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According to B3, he is having a problem to con-
tinue his business by declaring that,
” my sons do
not have any interest in building the traditional
Malay house”
. In this case, it caused the skill in
making a traditional Malay house to be moved
out from the industry. Lastly, B2 has expressed his
view towards the mentality of the public and the
Malay communities about a Malay cultural herit-
age product that is related with mystical elements.
Hence, not so many people do believe in the cul-
ture and will not continue the tradition. This
scenario happened to one of the Malay weapons
known as
Keris
where this product was only used
as 'furniture' during traditional Malay ceremony.
Overall, the weaknesses of Malay cultural heritage
in Melaka are lacking and inefficient in terms of
the record system, exposure, marketing and litera-
ture, the inheritor and mystic issue.
3.4
The threat of Malay cultural heritage
in Melaka
Malay cultural heritage is related and inherited by
the Malays in Melaka, Malaysia. Besides Malaysia,
the Malays can also be found in Thailand, Indone-
sia, Filipina, Cambodia, Brunei and South Africa.
Malay people are categorized differently accord-
ing to their ethnics which include Javanese, Bugis,
Minangkabau, Acehnese, aboriginal and
Perana-
kan
. Thus, A1 has stressed,
“The multi-ethnics have
caused difficulties in creating patent for the herit-
ages”
. For example, Batik Painting can be found
in Indonesia as well as Malaysia. However, which
one represents the Malay heritage? On the other
hand, B2 raised the competitive issue about Malay
cultural heritage. He said that,
“Malay handicraft
products such as Tanjak and Keris faced the com-
petition from neighboring countries. It is because
Tanjak and Keris made by neighboring countries are
more competitive as these countries offered lower
prices and produced an accep
table
quality”
. B1 said,
“Bangladesh also has factories that produced Tan-
jak”
. B2 added that most of the buyers preferred to
buy
Tanjak
and
Keris
from the outsiders because
of their cheaper price. B2 emphasized,
“Only activ-
ists in Malay cultural heritage can identify the dif-
ference in quality and the originality of this heritage
product”
. Besides that, B3 has similar views about
competitiveness. He said,
“I have tried to sell my
handmade crafts to one of the retailer in Bandar
Hilir at a price RM 18 per each. Unfortunately, the
retailer said the price is too expensive and decided to
buy my handmade crafts at RM 4 for each crafts”
.
This scenario shows that the handicraft offered by
other countries like Thailand, China and India can
be purchased at a cheaper price. Therefore, retailer
in Malaysia can sell the craft at a competitive price.
In conclusion, the threat of Malay cultural heritage
is a difficulty to patent the product as the Malays
consist of different ethnics and the competition
from other neighbouring countries like Thailand
and Indonesia are extremely high.
3.3
The opportunities of Malay cultural heritage
in Melaka
Based on secondary data and on site observation,
the tangible heritages such as Malay traditional
house, museums and a traditional village are
among the attractions that are always being visited
by many tourists in Melaka. However, only a few
attractions related to the intangible Malay herit-
ages were exposed to the tourists. This study has
found that the Malay cultural heritage in Melaka
specifically the intangible heritage has the poten-
tial to be the new tourist attractions in Melaka.
According to A1,
“The local authorities are now
focusing on the intangible cultural attraction that
is located outside of Bandar Hilir (Core Heritage
Zone) of Melaka”
. In this case, Malay cultural
heritage in the district of Jasin and Alor Gajah
has a chance to be promoted and commercialized
to the tourists. The other opportunity is creating
awareness about the existence of Malay cultural
heritage to the local people as well as domestic
and international tourists. B2 mentioned that
“... not all Malays noticed and know about Malay
cultural heritage. You can ask Malay people, espe-
cially the younger generation a simple question like
the name of traditional food; I believed that not all
of them are able to identify these elements”.
Thus,
by emphasizing on the Malay cultural heritage, it
would give opportunities to enhance the people's
knowledge and responsiveness to safeguard the
Malay identity. In summary, the Malay cultural
heritages have the opportunities to become a
new attraction in Melaka for the tourism related
authorities of Melaka have decided to focus on
the attraction that are located outside of Bandar
Hilir. Furthermore, the awareness towards Malay
cultural heritage could be created among local
public of Melaka and the tourists.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The Malay cultural heritage is about the Malay tra-
ditions that are still being practiced and well pre-
served until today. This study reveals that the Malay
community in Melaka is practicing the traditions;
however, it involves only a small percent of the
Malay community. These heritages are unique that
could attract tourists to see, learn and amaze with
the products. The Malay cultural heritages have
many different types. However, only few Malay
cultural heritages can be identified because of
lack of awareness and poor in documentation and
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