2011

2011-04-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

The Judicial Review for the Atkinson Clock Tower has been postponed yet AGAIN - it was supposed to be today (20th April 2011)...this time it has been postponed till the 8th June 2011. I have no idea as to why but we can speculate that the developer, SHTDA and pro-shopping mall people are buying time to support their defense...or it could be simply because 6th June is a better date for the judge to preside.

Recap: A housewife and a social activist have launched a civil suit against KK city hall (DBKK), the Central Board as well as Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) for their part (and failure) to protect the historical value of the our 106-year old KK city landmark, the Atkinson Clock Tower by approving and encouraging the development of a 16-storey commercial shopping mall hotel just 6.3 metres away from the city landmark.

Thanks to the overwhelming public support for the Save Our Heritage Campaign to stop the 16-storey development from being built, the public outcry against this project (powered by Facebook and Sabahans, KK citizens, fellow Malaysians and supporters of Sabah heritage sites) has resulted in a stay of execution for the pristine, tree covered hill on which the historical clock tower stands overlooking the city of Kota Kinabalu.

Photo credit: Numen Chong

HOWEVER, the matter is not yet over, and if the Kota Kinabalu High Court rules in favor of the developer, the shopping mall will be built - and KK city will be forever bear the ugly scar of unwanted, insensitive commercial development in the very heart and soul of the city. If the 16-storey shopping mall is built on this hill - we, the citizens of KK will forever sit in the shadow of this PERMANENT concrete reminder that Sabah's state leaders failed to uphold good governance and allowed greed and corruption to ruin the city and future of all Sabahans.

Just because the clock tower sits alone on a small, green hill does not warrant nor justify the excuse of developing the area for commercial use.

Heritage issues aside, most KK citizens are aware that Signal Hill has a precarious history for landslide and such, building yet another heavy, high density commercial development here will not only kill the heritage value of the Atkinson Clock Tower but also lead to a host of other urban city problems including environmental problems, an increase of bottleneck traffic jams along Jalan Balai Polis and Jalan Istana, loss of tourism attraction and income for KK city as well as a perpetual embarrassment for Sabahans hosting visitors from overseas.

How are we going to explain to the world WHY our historical city landmark was sidelined by our state leaders - in favor of building a random SHOPPING MALL?! Is that not a reflection of corruption in its purest form?

If built, the 16-storey shopping mall will cut off the historical linkage between the KK town padang towards the clock tower and along the Post-WWII shoplots in the area known as Australia Place.

The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog hopes that the postponement of the ACT Judicial Review will not dampen the support of KK citizens, Sabahans and all heritage lovers in general towards a positive outcome of this court case. If anything, it is a clear indication that unseen forces are trying their best to manipulate the situation in their favor, in order to build this horrible building. We must double our efforts to speak up against this unwanted building and support the petition to turn the Atkinson Clock Tower hillside into a public recreation park, to be gazetted under State Heritage for perpetuity against unplanned commercial development in the city.

If you support our campaign to save our city landmark from unwanted commercial development (and to turn the area into a public park), there are TWO things that you can do...

1) Sign the Save Our Heritage - Atkinson Clock Tower Online Petition

2) Wear our SAVE OUR HERITAGE T-shirts - available at this link.

Do your part as caring Sabahans

Save the last of our heritage building sites in KK city.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard Nelson Sokial
The Sabah Architectural Heritage Blog

Photo credit: Kota Kinabalu High Court (http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u156/AhThien/IMG_3152.jpg). All other photos shared from Facebook's Heritage Sabah Community Page album.