CHIEF MINISTER Lim Guan Eng’s decision on Jan 5 to allow the four controversial projects in the heritage zone to proceed has given the age-old debate between conservation and development an expected revival.

Lim stated that the projects must be allowed to proceed as all four adhered to the Town and Country Planning Act. The Act -- unlike the conditions of the WHS status award -- is legally binding. Lim was also quoted to have clarified that the projects did, in fact, comply with UNESCO conditions from a legal standpoint. In spite of this, Lim added that the state government would wait for UNESCO's suggestions on modifications to the projects before proceeding.

He also justified his actions by citing the ailing economy and that more hotel rooms would help boost tourism. Read more here on Lim's decision, here and here on how tourism could help the economies of Penang and Melaka in the present context. Some of the views of the developers had been expressed in this NST article in November here.

To an extent, many conservationists fear that the WHS award might create "a glorified theme park" out of the city, where businesses take full advantage of the expected rise in tourist arrivals and where city folk are wantonly displaced. Read here for a reaction last July immediately after George Town was inscribed a WHS and here on how people are being displaced to make way for new businesses. Related views on development have also been expressed in the blogs of Anil Netto here and Chan Lilian here. 

Such debates are of course ongoing everywhere. Read here on a Malaysian take on the Australian experience, here on the case of a city in China and here on an Indian experience.

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