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Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a
living heritage under Brunei Law.
Suniya Taimour
MA by Research [Environmental Studies].
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
31 July- 2013
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Abstract:
The research dissertation highlights the conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living heritage
under Brunei law, primarily the Antiquities and the Treasure Trove Act 2002(ATTA). It is
the belief of the authorities that if Kampong Ayer is conserved using the stated law, then it
will inherently take the right to evolve away from the inhabitants of the water village. The
research highlights the heritage value of Kampong Ayer, which can be conserved under law,
and further gives examples of global trends that have surfaced over the years for the
conservation of local living heritage. The crux of the dissertation is to analyse the ATTA and
apply it to Kampong Ayer, keeping in mind the concern of the relevant authorities in Brunei.
The paper highlights that the heritage value of Kampong Ayer lies in the culture, tradition
and history of Kampong Ayer, and therefore, distilling out the relevant features, ATTA can
be applied.
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Acknowledgements:
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my professor, Mr. Gabriel Yong Yit Vui for
continuous support, motivation, patience when I slacked and immense knowledge. I could not
have thought of a better supervisor for my study.
Besides my professor, there are a few other people who have contributed significantly
towards my research. Remy LE Blanc, a PhD student who was living in Kampong Ayer for
research purposes, he not only shared his experience of Kampong Ayer but also lent me his
materials for references some of which have been used in this paper.
I would like to thank Ms. Aimi Awang from the Attorney General’s Chambers for arranging
an interview with the research officer, Ms Mariani who arranged interview with Dr. Karim
from the Museum’s department and Dr. Karim himself who took out time from his schedule
to answer a few of my questions.
A special thanks to Dr. Alistair Woods, Dr. William Duane, and my friends who took me to
their homes in Kampong Ayer to meet their families.
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Table of Contents:
Chapter Title Page
Title Page
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of tables, figures and acronyms used
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………….1
1.1 Background of Research……………………………………………..1
1.2 Problem Statement……………………………………………………3
1.3 Aims and Objectives………………………………………………….3
1.4 Research Approach and Scope……………………………………….5
1.5 Significance of Research……………………………………………..5
1.6 Structure of the Report………………………………………………..6
2. Literature Review……………………………………………………………7
2.1 Heritage Conservation………………………………………………...7
2.2 UNESCO World Heritage Conservation……………………………..10
2.3 Heritage Conservation Laws…………………………………………12
2.3.1 Global Trends…………………………………………………….13
2.3.2 Islamic Perspective………………………………………………16
2.3.3 Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Laws…………………………..16
2.4 Kampong Ayer- a living heritage……………………………………16
2.4.1 Historical development of Kampong Ayer……………………...17
2.4.2 Heritage Value……………………………………………………18
2.4.3 Modern Kampong Ayer………………………………………….19
2.4.4 Issue with conservation of Ayer…………………………………20
3. Methodology…………………………………………………………………22
3.1 Research on Kampong Ayer………………………………………….22
3.1.1 Literature review and document studies…………………………23
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3.1.2 Interviews with experts………………………………………..24
3.1.3 Fieldwork……………………………………………………….26
3.2 Analysis of Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Law………………..28
3.3 Validation of Analysis…………………………………………….28
3.4 Summary…………………………………………………………..29
4. Analysis of Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Laws……………………31
4.1 Application of ATTA to Conservation of Kampong Ayer………31
4.2 Implication on Kampong Ayer residents…………………………33
4.3 Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living heritage……………35
4.4 Summary…………………………………………………………..37
5. Discussion and Conclusion………………………………………………39
5.1 Issues and Challenges…………………………………………….39
5.2 Limitations of research findings………………………………….41
5.3 Conclusion…………………………………………………………42
6. References…………………………………………………………………44
7. Appendices. ……………………………………………………………….49
A. Field Work. …………………………………………………………….49
B. Interview/Email correspondence with AGC and Museums…………..53
C. Discussion with Remy LeBlanc………………………………………..57
D. Tables of heritage value for UNESCO inscribed heritage sites. ……..59
E. Summary analysis and questionnaire sent to the authorities………….66
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1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the Research.
This research encompasses heritage conservation- both cultural and natural through
the use of laws with specific reference to Kampong Ayer in Brunei Darussalam. The
idea for conservation of natural and cultural heritage through a system of legislation
has been in place after World War I which led to the creation of an international
movement in 1972, merging two separate movements- the focus of preservation of
cultural sites and conservation of nature- , through the Convention Concerning the
Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Therefore, by regarding
heritage to constitute both natural and cultural heritage, it magnifies the ways in
which people interact with nature, the fundamental need to preserve and constitute a
balance between the two.
Kampong Ayer has been regarded as a heritage site by the local Brunei authorities and
various attempts have been made to conserve it. Kampong Ayer, most famously
known as the water village or the Venice of East, comprises of a living settlement
upon water which has evolved over the years and illustrates the traditional land use as
well as interaction between people and the environment to suit their specific needs.
This has been discussed in detail in the sections below.
However, since Kampong Ayer is a living heritage which is under constant evolution,
the local authorities, mainly the Museum’s Department in Brunei Darussalam, find it
difficult to conserve Kampong Ayer in its actual form using the current legislation-
The Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act 2002, which covers conservation and
protection of antiquities, ancient monuments and historical sites. Since the inhabitants
living in the water village have rights to develop along with the rest of the country and
in the process, according to what the authorities’ believe, through the superficial
interpretation of law, destroy the heritage value of the living settlement that they
occupy, they find it hard to conserve the settlement in its true form.
The government of Brunei has been an advocate in trying to maintain and support the
character of Kampong Ayer along with the communities present within it. The
government has been active in supporting infrastructure improvements, strategic
planning activities and housing improvement facilities; however these still do not
wholly address the issue of culture conservation. There have been various attempts at
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Kampong Ayer for a multitude of reasons. Asean Regional Centre for Biodiversity
Conservation in 2007, (Michael A Bengwayan, Nov 12, 2007, Pollution, cutting
Threaten Brunei Bay), noticed the rate of pollution increase within the former capital
of Brunei, which resulted in the Environment Unit of the Minitry of Development to
increase their efforts for waste disposal systems. The ARCBC further proposed a
conservation scheme to turn the Brunei Bay into an International Coastal Resource
Conservation Zone.Then there is the Kampong Ayer National Symposium: Culture,
Heritage and Preservation in 2009, (Deno Goh, Feb 5, 2009, Focus on Kampong Ayer
life and development, Brunei Times), where international speakers gathered to discuss
the problems associated with Kampong Ayer and its conservation due to its existence
upon water.
In 2010, ( Ubaidullah Masli, 28 april, 2010, Unesco listing seen as shot in the arm for
Kg ayer, Brunei Times) where the representatives of the government stated that listing
Kg Ayer as a UNESCO world heritage site would not only raise the status of the
water village internationally, but also nationally along with attracting investments and
will promote itself as a tourist attraction. Therefore, the government of Brunei ratified
the UNESCO World Heritage Convention on 12 August 2011. Then in February
2012, (www.bruneiembassy.be, 21, March 2012 Brunei eyes world heritage status for
Kg Ayer), a national committee was established along with a consultant from
Indonesia for the procedures for nominating Kampong Ayer on the World heritage
list.
Various other efforts for conservation of Kampong Ayer include alliance between the
Museum Department and Attorney general’s Chamber to come up with a legislative
statue which may be able to conserve Kampong Ayer as a living heritage.
More recently, in September (Quratulain Bandial, September 30, 2012, Nominate
Kuala Belelong as Unesco Site, Brunei times), a visiting UK professor in Brunei
stated that Kuala Belalong would be a better candidate for Unesco listing as it was
already being protected by various agencies and it has an international dimension to it
because a lot of researchers from around the world come there to conduct research, in
comparison to the water village which is facing a lot of urban and pollution problems.
Despite this, the government aims to enlist Kampong Ayer as a heritage site onto the
Convention, however, they are unable to distill values from the unique heritage which
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they want to conserve as the tangible form of the intangible culture. In my thesis, I
aim to highlight both these intangible and tangible values so that it may be easier for
the authorities to formulate a policy based upon conservation of specific values that
may represent the entire water settlement.
1.2 Problem Statement.
The main problem with conserving Kampong Ayer as a living heritage under Brunei
law, the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act 1967, is that the current law related to
ancient monuments, historical sites and antiquities is deemed by the authorities as
taking away the rights of the inhabitants to evolve with the rest of inhabitants on
water.
In order to answer this problem statement, various research questions have been
devised. First and foremost, what constitutes heritage around the globe. This will be
illustrated through examples of heritage from around the world. Following which, the
application of the World Heritage Convention will be looked into.
In order to focus on the concern of the authorities, global trends have to be analysed
with regard to conservation practices, with reference drawn to the Islamic principles
of conservation. Analysis of Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act 2002, will illustrate
the extent of application and the implementation for management to conserve
Kampong Ayer under ATTA.
After all these questions have been thoroughly examined and answered, can the
research turn to answer the initial question as to how can Kampong Ayer be
conserved under Brunei law as a living heritage.
1.3 Aims and Objectives.
The aim of the research is to examine how Kampong Ayer can be conserved as a
living heritage under Brunei law.
Elaborating on the section above, various preliminary researches have to be conducted
in order to come back to answer the primary research problem, that is, the
conservation of Kampong Ayer. The first step is to identify values inherent within
Kampong Ayer that constitute the settlement as a living heritage. To do this, in-depth
literature review will be conducted, looking through the history of Kampong Ayer, via
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various inscriptions that describe the beginning of the water settlement along with its
development to a modern living entity for which it stands today. Through the history
and development of Kampong Ayer, the heritage value will be deciphered by
identifying specific values that may be conserved.
Following the identification of the heritage values, an analysis of the current
legislation- The Antiquities and the Treasure Trove Act, will be carried out. To
properly analyze the Act, the purpose of act must be looked into along with the
application and the initial implementation of the stated legislation. To further analyze
the Act, its origin must be looked into, so as to see what the initial purpose of the
stated act was. This analysis will be able to highlight the areas where the Act can be
applied to Kampong Ayer for conservation and limitations that the Act faces in
conserving a living heritage site. These limitations will highlight the various
influences that the legislation has.
Following this, the notion of MIB, Islamic secularism in the state and influence of
British residency will be examined, as all three have substantial command over the
legal authorities, statues and all over governing of the state. This in turn includes
looking into through literary research for the notion and evolution of Malay Islamic
Beraja in Brunei and how it has come to be a part of the governance system and
legislative acts. Furthermore, being an Islamic state, Islamic secularism is especially
dominant which entails looking into conservation policy through the eyes of Islamic
values, and as per the history of Kampong Ayer/ Brunei requires, that is, it being
under British residency, the influence of English legal system within Brunei along
with how it actually manifested itself within the system may be looked at.
This will help in further highlighting any limitations that the act may have for
conserving Kampong Ayer and it may also shed light on why these certain limitations
must be a part of the system, if they are there.
Since, the government of Brunei is looking at UNESCO World Heritage Convention
as a means to conserving Kampong Ayer, therefore, lastly, after the identification of
heritage values, the analysis of the stated piece of legislation and the limitations of the
Act, the convention, along with its criteria and different heritage sites listed within the
Convention will be looked at. This will help in drawing out a comparative analysis,
such that various values, traditions that have already been conserved under the
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Convention, can be taken up as an example by the authorities to help them conserve
Kampong Ayer in such a way.
Following all of this, a clear understanding of all the issues stated above, will result in
a clearer picture for the conservation of Kampong Ayer, whereby this research will be
able to answer to the initial research question and the primary aim, which is, how
Kampong Ayer can be conserved as a living heritage under Brunei law.
1.4 Research Approach & Scope.
My approach towards the research is fairly the same as what I’ve described in aims
and objectives. It is pretty straight forward and has to be conducted in a systematic
step by step basis. First of all I aim to study the history of Kampong Ayer in order to
decipher the heritage value of the water village and to pick out specific values and
traditions that can be conserved under the Antiquities and treasure Trove Act.
Following this, an analysis of the stated legislation will be carried out, which will also
include researching into the origin of the stated act, researching on the influences
present in the implementation of legislation- Islamic secularism, British residency and
MIB. All these will in turn help highlight the limitations of the Antiquities and
Treasure Trove Act. The next step is to look at UNESCO World Heritage Criteria and
the heritage sites listed therein to draw a comparative analysis so that the heritage
values identified in Kampong Ayer can be conserved using examples already
available and approved by UNESCO.
The scope of the thesis mainly focuses on the existing Brunei law- the Antiquities and
Treasure Trove Act 1967, with an in depth analysis of the stated legislation. UNESCO
criteria will also be included with examples of heritage sites listed under the stated
criteria. Lastly, and most importantly, the scope of thesis revolves around Kampong
Ayer, the current water settlement pattern located in the old Bander Seri Begawan
area, for information on history, heritage value and interviews with the inhabitants.
1.5 Significance of Research
This research thesis will significantly contribute towards a multitude of issues. Firstly,
the issue of conservation of Kampong Ayer as a national living heritage through local
legislation- Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act, which the authorities at the moment
find difficulties in applying, will be dealt with in great detail and through the analysis
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of the Act, it will be apparent that the current Act can in fact be applied for
conservation of the water village as a living settlement, with a few amendments and
modifications.
The second issue that my thesis will deal with is the status of Kampong Ayer as a
living heritage in itself. Through review of the history of the water settlement, as well
as the development and fieldwork in the current Kampong Ayer location, heritage
value of the stated will be highlighted such that it will be easier to pin point what
exactly constitutes heritage within the water based settlement.
The third issue which will be dealt with is the Brunei laws in relation to UNESCO’s
heritage criteria with reference t Islamic law. My thesis through illustrations of
various sites inscribes onto the World Heritage List will demonstrate the advantages
as well as the shortcomings of the Act in relation to the World Heritage criteria along
with Islamic influence on the local legislation.
Lastly, this thesis will contribute to the conservation laws of not only Brunei, but also
to other developing countries, as it will provide an example to the states as to how to
conserve a heritage site, keeping in mind the importance of evolution and
development of man’s interaction with the environment. Moreover, it will contribute
to the current literature on heritage conservation as it provides a systematic way of
comparative analysis between a local heritage site of national interest with that of the
sites already inscribed on the UNESCO Convention. It will also look into the
importance of heritage conservation for a nation in general as well as signify the
importance of Kampong Ayer that has already been studied in great detail through the
Borneo literature.
1.6 Structure of Report.
The dissertation has been divided into seven distinct chapters. The first chapter is an
introductory chapter which chapter which describes the area of the research, which is
conservation of Kampong Ayer under local law and a brief insight into why is it
considered a heritage site worthy of conservation. The chapter further outlines the
recent updates within this sphere highlighting the efforts by the authorities to conserve
Kampong Ayer. The chapter also outlines briefly the shortcomings of the current
legislation- Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act which is used as a reference by the
authorities to conserve Kampong Ayer. In order to highlight the shortcomings,
various issues have to be studied beforehand, such as the history of water village or
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influence of Islamic secularism or MIB within the formation and implementation of
law which are also stated in this chapter.
Chapter 2 of the dissertation lays down the literature review for the research. This
chapter is further divided into five sub chapters and three sub headings. The chapter
begins by outlining the literature review for heritage conservation, the World Heritage
Convention and the heritage conservation laws globally, in Islam and in Brunei. The
chapter further lists down the literature review for Kampong Ayer which comprises of
the history, the modern, development, the heritage value and the primary issues which
arise in the conservation of Kampong Ayer. The chapter ends with a summary to
highlight the main points of the literature review.
Chapter 3 of the dissertation lays down the detailed research design and methodology
conducted as a part of this research. This is a step by step methodology of the research
conducted, which began with researching on Kampong Ayer though literature review,
the interviews with experts and field work. The chapter then describes the research
approach and design for the analysis of ATTA and the validation method chosen for
the analysis of ATTA.
Chapter 4 of the dissertation is the crux of the research which illustrates the analysis
of ATTA with regard to Kampong Ayer. This section is divided three main
components which discuss the application of ATTA: the application of ATTA to
Kampong Ayer for conservation as national heritage, the implications on the
inhabitants of this conservation and conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living
heritage through various examples of continuing the past.
Chapter 5 of the dissertation lays down the discussion and conclusion which is further
divided into three categories: the issues and challenges faced in conservation of
Kampong Ayer, the limitations of the research dissertation and the conclusion of the
main findings of the research.
Chapter 6 lists down the references used as a part of the dissertation and Chapter 7
contains the appendices attached as a part of this dissertation to supplement the
research.
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2. Literature Review.
2.1 Heritage Conservation.
Heritage Conservation includes conservation of cultural, natural and physical
attributes of a society or a group which are thought to be necessary components of
protections because of their importance to the society and their continued presence
from the past to the future generations. Blake, 2000, gives a description of the
beginning of the era of heritage conservation whereby, it began by aiming to protect
the folklore, also known as works of expression. Blake gives a detailed description of
the role of UNESCO throughout the history in aiming to conserve heritage, and more
specifically oral and intangible heritage, which gained popularity in 1889 through the
UNESCO program on Masters Pieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage. Jha et al,
2010, describes the importance that UNESCO has laid on heritage conservation, gives
an account of the approach undertaken by World Bank in order to conserve cultural
heritage. In their book on Reconstructing after natural disasters, Jha et al, illustrate the
importance of community based approaches to heritage conservation, through
examples of heritage projects undertaken at various intervals in different countries,
such as reconstruction of heritage in 1998 in Georgia after an occurrence of a natural
disaster, the rehabilitation program in 1993 in Mahrashtra, India, the 2003
reconstruction in Iran after the Bam Earth quake etc. All these disaster management
programs for heritage conservation illustrate the importance of conservation through
taking into account coordination between disaster management and heritage
conservation authorities, creating incentives for inhabitants and harmonization of
settlements with local cultural and natural heritage. Steinberg, 1996, addresses the
issue of conservation of old inner city areas in developing countries, and urban
heritage, such as monuments must be seen as a part of conservation areas, and their
integration into modern use will enhance their conservation and revitalization.
Blake, 2000, sheds further light on the topic by stating that amalgamation of various
laws such as the intellectual property laws with conservation of cultural or intangible
heritage is efficient in order to achieve harmonization between legal technicalities and
the interests of the community.
Bizzaro and Nijkamp, 1996, in their article express the importance of heritage
conservation of a particular place because it allows the people to recognize the
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identity, the peculiarity, and the plurality of the society itself and satisfy the main
ethical needs and considerations of a community through its tradition and local
distinctiveness. Bhattarai, 2003, argues that cultural heritage resources are non
replaceable and they must be conserved before they are completely exhausted.
Ashworth and Phelps, 2002, state that conservation is an inherent result of a
consciousness of a group with regard to the sense of a particular place. Imon, 2006
states the importance of conservation of historic urban centers is important for the
specific purpose of sustainable development of the whole town.
Lemaire and Stovel in The Nara Document of Authenticity, 1993, underlines the
fundamental principle in the UNESCO Convention on Heritage Conservation,
whereby conservation of heritage of one state or party is the conservation of heritage
for all the people. The document further elaborates on the tangible and intangible
components of heritage which require conservation. Dialoo and Pannekoek, 2008 base
their analysis on this fundamental principle and describe the relationship of heritage
conservation with an interaction between culture and nature by highlighting the
efforts of UNESCO in evolving their definition of heritage conservation to capture the
essence of varied cultures throughout the globe. Through examples of cultural
landscapes, the article highlights the integrated approach between the domestic
professionals and international bodies necessary for heritage conservation. Loulanski,
2006, on the other hand criticizes this approach to conservation by stating that the
paradigm of heritage conservation has shifted from preservation per se to sustainable
use, from monument to people and from objects to functions. He argues that a holistic
approach to heritage conservation must be undertaken through reexamination and re
adaptation of the conceptual framework of heritage conservation. Similarly, Shehayab
and Sedkey, 2002, give illustrations from Arab-Islamic countries, Cairo, Egypt,
Damascus and Syria, and state that heritage conservation is not only conservation of
built heritage but also the living context around it. The set of perceived values by the
inhabitants and the professionals is different where the former concentrate on
maximizing the values that they practice in their daily lives, whereas the latter is
concerned with increasing the aesthetic and historic value of the place which results in
a ban on the acts of inhabitants which diminish the aesthetic value. The authors state
that the attempts at sustainable conservation must be re thought with regard to
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interventions and perceptions that contribute or detract from the heritage
conservation.
An ample amount of studies have been conducted for heritage conservation taking
place in different countries around the world. Kwanda, 2009, highlights the notion of
conservation inscribed within UNESCO to be a western notion suggesting that the
conservation tradition should be written keeping in mind the Asian traditions that
have emphasized through years the spiritual meaning of people which is reflected
through objects and the tradition of reconstruction of perishable structures in
comparison to material authenticity as laid down in the west. Such that Idrus,
Khamidi, and Sodangi, 2010, highlight the faults in the conceptual framework for
management of Malaysian heritage sites, focusing on the problems specific to an
Asian country; along with proposing a framework for holistic guidance. Pant and
Funo, 2007, illustrates the conflicts that arise due to conservation, with specific
reference to Patan, Nepal. They authors state that heritage conservation provides
physical continuity with the past but it also puts an immense pressure for development
and alterations as the cultural significance of a place will attract people.
2.2 UNESCO World Heritage Conservation.
The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has been said to be the most effective
legal instrument which is used for protection and conservation of natural and cultural
heritage (Strasser, 2002), and the sites inscribed within are not only attractions for
tourism but symbolize national identity (Shackley, 2006). Convention concerning the
protection and of the world cultural and natural heritage in 1972, as a result of the
campaign to save Abu Simbel temples in Nile Valley in 1959 and the 1966 efforts to
save Venice from disastrous floods that threatened the city. The Convention was
ratified in 1977 and has to date 187 signatory members, with the World Heritage List
comprising of 911 sites out of which 180 are natural sites, 704 sites are cultural and
27 are mixed sites. The Convention highlights 10 criteria for inclusion into the list,
laid down in the Operational Guidelines for the implementation of the World Heritage
Convention1, whereby the sites must meet at least one of the criteria and where a site
meets both the criteria for natural and cultural site then it is enlisted as a mixed site.
These ten criteria are: masterpiece of human creative genius, an important interchange
1 http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/ . Accessed on 16-07-2013.
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between human values, unique testimony to a cultural tradition, outstanding example
of a type of building, example of a traditional human settlement or land use, direct or
tangible association with living traditions, contain superlative natural phenomena,
representation of major stages of earth’s history, and contain important natural
habitats for conservation.
Cleere, 2006, highlights these criteria and the formal process for designation of world
heritage sites, the different groups of stakeholders involved such as the advisory
committee, the government of the country proposing the nomination and the politics
associated with the designation process and the stakeholders. Tunney, 2005,
highlights the advantages of being enlisted onto the World Heritage Convention, such
as increased tourism and sense of national identity. Lenzerini, 2011, in his article
commends the efforts that have been undertaken by UNESCO in the implementation
of the Convention and describes in detail the components of intangible cultural
heritage and the importance that it has which makes it worthy of conservation.
Hamburg Consulting, 2007, in their report, give examples of various case studies of
UNESCO world Heritage sites and explain that this inscription has been beneficial in
four major ways: enhanced funding for a variety of purposes, increasing awareness
and educational initiatives, enhanced image for tourism and opportunities for local
product branding.
Barillet, Joffroy, and Longuet, 2006, in their article serve to guide the African
governments with regard to the benefits of World Heritage listing such as increased
revenue, creation of jobs, local populations pride and dignity. Similarly, Albert,
Richon, Vinals and Witcomb, 2012, state the benefits of involving the community in
heritage conservation practices such as heritage should be understood as a cultural
construct and the convention should be interpreted as a development policy for the
present which would lead to community involvement and benefit the whole country.
Frey and Steiner, 2011, on the other hand state that the World Heritage List does not
make sense at all, where there are positive effects of the inclusion on to the list; they
also put a burden through selection of sites through a list of criteria, rent seeking, and
the interests of the political government and the commercial industry. This inclusion
can also lead to deterioration of the site through over tourism and the creation of an
attractive spot for destruction during wars and attacks. Aoki, 2008, in his article lays
down the same argument as Frey and Steiner, and states with specific reference to the
enlisting of Hiroshima in Japan, by emphasizing that the biggest threat to these
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heritage sites in Japan was posed by the property and environmental damage caused
by influx of tourists. He also gave examples of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama sites that
after inscription had doubled their tourism but the increase in numbers of cars and
buses on the roads had effected the tranquility of the area for the residents. Dumper
and Larkin, 2009, similarly give example of Jerusalem, and state the problems with
interventions of international heritage by the UNESCO through a conflict with
nationalistic values and the international heritage policies whereby it compromises the
sovereignty of the state. Staiff and Onghluap, 2012, in their case study on Ayutthaya,
Thailand, state that Ayutthaya, a water based settlement, was inscribed onto the world
heritage list in 1991, and it was highlighted that tourism has in fact posed tension for
the inhabitants as there is a conflict between economic well being and the values of
the inhabitants. With the onset of foreigners in their midst the inhabitants have
experienced cultural contamination and the interaction with strangers has revealed
what is deeply valued by the inhabitants. Similarly, Witcomb, 2012, looks at the
implications of inscribing the Fremantle Prison, Australia onto the world heritage list.
The actual nomination for the site took place in 2008 but was rejected; the author
highlights the Butter Charter signed by Australia, which primarily, emphasized the
importance of separating the significance of the heritage from management,
interpretation and conservation issues. The author states various recommendations
within the nomination procedure in order to ensure this transparency which would
result in less pressure on the governments. On the other hand, Anderson, 2002, gives
an illustration of how site managers can manage the tourism influx into heritage sites
by creating a balance between economic gains of heritage tourism and undesirable
impacts, by, amongst other things, ensuring that some portion of the revenue
generated through tourism heritage should remain within the community so that it can
be used for restoration, conservation and enhance local protection.
2.3 Heritage Conservation Laws
Throughout the world, countries have drafted and implemented various heritage
conservation laws to guide them with the heritage conservation process. This section
highlights four key countries that have implemented heritage conservation laws. Most
importantly, it is imperative to consider the British Heritage conservation law, since
after the residency system in Brunei Darussalam, the British residence designed the
legal policies for the state and to date, there is considerable influence within Brunei
law from the British law.
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The primary Act of legislation that governs the heritage conservation principles are
Ancient Monuments and Archeological Areas Act 1979 – which laid down provisions for
investigation, conservation and recording matter relating to monuments and archeological
areas; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990- which was enacted
to ensure special controls with regard to areas of special architectural or historic interest,
the National Heritage Act 1983, National Heritage Act 2002, and, Planning and
Compensation Act 1991.
Brunei laws are also close to Malaysian laws, and it is thought that the dissertation would
have a better idea of the Brunei law through an insight into the Malaysian heritage
conservation law. The basic act governing heritage in Malaysia is the National Heritage
Act, 2005. It is very extensive and covers issues regarding natural, tangible, intangible
cultural heritage, underwater cultural heritage and treasure troves. The Act establishes a
national heritage council, a heritage fund, a national heritage register, and procedure for
the designation of a heritage site. The act further states the process for conservation and
protection of a designated site.
In Thailand, the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environment Quality Act,
1992, was developed to protect cultural heritage by deeming it to be a part of the cultural
environment, to create conservation zones and in amalgamation with local authorities,
issue policies and regulations for the same.
Australia, after repealing Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975, enacted the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 which establishes two
lists: the national heritage list and the commonwealth heritage list. Then the Australian
Heritage Council Act 2003 established the Heritage Council, with the main function of
providing advice and assessing the nomination of sites for both the lists.
2.3.1 Global Trends.
Lockhart, 2008, states that historic environment is a valuable resource which
should be sustained for both the present and the future generations. He
highlights various shortcomings within the UK legislation on heritage
conservation and devises various guidelines which amongst other things focus
on simple language to ensure efficient interpretation and effective policy
formulations subsequently. Tiamsoon, 2005, gives an illustration of the
development of heritage conservation law within Thailand, which essentially
began in 1906 and to date the government has established various policy
14
legislations which have not been adequate at objectifying the heritage property
for its true worth.
Zimmer, 2010, contends that various global management practices of cultural
heritage are stemming from communist and colonial models. There have been
unique successes and failure of management practices by all the countries,
developed or under developed, and even though the world has come a long
way with regard to the said practices there is a need to make museums and
warehouse collections into accessible institutions.
Yuen and Hock, 2001, gives an illustration of heritage conservation from
Singapore and states that the increased sensitivity of Singapore towards
heritage conservation is merely the result of a strategic development to
increase tourism in the country. Lim and Yuen, 1988, state that in 1985
Singapore launched detailed study to conserve the historic areas of Kampong
Glam, China town, little India and Singapore River. In amalgamation, Lui,
1990, notes that Singapore does not aim for the retention of their old districts
but also work towards an improved environment of the particular place.
Within United Kingdom, there exists the English heritage department which is
concerned with the designation of conservation areas. Through a prescribed
procedure, United Kingdom has devised the National Heritage List for
England which includes listed building, monuments, wreck sites, gardens,
parks etc. There are various pieces of legislation that govern the designation of
these sites and then the subsequent management of these sites, which has been
described in the previous section. The English heritage department itself is a
statutory advisory body, and was formed under the National Heritage Act
1983. The United Kingdom currently has 20,000 scheduled monuments, 1600
registered parks and gardens, 28 world heritage sites and almost 50,000 listed
buildings (Brightman, 2012).
In Europe, Europa Nostra, is the primary federation which is working for the
conservation of culture in line with the rapid increase in the concern by the
Europeans to conserve their heritage. The Europa Nostra acts as a
representative body for cultural heritage, revitalizes the monuments and
landscapes which are in danger,
2.3.2 Islamic Perspective.
15
It is imperative to discuss Islamic principles with regard to environment and
its conservation because it is the religion that has shaped the way of living,
administration and even legal facets of Brunei.
Islam has been said to be way of life which governs all the aspects of Muslims
life. Khalid, 2002, states that the environment is God’s creation and quotes
various inscriptions from the Quran which make the humans responsible for
the safeguarding of the environment. Such that, God has created everything
for mankind and appointed man as vice regents on earth (6:167). Deen, 1990,
also gives examples from Quranic inscriptions to demonstrate the importance
of environment and there its conservation. He gives examples from the time of
Prophet Muhammad and states that the concept of protection of zones (himil)
and the protection of unused areas by the government (rima) has been in place
since the Prophet’s time. He further states that the conservation of
environment should be sustainable so as to protect it for future generations.
Baraka, 2011, in an interview inscription writes that human beings are
deputies on the earth and therefore it is the responsibility of humans to
conserve the environment. It was also stated in the interview that in 2007 there
was a fatwa against burning of rice straw and any similar acts which may harm
the environment in any way are further prohibited.
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2008, launched
the first conservation guide based on Islamic principles in Zanzibar. It uses
examples from Quran to help the fisherman conserve their fishing resources.
Similarly, Mallat, 1995, lays down the importance of water management
within Islam through inscriptions from the Quran, such as ‘’we made from
water every living thing’’ (21:30), and the Sunnah, whereby it is stated that
human beings together own three things, fire, pastures and water. Through
these verses he demonstrates the importance water used for ablution and
subsequently the need for proper management of water so that it is conserved.
Attalah et al, 1999, illustrates the water management and conservation
practices that have been in place in the Eastern Mediterranean region based on
Islamic principles with primary focus on public awareness and participation.
16
2.3.3 Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Laws.
Currently, two pieces of legislation govern the heritage conservation of
Brunei. The Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act 2002, is the primary source of
legislation which governs the designation and classification of heritage
conservation. These categories include antiquities, historical sites, ancient
monument, historical objects and treasure trove. The act further lays down the
procedure for designation of such a site, the requirements a site must fulfill for
a classification under the Act and the powers of the Museums Department for
regulation of such sites. This Act is directly applicable to Kampong Ayer.
The Protected Areas and protected places Act 1984, governs the regulations
for protected areas or places that may be declared as such where the Minister
feels that the movement of people should be conducted. For the purposes of
this research thesis, this Act is not applicable to Kampong Ayer.
Bugna, 2002, illustrates the application of these acts and various others that
have been used for the conservation of places within Brunei. Other acts that
are concerned with conservation issues are Forest Act 1984- which deals with
biodiversity issues; Wildlife Protection Act 1978- lays down provisions for
wildlife conservation and protection; Land Code 1982 and Land Acquisition
Act 1949-which primarily deal with management of lands; Town and Country
Planning Act- measures for development of urban settlement and planning;
and the Fishers Enactment 1972-which governs principles on areas that may
not be used for fishing or any other exploitative activities.
2.4 Kampong Ayer- a living heritage.
2.4.1 Historical Development of Kampong Ayer.
Kampong Ayer has a long standing in tradition, culture and history itself. In
order to point out the heritage features of Kampong Ayer, various authors
have written accounts of history of Kampong Ayer which range from
European sources to early Chinese transcripts. One such complete account of
the history of Brunei is by Brown (1970) which gives detailed history of both
the pre and post colonial rule in Brunei with clear heading to distinguish each
era. He describes the indigenous accounts which illustrate the founder of
17
Brunei to be a descendant from heaven. Irwin(1955) is a European source who
describes in detail the rivalry and struggle of power between the Europeans
and the Brunei people. He makes specific reference to Spanish attacks, one of
which was the Castile War. In his account Irwin describes the war to have
been won by the Spanish where as a contrasting Brunei source, Sanders, 1994,
in his account describes the Castile War to have a victory for the Brunei army
who succeeded in driving the Spanish army out of the country.
Where Brown, 1970, gives a complete account of both Chinese and European
travelers and settlers in Brunei, Tenishev and Feng (1958) provide the account
of Brunei’s history through a Chinese inscription which concentrates mostly
on the implications of Chinese settlement within Brunei and how the Chinese
introduced their pottery and trade system within Kampong Ayer for the first
time. Braiglinn, 1992, provides a hierarchal account of the Sultans of Brunei
and the accomplishments that has been achieved during each reign. He also
states the development of monarch system through the water based settlement
and its subsequent growth towards the land.
2.4.2 Heritage Value.
The heritage value of Kampong Ayer lays not only in the history but most
importantly in the traditions that have emerged and have been followed by the
inhabitants. According to Yunos, 2007, Kampong Ayer most likely shifted to
its current location on the banks of Brunei River, during the civil war between
the 13th
and 14th
Sultans of Brunei, from 1660 to 1673.
LeBlanc, 2010, 2011, gives an accurate account of the traditions practiced by
the inhabitants of Kampong Ayer. He states that the houses revolve around the
people and their needs rather than the other way round. He gives example of
the large open space outside the house for communal gatherings, the presence
of two doors at opposite ends of the house in order to let any bad sprits pass
through etc. Through his research it is apparent that the traditions of the
inhabitants are what needs to be conserved. However these are the intangible
components. Each intangible component must be matched with a tangible
component so that it can be conserved.
18
It must be pointed out that the houses, despite being representative of the
inhabitants way of life cannot be conserved because they are made of wood
which will perish in due course of time (Le Blanc, 2010).
Apart from the political rivalry, and the residency rule, it was the legacy
illustrated through skirmishes with armies from Spain that have acquired a
status which shows the downfall as well as the uplifting of the state of Brunei.
The Castile War 1578, which has conflicting accounts by both the local people
and the European inscriptions, provide a view into Brunei that went through a
period of downfall and managed to rise above through it under the
commandment of Pengiran Bendahara Sakam. The events of this war as
recalled today are a symbol of deceit, power, bravery and most of all, the
person who led the Brunei army to win the battle. The heritage feature is the
legacy that has been brought down which demonstrates power of the state at
that time.
The religion itself is an inherent part of the lives of people of Brunei and
Kampong Ayer (Talib, 2002). There are various ceremonies and structures that
symbolize the long standing traditions of Islam, such as the mosques present
within Kampong Ayer.
The legacy of Brunei can be traced back to the rulers who were based in
Kampong Ayer and made the latter a hub of financial activities ( Black, 2008).
The water village hosts grand palaces from the time that it came into
existence. However, not all palaces are still intact, but the remains of these
palaces, found in Kampung Tumasek (Istana Bandong, which is stone’s throw
away from Istana DurulHana), and on a hill facing the Kampong Tamoi and
Kampong Burung Pinggai Ayer ( Istana Mahkota of Sultan Ahmed Tajuddin)
serve as a means of grandeur and history within that period in time (Yunos,
2012).
The bakut areas present within Kampong Ayer serve as a means of reminder
to the inhabitants of the activities that took place over there. For example,
Bakut China was initially occupied by Chinese traders. Various other bakuts
19
had been used by the inhabitants for the purposes of communal gatherings,
farming etc (Pelita Brunei) 2.
The Kampong Ayer Cultural Tourism Gallery, located with the water village,
is established to provide visitors and locals with a glimpse of the water
village’s celebrated past and revive the cottage industries from the days of old,
integrating them into the modern economy. The gallery is operated by the
Brunei Tourism Board with assistance from the Brunei National Museum. The
exhibits and artifacts in the mini galleries depict the various periods in
Kampong Ayer history. There are thematic exhibitions, and live
demonstrations of handicraft are presented and sometimes, cultural
performances are also available at certain times. A video presentation of life at
Kampong Ayer is also present at the AV Room. There is also an Observation
Tower for panoramic views of the Kampong Ayer and its surrounding
landscape at the top of the tower. There are five galleries: Gallery 1 exhibits
Kampong Ayer in the 10th century, Gallery 2 exhibits Kampong Ayer in the
14th century, Gallery 3 exhibits Kampong Ayer in the 19th century, Gallery 4
exhibits Kampong Ayer’s economic development, and Gallery 5 exhibits
social development within Kampong Ayer. This forms a part of the heritage o
Kampong Ayer since firstly it illustrates different eras of Kampong Ayer with
a variety of models such as artifacts, silverware, clothes etc, and second, it is a
means of conserving the history and the tradition of Kampong Ayer so that the
locals as well as foreigners can look into the past.
However, the gallery glimpses into the past of Kampong Ayer, what is
required is a concrete plan to conserve not only the history or certain
traditions, but also the sites found within the water village that are worthy of
conservation.
2.4.3 Modern Kampong Ayer.
Brown, 1970, not only illustrates the history of Kampong Ayer, but the later
sections by Brown illustrate the development of Brunei from Kampong Ayer
which was the administrative hub and a centre of traditions. Another good
2 Stated by Penghulu Mukim birdPinggai Kampong Ayer in First Commercial Centre Brunei, Dk, Hajah Fatima Pg
Haji Md. Noor, Pelita Brunei.
20
source was by Saunders (1994) who also gave a historical account of the
development of Kampong Ayer, however, Saunders, along with Leake (1990)
go beyond the account written by Brown and give description of the modern
day Brunei, with the development of different offices primarily legal and court
authorities, along with the retained influence of Britain within Brunei up till
1994. Mundy (1948) and Low (1880) make specific reference to the entrance
of Britain within Brunei and their gradual entrenchment within the system
with specific regard to the role of James Brooke. Horton (1984) on the other
hand identifies systems that were established under the Residency system.
Brunei had greatly changed after the arrival of Islam within the country and
Black, 2005, states that the country’s ideology is based on the principles of
Islam. The author makes specific reference to Malay Islamic Bereja and states
that it is based on Islamic principles with absolute obedience to the Sultan.
Black, 2008, further states the impact of MIB on law whereby most of the
administrative actions, dispute resolution and legal provisions are based on an
amalgamation of Islamic principles and the British regulations and policies.
Talib, 2002, further describes the presence of a monarch within Brunei,
through its development in the initial times and its continued existence in
Brunei through the MIB ideology.
2.4.4 Issues with conservation of Kampong Ayer.
According to the initial interview with Dr. Karim from the Museums
Department, it was found that the main problem with conservation of
Kampong Ayer as a living heritage lies in the fact that it is a water based
living heritage and therefore conserving it would take away the rights of the
inhabitants in the water village to evolve and develop. These concerns are not
unwarranted, reference is drawn to the conservation study done by Staiff and
Onghluap, 2012, on Ayutthaya, a water based settlement in Thailand.
Amongst other concerns of the implications of listing as a world heritage sites,
the authors state that the conservation process has been a long and tedious one
since the authorities had to delve into how to conserve the particular
settlement. It was found that there were various restrictions placed on the
21
activities of the inhabitants and therefore the authorities must strike a balance
between the economic gains from tourism and the rights of the inhabitants.
Miura, 2008, states that the main problem in conservation of living heritage
lays in the contest between cultural and economic resources and the control of
space between the stakeholders, primarily the inhabitants and the authorities
responsible for conservation. He speaks in relation to Angkor in Cambodia,
whereby stating that through exclusion of the residents from the decision
making process there is a deficiency of anthropological policies whereby
leading the residents to be unsatisfied towards the whole conservation process.
Filippi, 2005, also states the importance of conservation of a living heritage
based on the involvement of communities. Giving examples from the
Mediterranean Basin, the author states that there has been observed a growing
resentment amongst the residents since most of their activities within the
conservation area have been stopped thereby leading to the exclusion of their
basic rights.
Tzonis et al, 2008, gives example of Dayan town in Lijiang, Yunan province
of China, and states that conservation of a living heritage has had substantial
negative impacts on the residents. The conservation program was designed
according to the physical aspects of the community, and not to the traditions
and the needs of the people which in turn had disastrous impact on the
residents themselves. Their movements were restricted, they were not allowed
to go about their activities because it infringed the conservation guidelines and
therefore ended up moving out of the settlement.
22
3. Methodology.
This section explains and describes the methodology employed as a part of my
research along with highlighting the research methods which were deployed as my
choice of methods. The methodology encompasses used both analytical and inductive
research in order to answer the primary problem statement, that is conservation of
Kampong Ayer as a living heritage.
With regard to my research I was interested in not only analysing the law on heritage
conservation in Kampong Ayer but also highlighting the heritage features of
Kampong Ayer that can be conserved under the law along with looking at the barriers
to such conservation.
Establishing the focus of my research dissertation was fairly easy since I was
interested in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the authorities, primarily,
the Museums Department were aiming to inscribe Kampong Ayer on the World
Heritage List. Research is usually said to be motivated by the researcher’s own values
(Baxter et al, 1999), which is necessary if one wants to continue to have an interest in
the research and gain prior and post knowledge regarding the topic. It further helps in
highlighting the strengths and weakness of the study.
Identification of the research problem is the first step in conducting research (Cohen
and Manion 1994). In this case, the problem seems to be that where it is possible to
conserve Kampong Ayer under the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act 2002 (ATTA),
it prohibits the inhabitants to do certain acts which subsequently took away their right
to develop with the rest of the country.
Continuous literature review and reading were mandatory to the research dissertation.
Research objectives were formed as a result of this literature review. Within the
literature review I have aimed to highlight the major studies done within this context,
on both the heritage of Kampong Ayer and the issues with conservation through an
illustration of global trends towards heritage conservation.
3.1 Research on Kampong Ayer.
Research on Kampong Ayer was done in three stages: literature review and
documented studies, interviews with experts and field work. All three had an impact
on my research dissertation and provided valuable insight into the history and issues
of Kampong Ayer.
23
3.1.1. Literature Review and document studies.
Continuous literature review was imperative to the purposes of the research
dissertation. The research involved the use of both systematic and traditional literature
review techniques.
The primary objective of the literature review and the document studies was to gain
an understanding of the water village and its development. This was important if
Kampong Ayer has to be distinguished as a living heritage and conserved as same.
When the focus of the study was established, a wide range of primary and secondary
research sources were employed which ranged from online research tools to academic
text books and journals of the Brunei Museum.
From the beginning of the research, it was apparent that there was not a sufficient
amount of data available online on the development of Kampong Ayer. Therefore,
most of the research was conducted through the library of the Brunei Museums
Department. A wide range of journal articles written by local authors as well as
historical inscriptions on the history and development of Kampong Ayer were found
in the possession of the Museums library. One frustrating limitation was the language
barrier, whereby I could not understand a large amount of literature that was written
in the Malay language and therefore was unable to use any valuable information from
there.
Since there was a limit to the number of photocopies that could be made from a
certain book or an article, I would mostly sit in the Museums library and continue
with my research. This involved reading a large amount of articles and picking out
contrasting views of certain events such as the Castile Wars between Brunei and
Spaniards.
The systematic approach to literature review and documented studied aimed at
synthesizing together the results of various smaller scale studies that had been
conducted with regard to conservation of Kampong Ayer.
On a broader perspective, in conjunction to the research on Kampong Ayer, research
was also conducted on UNESCO, the world heritage convention and the global trends
observed in conserving heritage sites. This was done with a preliminary research on
24
the convention itself and identifying the ten different criteria mentioned within the
Convention, which may be applicable to Kampong Ayer.
In order to justify the use of a specific criterion within Kampong Ayer, along with the
ways of conserving the water village through the national law, examples were taken
from UNESCO heritage inscribed sites. This exercise was done in great detail, and
Appendix D, summarises the heritage value and the conservation practices unique to a
specific area or a practice that was inscribed on the World Heritage Convention.
3.1.2. Interviews with experts.
The opinion of the authorities is imperative in the conservation of Kampong Ayer.
The authorities within Brunei, primarily the Museums Department, are responsible for
the management and conservation of Kampong Ayer. Three different experts were
interviewed as a part of the research dissertation.
3.1.2.1 Meeting with Remy LeBlanc.
The first expert that was interviewed was Remy LeBlanc, who was a PhD student,
residing within Kampong Ayer and studying the vernacular architecture and the urban
evolution of Kampong Ayer. My professor, Mr. Gabriel Yong informed me about
Remy’s expertise and therefore a meeting was arranged with Remy through email
correspondence. He was very helpful in providing an insight into the values and
culture of the inhabitants of Kampong Ayer. This meeting was more of a discussion
with Remy, rather than an interview. The discussions took place over a course of three
meetings at the university library, where Remy shared his various research papers that
he had written as a part of his dissertation, along with various maps that he had
constructed which showed the urban evolution of Kampong Ayer. He primarily
discussed how the houses and the architecture were representative of the inhabitants
themselves and in order to conserve Kampong Ayer, the inhabitants must be allowed
to go about their daily lives without restrictions.
The meetings with Remy, varied between an hour to two hours, during which he
provided figures, maps and his personal experiences of the inhabitants that helped me
in defining the cultural and traditional aspect of Kampong Ayer that had evolved in
the form of architectural houses.
25
Meetings with Remy were held in conjunction with visits to Kampong Ayer, so that
not only Remy’s experience and insight of Kampong Ayer could be validated but also
that the various observations made during the field work could be seen in
amalgamation with Remy’s personal experiences.
3.1.2.2 Interview with Dr. Karim
Dr. Karim Othman, the director of the Brunei Museums Department was interviewed
on 12th
May 2012. The interview date was given after quiet some time had passed. In
order to get information on how the Museums Department viewed the Kampong Ayer
and its conservation, a letter to request a meeting with the relevant person was sent to
the Museums Department. I met with Ms. Aminah who was the archaeology officer in
the Museums Department, however, she was unable to answer my questions so she
redirected me to Mr. Pudarno who finally redirected me to Dr. Karim.
The meeting with Dr. Karim was comparatively short and lasted for about half an
hour in which due to his busy schedule he rushed through the questions with me. The
purpose of the interview was to get an insight into how the authorities viewed
Kampong Ayer and the current conservation law, the Antiquities and Treasure Trove
Act. A series of questions were designed from the preliminary data that had been
collected from interview with Remy, the field work and the literature review. This
meeting highlighted points that are imperative to the discussion of this research
dissertation, discussed in Chapter 5 below. The complete excerpt from the meeting
with Dr. Karim has been attached as Appendix A. This answers from the meeting
were transcribed and helped in designing the questions for the Attorney Generals
Chambers.
3.1.2.3 Meeting with the Attorney Generals Chambers
In order to get a meeting with the research officer at the AGC, a letter to request a
meeting was sent, which took considerably long to reply. Upon my first meeting with
the research officer Ms. Aimi Awang, on the 28th
May-2012, I described the purposes
of my research and then reason for the request to meeting. I informed her that I had
met Dr. Karim earlier as well. She noted down my questions and stated that she would
get the relevant person to meet me in order to answer these questions. The second
meeting took place on the 28th
May-2012 with Ms. Adina Aliddin, who answered my
26
questions. There seemed to be disparity between the answers of Dr. Karim and Ms.
Adina, which would be the consequence of the fear of revealing information to a
foreigner. Dr. Karim in his meeting stated that the Attorney Generals Department
were looking at drafting a new law, which had almost reached its completion stage.
However, Ms. Adina stated that he had jumped the gun. A further limitation noted
was the lack of information provided, especially by the AGC, which again could be
the consequence of not wanting to reveal information to a foreigner, or that there
hadn’t been work done by the AGC with regard to the heritage value of Kampong
Ayer. Complete excerpt of these meetings is attached as Appendix A.
3.1.2.4. Fieldwork.
There are various research methods available for action based research which has
been divided according to the stages of action required. Blaxter et al, 1999 lays down
five stages of action research illustrated through a diagram which comprises of design
of the action plan, sample, data collection, analysis and reporting. This seemed like an
over simplified version of a complicated research action plan with specific regard to
field work research.
Johnson, 1994, on the other hand identified eleven distinct stages which must be
followed during a field work investigation.
1. Establishing the focus of the study
2. Identifying the specific objectives of the study
3. Selecting the research method
4. Arranging research access
5. Developing the research instrument
6. Collecting the data
7. Pulling out of the investigative phase
8. Ordering the data
9. Analysing the data
10. Writing up
11. Enabling dissemination
Johnson’s approach has helped me device my methodology for field work as I wanted
small steps towards the final problem statement which would also sit well with the
geographical and traditional enquiry of the water village.
27
The field work period took place between November 2011 and April 2012, and was a
distinct phase of the investigation itself (Johnson, 1994). There were a total of eleven
field visits conducted within Kampong Ayer, with the help of local friends who
helped with the conversing in Malay language. The purpose of this field work was to
familiarize myself with the water village along with looking at how the residents
interacted with their environment to subsequently distil the heritage features of the
water village community. During the field work, I noted various features of Kampong
Ayer that were unique to the water village, and from series of informal meetings with
my friends families I was able to highlight why the water village was important to the
inhabitants.
The field work was inherently the most important part of the research, as I felt that I
was investing time and personal involvement within the study on conservation of
Kampong Ayer as a living heritage (Johnson, 1994). I avoided the open ended data
collection procedure (Johnson, 1994), where I had initially intended to visit all the
villages of Kampong Ayer to describe the unique features of each, however, this was
not possible due to time constraints.
Each visit to Kampong Ayer varied from between an hour to up to three hours where
different houses were visited and on two different visits, Kampong Ayer Cultural and
Tourism Gallery was visited which provided great insight into how the authorities
have aimed to conserve the past through inscriptions and models.
The visits to Kampong Ayer and the interaction with the community were inherent to
the research since without the presence of a substantive heritage value, the law could
not be applied to conserve the heritage. Time constraints and the language barriers
were of course two aspects of the visits to Kampong Ayer that have been frustrating,
but are an inevitable result of a small scale research.
The data collected from the field work helped in evaluating that what constitutes
heritage within Kampong Ayer. This is evaluated and discussed in more detail in
Chapter 5. As pointed out by Simmons, 1996, that the tension between studying the
uniqueness of a project and the need to generalise it is imperative for the unified and
unique value of understanding.
28
The findings from these visits are discussed in comparison to the literature review
stated above in order to prevent the weakness pointed out by Johnson, 1994 that little
use is made of the literature discussed in the initial parts of the dissertation.
Throughout the field work, noted and written documents were assimilated in order to
keep a written record of the visits and the conversations with the inhabitants.
3.2 Analysis of Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Law.
The main crux of the thesis was the analysis of the Brunei Heritage Conservation
Law- the Antiquities and Treasure Troves Act 2002 (ATTA).
The ATTA at an early stage was identified as the primary law concerning the
conservation of places within Brunei, therefore, in order to conserve Kampong Ayer
as a living heritage it must fall within the scope of ATTA.
During the initial analysis of the ATTA, it was found that perhaps, ATTA could not
be applied to Kampong Ayer and there would be a large amount of amendments
necessary in order for it completely apply to Kampong Ayer.
Keeping this in mind, research was carried out on various heritage conservation laws
present in different countries, such as United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and
Thailand, as stated in the literature review. After this, research was carried out on the
implementation of these laws within their respective countries. It was after this
research, and with the right steer by my professor, that it was highlighted that the
conservation laws in Brunei can in fact be applied to Kampong Ayer.
The concern of the Museums Department is that if Kampong Ayer is conserved as a
living heritage using ATTA, then the inhabitants of the water village will not be
allowed to evolve with the rest of the land based community. Keeping this concern in
mind, various provisions of the ATTA were analysed thoroughly and interpreted
through the help of help of global heritage conservation law examples, which resulted
in the conclusion that regulation of settlement is already in place on the land based
community, subsequently, regulated development is necessary for efficient
management and conservation.
3.3 Validation of Analysis.
29
The final step in the research after the writing down of the analysis was the validation
of the analysis itself. For this purpose, two separate emails were sent to Ms. Aimi and
Ms. Adina, and Dr. Karim. The email contained a summary of the analysis of ATTA
and subsequent questions which asked them if the analysis of a particular provision
was appropriate. This has been attached as Appendix E.
Ms. Aimi sent an acknowledgement of the email; however, unfortunately, there was
no acknowledgement from Dr. Karim and no response to the questions from both the
authorities. This leaves a gap in the discussion of the research dissertation and could
be accounted to various factors.
Initially, as a part of the methodology strategy designed, I had hoped to have a
meeting with the relevant personnel from AGC and the Museums Department in order
to present my analysis. However, due to time constraints and location constraints,
because I had to go back to my own country sooner than planned due to personal
problems, this meeting could not materialize.
Without the response from the AGC and the Museums Department, the analysis
stands to be validated by both the authorities, however, global examples taken from
different countries conducted during the research, illustrated that application of ATTA
to Kampong Ayer can be effectively done.
3.4 Summary.
The methodology highlights in detail the research methods and approach adopted
throughout the dissertation, with references being drawn to various models of research
methods presented by Johnson, Blaxter and Simmons. An inductive and analytical
research approach has been adopted throughout the dissertation in order to efficiently
complete the objectives of the research.
The methodology highlights the step by step approach adopted within the research for
the dissertation. It began with research on Kampong Ayer itself, which itself was done
through three different methods: literature review, interview with the relevant
authorities and the field work. After this, the research was extended to the analysis of
the ATTA and finally the validation of this analysis.
30
It was important to conduct research on a topic that was not only topical but had
gained global interest these days. Research conducted as a part of this dissertation are
intended to be made available to a wider audience particularly the relevant authorities
in Brunei, so that they can validate the findings from the dissertation, which have not
been able to done in the current time frame.
31
4. Analysis of Brunei’s Heritage Conservation Laws.
4.1 Application of ATTA to Conservation of Kampong Ayer as national heritage.
(1) Purpose of ATTA.
The purpose of ATTA is to control and conserve ancient monuments, historical
monuments, archeological sites, antiquities, remains and historical objects along with
treasure trove, accompanying any regulations that may be connected to the same for
their regulation.
(2) Application to Kampong Ayer.
For conservation of Kampong Ayer under ATTA, all terms given within the Act:
ancient monument, antiquity, historical sites and historical objects, will be discussed
below to analyze whether or not they can be applicable to Kampong Ayer.
(a) Ancient monuments.
Ancient monuments have been defined by Section 2(1) of ATTA to be any monument
within Brunei Darussalam, which reasonable dates back to 1st January 1894, along
with any monument declared in accordance with Section 17 of ATTA. Further below
in the same section, a monument is said to include a temple, mosque, church,
building, port, earthwork, excavation, erection, or any other immovable property the
preservation of which is a matter of public interest. Public interest may include, as per
ATTA, historical, religious, archeological and traditional interest in a property. The
preservation of the said monument would include the adjoining land or the site where
the monument is located as deemed necessary. Section 17 of ATTA states that His
Majesty (HM) can declare any monument to be an ancient monument and any site to
be a historical site and may determine the limits of such monument or site, following
which the director at the direction and approval of HM will publish the same
declaration in the Gazette along with the limitations and with time to time amend or
add to such schedules.
There have been no declared ancient monuments and there are no details of date with
regard to existence of the items state above. Therefore archeological research is
required to identify items that have existed prior to 1894 for them to be considered as
ancient monuments.
(b) Antiquities.
32
Antiquities are defined by Section 2(1) of ATTA as any movable or immovable object,
part of the soil or of bed of the river, lake or sea, which may be erected, inscribed or
modified by a human agency prior to 1894. This will include any part that is added later,
any human, plant or animal remain, along with any ancient monument which may have
public interest attached to it.
Kampong Ayer can only be conserved as an antiquity when there is evidence that it has
existed prior to 1894. It is apparent from literature that the location of Kampong Ayer has
shifted throughout the Brunei river, however, Yunos 2011, states that most likely
Kampong Ayer shifted to its current location around 1660 to 1673. If research is
conducted to verify this existence then the water village can be conserved as an antiquity.
However, there is also the issue that the form of Kampong Ayer, which comprises of
wooden planks, cement pillars are unsustainable and can merely last for about fifty years,
which makes the form of Kampong Ayer very recent and not eligible for consideration as
an antiquity.
(c) Historical Sites.
Historical sites are defined in Section 2(1) of ATTA to be Section any site which is
declared as historical complying with the requirements of the ATTA laid down in Section
17. Section 17, states that His Majesty (HM) can declare any monument to be an ancient
monument and any site to be a historical site and may determine the limits of such
monument or site, following which the director at the direction and approval of HM will
publish the same declaration in the Gazette along with the limitations and with time to
time amend or add to such schedules.
Despite its change in location, Kampong Ayer illustrates at least five hundred years of
history. It has been the administrative hub of Kampong Ayer; it represents rich history
such as the Castile Wars or the civil wars, which is the basis of the form of Kampong
Ayer and therefore it may be conserved as a historical site.
When research is conducted, parts of Kampong Ayer that can be identified to have
existed before 1894 can be conserved as antiquities or ancient monuments.
(d) Historical Objects/ Treasure Trove.
33
Historical objects are defined by Section 2(1) as any object or artifact which has religious,
traditional, artistic or historic value attached to it, and it may include, sculptures,
paintings, architecture, decorative article, personal ornaments, manuscript, coin, vehicle,
ship, boat etc.
Treasure trove has been defined by the same section to constitute a coin, a bullion,
jewellery, precious stones etc. Historical items can also be constituted as treasure trove,
however the distinction lies between the value of the good which is important for
conservation as treasure trove.
At this point, these categories of objects are not relevant, because they can be conserved
even if Kampong Ayer is not gazetted under ATTA, because the Act is applicable to the
whole of Brunei.
Amongst the above mentioned terms, Kampong Ayer can more appropriately be
conserved under the category of a historical site, because of its inherent historical value,
whereas other terminologies require evidence of its existence prior to 1894 for which
extensive research is required.
4.2 Impact on Inhabitants.
The application of ATTA for preservation of Kampong Ayer as a heritage site would
have no or minimal impact on the daily lives of inhabitants. This is because, except for
restrictions imposed on modifying houses and the surrounding environs, it does not
restrict social-cultural activities within the site. The inhabitants, similarly, do not have to
live under, or carry out, specific sets of prescribed activities if Kampong Ayer were
declared a historical site.
There are restrictions imposed on alterations and modifications of declared sites. Part III
of ATTA lays down provisions for excavations, which make it mandatory for the
individual to obtain a license complying with the conditions laid down within ATTA for
certain excavations. Section 18 more specifically lays down provision, which prohibits
certain acts with regard to ancient monuments or historical sites unless prescribed by the
Permanent Secretary. These acts include, digging, excavation, irrigation, planting trees,
burning lime, demolishing, altering and erecting buildings on or in the near vicinity of
the historical site.
34
The impact of this provision is the regulation of the activities undertaken by the
inhabitants. Prior to carrying out any activity, inhabitants are required to seek and obtain
permission and/or a license from the competent authority. The activity must not
undermine or have a deleterious effect on the preservation of Kampong Ayer as a
historical site. The penalty of non-compliance is $1000 fine and three months
imprisonment, as stated in Section 37(2) of ATTA. However, such regulatory control
already exists on land-based development. Therefore, the application of ATTA to
conserve Kampong Ayer as a Historical Site would not put its inhabitants at a
disadvantage to their land-based counter-parts.
Regulating development in the interest of heritage conservation is a key feature of
Sustainable Development principles, visions and programmes. Land-based development
is regulated by agencies, such as the Municipal Department, the Town and Country
Planning Department, Roads, and various other agencies. Regulated development is
important to ensure that development, including modernization and economic growth,
does not have deleterious impacts on the natural environment, society and cultural
heritage. This takes on greater importance as population rises while developable space
and resources diminishes (Hague, 2011). Regulation of activities in Kampong Ayer
therefore does not deny the inhabitants the opportunity to develop along with the rest of
the nation. Instead, it ensures a more sustainable form of development. If Kampong
Ayer were declared a historical site, its inhabitants could benefit from heritage tourism
and its knock-on effects.
The penalties imposed for non compliance to prohibited acts such as excavation without
license, is laid down in Section 37(2), with a fine of 1000$ and an imprisonment of 3
months; non compliance for acts prohibited with regard to ancient monuments and
historical sites as laid down in Section 18 attracts a fine of $1000 and an imprisonment
of 3 months (Section 37(3)); non compliance with the powers of the director to enter and
inspect the historical site or ancient monument attract a fine of $1000 under Section
37(8); and any person who maliciously or negligently destroys or disturbs any ancient
monument or historical site will attract the penalty $4000 under Section 37(9).
The penalties mentioned above are reasonable for regulated development of the heritage
property; they do not take the right away of the inhabitant but merely allows them to
evolve through the prescription of a license.
35
It must also be pointed out, that Section 2(3) of ATTA gives wide discretionary powers
to the Museums Committee to amend the act when necessary. The Director may relax
the penalties imposed depending on circumstances.
4.3 Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living heritage.
The literature and UNESCO World Heritage program reveal a wide range of approach to
heritage conservation. They include:
(a) Gallery, exhibitions and museums.
(b) Regular (e.g. annual) celebration of historical events, which could include
reenactment of important historical events and showcasing or partaking in traditional
cultures (food, dances, costumes, etc.)
(c) Programmes and vocational workshops that promote and teach traditional crafts and
skills.
(d) Heritage tourism, including home stays, guides, transport services, restaurants and
sale of heritage products.
(e) Research programmes (archaeology, anthropology, etc.) to uncover lost history and
heritage and development of heritage literature.
(f) Development of heritage products, including crafts and films.
Heritage conservation requires the establishment, design and management of
conservation programmes. The law is required only to protect the heritage site and
monuments.
Section 2(2) establishes a Museum Committee for the purposes of this Act, which will
comprise of the Permanent Secretary, the Director and seven members nominated by the
minister. Section 2(3) gives discretion to the Museum Committee to make provisions as
are necessary for the proper discharge of their duties under the Act. Part VIII of ATTA
lays down the powers of the Director, which may be exercised for the execution of the
provisions of ATTA, which include delegation of these said powers.
For the purpose of maintaining a Historical Site and a conservation program, it is
necessary to establish a management agency, which could be a public-private
partnership (PPP). A dedicated management agency is needed because of the scale of
responsibility and amount of work and expertise required to maintain Kampong Ayer as
a Historical Site and to run the conservation program. A PPP approach would reduce
36
burden on Government budget while allowing the Private Sector to participate in lending
support to, and hence promote the sustainability of, the Kampong Ayer heritage
conservation programme and activities. Such an approach could lead to the development
of a heritage-based industry and job creation, as well as encourage research into and
uncovering of Kampong Ayer’s lost historical and cultural treasures. The existing
provision allows for the Museum Committee to establish such a management agency. It
also allows the Museum Committee to establish other types of management agencies, if
PPP is not deem desirable.
In Section 19(1), the “Government may after consultation with the Director, make
arrangement with the owner of the occupier (in a historical site) for its preservation,
inspection and maintenance and for such purposes make a contribution from its revenue
towards the cost of carrying out any works of repair or conservation which it deems
necessary and which the owner or occupier may be willing to undertake”. This provides
for inhabitants to participate in a Kampong Ayer conservation program in terms of
financial and technical support and guidance. It allows for inhabitants to benefit from a
heritage conservation programme, especially through heritage tourism.
The ATTA Section 20(2) however exempt the Government from any liability to loss or
damage suffered or alleged to have suffered by the occupier (inhabitants) due to works
carried out as part of restoration, repair, alteration, maintenance or conservation works
deemed necessary. However, the Government must give the occupier not less than seven
days’ notice. The occupier can also object to entry of their property or execution of
works, such as those described above, on “conscientious or religious” grounds.
Section 16(1) gives precedence to personal rights over the rights mentioned in ATTA.
The provisions in the ATTA, particularly Part IV, Sections 18-20, is adequate for the
conservation of Kg Ayer as a ‘living heritage’ because it provides for the establishment
of a management agency and protection of inhabitant’s rights, and preservation of the
water settlement complex as a historical site, and potentially as antiquities in parts.
Section 17 of ATTA states that His Majesty (HM) in counsel may declare any
monument to be an ancient monument and any site to be a historical site and may
determine the limits of such monument or site, following which the director at the
37
direction and approval of HM will publish the same declaration in the Gazette along
with the limitations and from time to time amend or add to such schedules.
This would require the Museums Department to prepare a dossier detailing the historical
significance of Kampong Ayer, together with maps showing the boundary of the
historical sites. The Museums Department would also need to develop in detail the
management system, the supporting infrastructure and conservation program to maintain
Kampong Ayer as a National Historical Site.
If and when HM, after deliberation with His council, declares Kampong Ayer as a
National Historical Site, the Director of Museums would then be responsible for the
publication the Declaration in the Gazette. The Museums Committee would then have
the responsibility to set in motion the processes to implement the plan and set up the
management system and conservation program, as detailed in the approved plan for the
conservation of Kampong Ayer as a National Historical Site.
In order to ensure that Kampong Ayer is a ‘living heritage’, the heritage conservation
program should include or at least allow inhabitants to participate in the preservation of
the site and conservation activities, such as showcasing historical and cultural items,
demonstrate crafts, re enacting historical events, serving as guides and hosts, and
holding festivals.
4.4 Summary.
This chapter highlights the application of ATTA to Kampong Ayer. The purpose of the
ATTA as stated above is to conserve historical sites, objects, ancient monuments,
antiquities and treasure troves. Based on the terms defined within the ATTA, Kampong
Ayer may be preserved as a “historical site” because of its important historical value.
Some parts of the present-day Kampong Ayer may be described as, and therefore
preserved, as “antiquity” because they were established before 1 January 1894. However,
much research is required to identify these areas and prove that they have been in
existence prior to 1 January 1894 before they can be preserved as such under the existing
ATTA.
The application of the provisions illustrate the provisions do not restrict the socio cultural
activities of the inhabitants, but the restrictions imposed relate the modification and alteration
of gazetted sites. Regulating development in the interest of heritage conservation is a key
38
feature of Sustainable Development principles, visions and programmes. Land-based
development is regulated by agencies, such as the Municipal Department, the Town and
Country Planning Department, Roads, and various other agencies. Regulation of activities in
Kampong Ayer therefore does not deny the inhabitants the opportunity to develop along with
the rest of the nation. Instead, it ensures a more sustainable form of development.
Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living heritage would entail following examples from
the UNESCO World Heritage inscribed sites which illustrate the use of galleries, exhibitions,
heritage tourism, regular celebration of events, research programs, development of heritage
products etc. The responsibility of the management of heritage sites is laid down in Section
2(1) which gives this responsibility to the Museums Committee, with Section 17 laying down
the procedure for declaration of such a site. There are further provisions within the ATTA
which protect the inhabitants from impacts of the conservation program and includes them in
the program.
39
5. Discussion and Conclusion.
5.1 Issues and Challenges.
The aim of the research dissertation was to analyse the ATTA so that it can be applied
to Kampong Ayer for its conservation as a living national heritage. The analysis of the
ATTA illustrates that the provisions within the Act can be applied to Kampong Ayer
for conservation as a living heritage.
For Kampong Ayer to be inscribed and listed onto the World Heritage Convention, it
must first be conserved under national law as a national heritage site to ensure
preservation. This is where ATTA comes into place.
The conservation of Kampong Ayer can be done in three phases with a layered
protection in place. The first layer of conservation would entail gazetting Kampong
Ayer as a whole or relevant parts therein under the ATTA.
It is noted from the field work that various houses have been burnt down and
demolished and as per an unwritten policy stated by one of the inhabitants in
Kampong Ayer, the government demolishes all abandoned houses. Obviously, AATA
would supersede and unwritten policy. Therefore, instead of demolishing these
houses, they could be turned into zoned areas. It is recognized that these houses
sometimes have to be demolished in order to create space, or to let go of the hazards
present- such as fire outbreak, however if some of these could be kept intact to be
renovated and conserved, this could be second layer of conservation. These
abandoned houses could serve as monuments for heritage representation, whereby
each house tells a story of its own. A house in itself will not be representative of the
story, the relevant authorities have to convert the house into a monument that can be
an illustration of the tradition present therein This story could be used to represent the
culture, and the tradition unique to Kampong Ayer inhabitants. Not only using the
abandoned houses, but the authorities can also ask a few inhabitants to decorate the
house with memorabilia so that it can be converted as a heritage monument to be
included into the conservation. This could be second layer of conservation.
The inhabitants themselves can be included in the conservation program, so that they
can benefit not only from heritage tourism but from various other facets of heritage
conservation which accompany tourism. Including the inhabitants in the heritage
scheme by telling them that if they want their house to be a part of the trail would
give them a sense of belonging with the house itself, such that they can go back and
40
look at it whenever they want, but the legal occupiers of the house would be the
government. The house could serve as a reminder for the family as well as other
people who wish to come and see. This house, and a few other zoned areas including
the Kampong Ayer Gallery could serve as antiquities under the definition provided by
the ATTA.
The third layer of conservation could entail the marking of a heritage trail, which
includes the various monuments found within Kampong Ayer to the abandoned
houses.
Despite the above suggestion on conservation of Kampong Ayer, there are various
issues and challenges that may be faced as a part of this conservation program, which
brings us back to the problem statement, that is the concern of the authorities that
conserving Kampong Ayer under ATTA would render the inhabitants incapable of
evolving with the rest of the country. The application of ATTA illustrates that where
the ATTA places restrictions on the modification and alterations of a gazetted site,
which may pose a problem, according to the authorities, the ATTA does not prohibit
or restrict any socio cultural activities. This inherently means that the inhabitants can
go about their daily lives and chores without being disrupted. Even with the
prohibitions and penalties attached to non compliance of prohibitions, the ATTA
sufficiently lays down provisions which protect the rights of the inhabitants from the
impacts of the heritage conservation program.
The literature review stated in Chapter 2 on global trends for heritage conservation
law demonstrates various problems that can be encountered as a part of the
conservation scheme. First and foremost, from the interview with Dr. Karim, he stated
that the main problem with conservation was the rights of the inhabitants to evolve.
Reference is drawn to Staiff and Onghluap, 2012, who state that there are the most
obvious restrictions placed on the activities of the inhabitants, but the authorities have
to strike a balance between these rights and economic gains. It is also stated by Tzonis
et al, 2008, that striking such a balance is difficult and through the case of Dayan
Town in China, he illustrates that the conservation strategies are mostly a contest
between the cultural and economic resources versus the stakeholders and in such a
case, mostly, the stake holders suffer.
Applying this to Kampong Ayer, where it is apparent that ATTA can be applied to
Kampong Ayer while protecting the inhabitants from the impacts of the conservation
41
program, it may be difficult for the government to strike a balance. They may put
restrictions on the activities of the inhabitants that will be deemed as violations of
their rights.
Not only this, various researchers have identified long lasting negative impacts of
heritage conservation. Conservation inevitably attracts tourists, which means that
where at one end the government is receiving foreign exchange and enhancing the
economy, on the other hand a large influx of tourists could lead to irreparable damage
to the community. At the moment, Kampong Ayer is a peaceful place, but as tourists
start to increase, the tranquility of the water village will be drowned under noise and
pollution caused by the tourists.
However, with the negative aspects, there are far more positive aspects of heritage
conservation. Most importantly, if the inhabitants are included in the conservation
program they can greatly benefit from heritage tourism. Furthermore, examples from
UNESCO world heritage sites illustrate the various programs that can be put into
place once the site is gazetted. These include research programs, which would greatly
benefit Kampong Ayer, regular celebrations, galleries, exhibitions etc.
It is the responsibility of the government to perhaps find a common ground between
the cultural lobbyists and the economic gain stakeholders so that heritage can be
conserved but along with keeping in line the rights and importance of the inhabitants.
5.2 Limitations of Research findings.
The limitations of research findings and the research methodology were identified
during the course of the research which impacted and had an influence on the
methodology and subsequently the findings.
First of all, being a foreigner, and not being able to converse in the native language,
Malay proved to be big limitation in the study. There were various literature articles
present that could not be included or studied because the writing medium was Malay.
Moreover, during the field work visits to Kampong Ayer, many residents were
sceptical of a foreigner coming into their house to observe and talk. This was most
definitely made easier by presence of local friends who conversed on my behalf,
however, I still feel, that the language barrier was a limitation to the research itself.
Had there been no language barrier, the literature review could have been enhanced
and perhaps I would have better distilled the heritage value of Kampong Ayer if I
understood what they were doing and talking about.
42
The second limitation of the study was the lack of resources and time constraints.
There were insufficient resources available online on Kampong Ayer and even lesser
on the history of Kampong Ayer itself. Since this was a small scale research, time was
of an essence and therefore, given more time and resources, the analysis could have
been validated or amended as deemed fit by the authorities.
Linking the time constraints to the third limitation was the lack of information
provided by the authorities themselves. The first meeting was arranged with the
authorities after a letter was sent to request the same, which was replied to after a
couple of weeks. Moreover, even during the first meetings with the authorities, Dr.
Karim had a tight schedule and the AGC could not provide sufficient information
regarding the matter. A second meeting was requested with the AGC through email,
however that received no response. Later, emails were sent to both the authorities,
presenting them with the analysis of the law and subsequent questions which checked
the validity of the analysis and where AGC acknowledged the email, neither of the
parties replied to the questions sent to them despite sending an email thrice after the
first one. This demonstrates two things: firstly, that it is very hard for a foreigner to
gain access to information that may be necessary and second, the authorities were
tight lipped about the stated matter, which could be attributed to the busy schedules or
could also be attributed to the fear of providing information to a foreigner.
I believe that had I spent more time with the inhabitants of Kampong Ayer and within
Brunei itself, a lot of these limitations could have been mitigated. The research
findings itself highlight lack of coherent heritage value of Kampong Ayer, which as
stated earlier is attributed to time constraints, language barriers and lack of resources.
5.3 Conclusion.
The research highlights that the conservation of Kampong Ayer under ATTA is
probable and possible. It must be pointed out that the director of the Museums’ is
given wide discretionary power under the Act to make such amendments as may be
necessary for the purposes of the Act.
The ATTA is sufficient for conserving Kampong Ayer as a living heritage since it
contains provisions not only for management but for protection of inhabitants against
the impact of conservation programs. The Act further has provisions which include
43
the inhabitants within the conservation program which would make them participants
of the conservation scheme and would want to contribute to the program
subsequently. The paper further highlights that heritage conservation has both positive
and negative impacts on the inhabitants and the heritage site, therefore the authorities
must balance the economic gains with the rights of the inhabitants.
Referring to the problem statement, conservation of Kampong Ayer would inevitable
attract certain restrictions and prohibitions, however, regulated development is
already underway on the land based settlement in Brunei, and it is necessary for the
effective urban settlement and heritage conservation. The provisions of the ATTA do
not restrict the socio cultural activities of Kampong Ayer, which inherently means
that the inhabitants can go about their daily lives and chores.
44
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49
Appendix A: Field Work.
18th
November 2011: This was familiarization visit to get a feel of the study area and
to see if I could recognize some of the elements mentioned in the literature on the
heritage value of Kampong Ayer or threats to conservation. I listed down the initial
observations with regard to the architecture, mode of transport and people there. The
Kampong Siraja Muda which I initially visited is located near the Bander town area.
The first impression of the water village is that of a beautiful and modern living entity
which seems to be equipped with the modern facilities and an enriching comfortable
living. The urban composition of village appears organic. Villages can be on the edge
of the land but are mostly located on the tidal mud island. Groups of houses
congregate together in a dense manner; boundaries of these villages include several of
these groups. A footpath meanders between each of these groups and gives cohesion
by linking the front entries. The houses are modern buildings with deep concrete
pillars, as much as 15 private rooms fully equipped with TV, electricity- the existence
of which can be observed through the air conditioners installed in the walls and sound
of TV and radio coming from the houses. Mode of transport used within the Kampong
is boats, with some households having their own boats and ferries attached by ropes to
their houses. Other than that you can travel within the Kampong on boats by paying a
minimal amount of $2 to $4. A few people were observed riding bicycles on the
wooden corridors between the houses. Also, the water village is a complete city
within its own self; there are police stations, hospitals, schools and all the facilities
that may be available on land.
23rd
January-2012. My second visit to Kampong Ayer was in January. This time I
went with one of local friends so that I could visit a few houses and look at them from
inside. I also intended on talking to the families present there. I visited two houses and
both of them had a comparatively bigger lounge area as compared to the rooms. Upon
asking I was told that this enables families to sit together and enjoy family time so
that they can all feel a sense of belonging to the community. Secondly, almost all the
houses have extended family members living together. One of the houses that I visited
had traditional craftsmen living who had been working in the same business for
generations. They made the body of the boats, brass and silver making along with
50
Jong Sarang weaving and Keri making. However, I observed this tradition has been
lost since hardly anyone is seen practicing these skills amongst the inhabitants.
1st February-2012. I went around Kampong Ayer and observed that a few houses have
small grocery shops within their houses where you can buy basic groceries, like cold
drinks, soap, toothpastes and eatables. This makes it easier for the people living in the
Kampong to buy things rather than going on the land to nearby shopping complex to
buy necessities. Furthermore, upon passing through a house, there was also a karaoke
gathering taking place. The doors to the house were open in order to invite passer bys
inside. The hosts were extremely welcoming and allowed us to come inside and join
them for a karaoke session. This further promotes a sense of unity not just amongst
the family members but neighbors as well who graciously welcome people into their
house to enjoy and spend time together. This may form a part of the heritage of
Kampong Ayer heritage, as the culture of self subsistence and graciousness forms the
basis of tradition of the people of Brunei and Kampong Ayer.
6th
February-2012. This time I went to Kampong Siraja Muda to attend one of my
friends weddings. It was observed that the sense of kinship and belonging within the
village is even stronger during ceremonies and events that take place over there, since
all the families come together to help with the arrangements and welcome guests
together. Upon talking to a few guests there, I was told that the wedding ceremony
tradition has been passed on from generations with the same basic cultural values.
Obviously, with the modernization of the city, these values and traditions have
themselves been subject to slight modifications but the basic tradition remains the
same. Also, in comparison to another wedding attended near the city area, it was
further observed that there was not much difference between the traditional wedding
ceremony on land as well as on water. Furthermore, the hosts as well as the neighbors
are extremely hospitable. Before and on the wedding day, the neighbors gather at the
house where the wedding is taking place to help with the arrangements of food,
decorations, and drinks and sometimes even lend their own house space for the
entertainment of other guests. This illustrates the passing down of culture and
tradition and instilling the core cultural values amongst the younger generation so that
they can follow the same tradition that has been observed for years.
51
15th
February-2012.I managed to witness a colorful game of pasang and congkak
between the village people. Pasang was invented before chessboard and other
stimulating games were made, and it is played on a wooden board marked with lines
and intersection, with black and white pieces or token in the middle. The objective of
the game is to collect as many points by capturing these pieces. Congkak on the other
hand is a game of mental calculation. The board has fourteen holes, plus a bigger,
store hole for each player. A total of 98 pieces are used on the board. The objective of
the game is to capture more seeds then the opponent. Along with how to make kikik
(kites), traditional songs and dance, games such as "Pasang" and "Congkak" had been
part of the Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB) syllabus in schools. Some schools may
even have indoor games clubs which teach students and teachers how to play these
traditional games. Both "Pasang" and "Congkak" are still played now especially
during the Gendang Berjaga-Jaga ceremony during royal weddings. This builds upon
my earlier visit, just like passing down of wedding traditions, these games have been a
source of entertainment for the local Brunei people since decades and to date they are
still very much liked. However, the younger generation seems to be more attracted
towards modern games, but the fact that these games are still played within
households makes them important within the history.
25th
February-2012. I went with one of my friends to her grandmother’s house in
Kampong Ayer. She lives near Bakut Jatu, and upon recognizing the semi- Island as a
Bakut, she explained to me that this has been here for many years and decades ago
this was the place where local people gathered for communal events, practiced
farming, fishing. This represents land use using culture and tradition and is infact
unique to the people of Kampong Ayer.
15th
March-2012 and 25th
March-2012. In this visit, I intended on listing down the
reasons why people want to live in Kampong Ayer through talks with different
families and observations. Firstly, people have been living in the same house for
decades which gives them a sense of belonging and unity with one another, this is not
true for all the community, however, the close ties are mostly prevelant between
52
neighbors and friends. Despite government incentives, and advantages of moving
onto the land, some people still prefer to live on the water. This can be attributed to
the sense of belonging they feel from the place, the fact that they have been living in
the same house for decades or that the house belong to their ancestors, all factors
seem to play a part in stopping the people living on water from moving onto the land.
Other than this, there are economic reasons which make people settle down in the
water village. A house in Kampong Ayer is extremely cheap and people can live close
by to their relatives and loved ones without having to pay exuberant rents, but then
there are also relocation schemes despite which the people do not want to move due to
the reasons mentioned above.
4th
April-2012 and 15th
April-2012. However despite there being advantages of people
living on the water village, the settlements seem to be dwindling. The reason for this
seems to be the fire outbreaks and hygiene conditions, which is why the resettlement
schemes were brought into play. The government wanted to move the inhabitants to
land to provide better facilities as well as to curb the congestion within the water
village. The head man of the village elaborated that because of electrical equipment,
wood and extreme heat there have been various fire outbreaks which have led to
complete destruction of houses and nearby dwellings. Moreover, the level of rubbish
and waste management is not efficient and results in various diseases amongst the
village people. Apart from this, with the evolution and modernization of the city,
people find it more easy to live and commute from the land rather than live in water
and go onto land for work and daily routines. This is especially prevalent amongst the
younger generation who are attracted to the busy life that is on the land rather than
settling down on the land. This illustrates that where some families want to live on
water and spend their life there, some families want to move out, resettle on to the
land so they can enjoy the comfort and disregard the hazards.
53
Appendix B: Interview with AGC/ Museums
The Museum’s Department. 12th
May-2012. A letter was sent to the Museums
department for a meeting with the archeology officer. I met Ms. Aminah who
redirected me to Mr. Pudarno who redirected me to Dr. Karim. A meeting was
arranged with Pg. Dr. Karim, the acting director of the archeology department. It was
a fairly short meeting since he had a busy schedule, but a few helpful points arose
from the meeting which helped me formulate questions and discussion with the law
officers at the Attorney General’s Chambers . I have listed the questions and the
answers below:
Q1: What is the first step towards conserving Kampong Ayer.?
Ans: He stated that they need to gazette Kg Ayer under the Treasure trove act first
before they can put any conservation procedures in play. The process has already
begun but it will take some time to actually have it gazetted. There have been talks of
amending the current act as it cannot be properly applied to Kampong Ayer.
Q2: The treasure trove act applies to non living heritage, such as ancient monuments
or archeological sites, how would they classify Kampong Ayer in either of the
categories.?
Ans: He said that there have been talks between the Attorney General’s Chambers and
the Museums department for drafting a new Act, namely the Heritage Laws, which
will cover tangible and intangible heritage values and sites in Brunei. The current Act
on Treasure trove cannot be applied to Kampong ayer in its actual form.
Q3: What is it about Kampong ayer that makes it worthy of conservation?
Ans: Kampong Ayer is very unique in its nature; it is the largest living community in
the world, which has constantly evolved, over the last 600 years old.
Q4: What are the specific values that you are looking to conserve within Kampong
Ayer?
Ans: He stated that the history of Kg Ayer depicts Brunei culture, which needs to be
conserved. This is the specific reason that the department resorted to UNESCO World
Heritage Convention.
54
Q5: When and how will the Heritage Laws Act come into play?
Ans: He stated that the Heritage Laws Act will be specifically applicable to the
conservation of Kampong Ayer which is also a pre requisite to the UNESCO World
heritage listing. The time when they will be applied is uncertain.
Q5: What are the main factors that make Kampong Ayer a heritage site and why does
the Museums Department want to enlist it on the UNESCO Heritage Site List?
Ans: He stated that Kampong Ayer is important to the people and the main aim for
listing Kampong Ayer as a heritage site was to promote tourism.
Upon discussion with my professor, Dr. Gabriel Yong, we came up with an idea for
conservation of Kampong ayer without amending the current treasure trove act. This
idea has been explored in the Analysis section.
Q6: Is there no way of conserving Kampong Ayer under the current legislation, as
forming up a new legislation will be tedious process.
Ans: He stated that no that was not possible.
I then presented him the idea that had been forwarded by my professor.
People don’t want to leave Kampong Ayer because they’ve lived all their lives there
and don’t want to part with the memories and traditions that have been going on there.
They have a sense of belonging from a particular area. So the government can provide
incentives, through the relocation scheme or other monetary incentives, to the people
to move onto the land, and their houses can be converted into traditional monuments
where they can go and visit and relive their memories whenever they want. This can
be part of heritage conservation and people may be happy to help in this national
heritage theme.
This way, Kampong ayer can be gazetted under The Treasure Trove Act without
having to amend the act.
Ans: They want to conserve Kampong Ayer as a living heritage rather than as
monuments so that the people can continue to live there.
55
Attorney General’s Chambers. A letter was sent to the AGC for a meeting with the
law officer. Two meetings subsequently took place. The first one was on the 24th
May-2012, with a law officer, Ms. Aimi Awang. The research officer was not
available for meeting that day, however, we discussed my thesis and she asked me to
come back on the 28th
May-2012 to meet the research officer who might be able to
help me more. She asked me to give her a list of questions that I would like to ask the
Research officer.
Q1: How would you describe the history and evolution of Kampong Ayer?
Q2: What are the basic cultural values of Kampong ayer that may be conserved?
Q3: How do you intend to conserve it under UNESCO World Heritage Convention ?
Q4: What is the origin of Brunei law?
Q5: What is the future of Kampong ayer under conservation?
Q6: The new act on Heritage Laws, as informed by Dr. Karim, how will it help in
conserving Kampong ayer and when will it be implemented?
I met the research officer on the 28th
May, upon relaying the information that I
received from Dr. Karim regarding the Heritage Laws Act, she told me that she cant
give me anymore information regarding what’s happening between the Museum and
the Law office department. She also said that Dr. Karim ''jumped the gun'' by saying
that a new law is being passed. But currently they are aiming at amending the treasure
trove act but they still don’t know how to go about it.
With regard to origin of Brunei laws, she asked me to check the website for Asean
Law Association that has a brief history of Brunei laws.
The idea with regard to conserving Kampong Ayer as series of monuments was also
presented to the law office and she said that they cannot decide how to conserve
kampong Ayer as it is the museums job to do that.
56
With regard to identification of any heritage or cultural values within Kampong Ayer
which makes it worthy of conserving she told me that they still haven’t done so.
57
Appendix C: Discussion with Remy Le Blanc.
Remy Le Blanc- 2nd
Febuary-2012. Remy is a Phd student from Australia who was
living in Kampong Ayer from 2009 to 2012, for research purposes. I told him that
since I was looking to conserve Kampong Ayer, and since he’s been living within
Kampong Ayer he might be able to better describe what can be conserved within the
water village itself.
He briefly described two models of communal governance and its morphological
outcome of water based settlements: The Leidsche- Rijn in Utrecht the Netherlands
and the traditional village Kampong Siraja Muda in Bander Seri Begawan, Brunei, by
drawing comparison to both he explained how he tangible portion of the village was
not important but it was the intangible that may be conserved.
I asked him with regard to the settlement pattern and its relevance today. He described
the history of the settlements at Kampong Siraja Muda: it was established by a
wealthy merchant of high status who settled there is 1948 with his 3rd
wife and as the
tradition prescribed all her numerous close family members. The wife’s cousins were
not allowed to settle near the house as they were not of the same blood rank. Later
another cousin was allowed to settle nearby after he had married a relative of the
headman. This began a series of evolving clusters of houses. This represents the
traditional organization and urban patterning of the coastal communities within the
Southeast Asian coastal communities. He further explained that this form of hierarchy
has evolved and now is represented by three levels of decision: the sultan for general
administration, locally the head of the village and for family matters the head of the
kin.
This gave me material to start with, therefore I could proceed with my research on
conserving the heritage value of Kampong Ayer, being the intangible element rather
then the houses themselves.
Remy Le Blanc – 10th
Febuary-2012. This meeting was also a discussion, not formal
questions were asked. He gave insight into the architectural composition of the water
village along with how urban evolution seems to be ending within the Kampong. He
described the traditional Brunei Malay production of urbanism through the
architectural structure. Initially, the structure of the houses comprised mostly of thatch
roofs and bamboo walls. He was taken with the grandeur of the water village because
58
it’s a complete city built upon water. He stated that Malay urbanism exists even if it
has not been characterized in the same way of the land one in the region; it was
nevertheless created following traditional Malay paradigms. He further stated that the
government policies which haven’t allowed new constructions to take place over the
last 25 years will result in an end of the urban evolution. He further sees that the new
construction of the ‘’white houses’’ which were given as a present to the village
people by the Sultan represent a definitive end of Malay urban evolution within the
water village. He asserts that these houses represent a modern building, with concrete
and bricks which do not represent the traditional structures found in Kampong Ayer.
Remy Le Blanc – 12th
Febuary-2012. In this meeting, again a discussion rather then
an interview, Remy explained how he felt that the former capital of Brunei-
Kampong Ayer has been left to decay in the midst of evolutionary process. He stated
that the debates about its future have been held away from the village people who
have their roots within the village. The raison d’etre- reason for existence- of these
cities were to be the polities and the trading centers, connected with the outside world,
points of exchange between people, goods, ideas between seas, rivers and lands. He
used the O Conner’s (1893) model of urban definition as a means of analyzing the
structure and evolution of the Kampong Ayer. He further showed me different models
and maps that he had obtained of kampong ayer which illustrate how the water village
had expanded from a small entity to being a vast living entity. He stated that the
village represents different groups of families, kinship, or groups of people having the
same economic occupation. The city is centered on cosmological layer of hierarchy
represented by the Sultan located in the palace. Upon asking or clarification, he
explained how the urban decision process has been delved into three hierarchies, and
these hierarchies are centered upon Sultan being the head of the state and the sole
decision maker. He gave an example of the State of Emergency which had been
imposed decades ago and has yet not been lifted.
59
Appendix D: Tables of heritage value for UNESCO inscribed heritage sites.
1. Heritage Type Heritage Value Basis and Procedure of
Conservation by
UNESCO
Tangible Component
Hunting. · Way of life-
Evolution
from key
component of
human survival
to formalized
outdoor sporting
activity.
·
Specialized
hunting terms,
techniques and
tools.
· Used in
Music, drama,
literature,
special
practices.
· Hunting
rituals
interlinked with
spiritual and
ethnic beliefs.
· Random
collection of
photographs,
stories, practices
relating to hunting.
· National
examples of
hunting- rituals,
drama, music and
art can be
inscribed.
· Hunting
retains high
significance and is
associated with
community ritual,
art, and tradition in
ways that are
crucial for that
society's cultural
survival.
· Threatened
by extinction of
practice or the
evolution of
attitude against
violence.
· Music-
hunting horns.
· Drama-
Opera (hunting
scenes e.g.
Giselle 1841)
· Literature-
Shakespeare and
the Hun.
· Art-
Medieval
tapestries in
France.
Representation
of weapons in
the form of art.
· Preserved
relics of hunted
animals.
· Weapons
used to slay the
animals.
· Sites
associated with
hunting.
60
· A hunting
site, Head-
Smashed-In
Buffalo Jump in
Alberta, Canada, is
inscribed on the
list.
2. Water
Transport-
Iranian
Lenj boats.
Each part is
made of a
special wood.
Special formula
to measure
latitudes and
longitudes.
Sailors could
define the route
with the
position of the
sun.
Traditional
ceremonies and
customs-
Fisherman’s
New Year.
· Bādebān-
Keshi (“setting
the sail”) is
another
important
traditional
ceremony
associated with
· Inscribed on
the list on the basis
of safeguarding
and revitalization
measures- a
research centre to
promote the use of
these vessels,
instruments,
documents.
- A
training
section where
the tradition
can be taught
- Lenj
building
workshop
under the
supervision of
the research
centre.
· Music-
traditional
bagpipes,
Neyanban were
used for singing,
during the
rituals.
· Special
wood used to
make the lenj
boats.
· The
documents used
to calculate the
actual longitude/
latitude and the
directions.
· The sail of
the boat.
61
the boat making.
3. Communal
Tradition-
Keskek,
Turkey.
Practiced
throughout
Turkey by
different age
groups and
communities at
weddings,
religious/
national
holidays and
charity.
Men and women
work together to
cook a meat
called
‘’keskek’’,
hulling and
mashing the
wheat are two
traditions that
follow this
cooking and is
done in specific
rhythms along
with music.
Unifying all the
people
regardless of
age, ethnicity,
gender or
·
Documentary film
on the history of
wheat seeding,
harvesting,
hulling, cooking
serving keskek on
wedding and other
cultural
gatherings.
Music
Dayul Zurna-
traditional
Turkish music
instruments used
in the ceremony.
The stone
mortar and the
gavels, where
the wheat is
hulled and
mashed.
Pictures and
documentation
of the tradition.
· All the
tools and
equipment used
in making the
Keskek.
62
culture.
4. Farming
Practice-
Transplanti
ng Rice in
Mibu,
Hiroshima.
Agricultural
ritual in which
people worship
the deity of rice
fields, praying
for a good
growth and
abundant
harvest.
Rituals and
festivals
associated with
the tradition.
Practice sessions
of the ritual’s
songs and music
are held regularly.
Preservation of the
rice transplanting
site.
Documentation
Documentary
film.
Recorded songs
sung before the
Hana Taue.
The musical
instruments.
Rice sample.
Pictures of the
process.
5. Heritage
site- Tojak
Wine
Region
Rich
valuable
stock of
ancient
monuments.
Traditional
land use and
viticulture
tradition that
has survived
for over a
1000 years.
· Special fruits
used in the wine
production.
Gazetting the area
as a reserve site
· Grapes.
· Specially
constructed wine
cellars.
6. Heritage Site-
Pingvellir
National Park
symbol of
evolution of a
Viking
Documentation.
Pictures, paintings.
Conservation of
Documentation
of the history
through
63
community.
Well preserved
remains of
habitat from the
18th
, 19th
century are
present.
Tectonic plate
boundaries on
dry land.
Shrine for local
people.
the shrine.
medieval times
to the modern
world.
Geographical/
geological
pictures, images.
Scenic paintings.
Preservation of
the shrine area as
a reserve through
proper law
management
policy.
7. Heritage Site-
Rice Terraces of
the Philippine
Cordilleras.
Communal
system of rice
production.
Interaction
between human
and
environment has
affected the land
terrain.
Documentation of
the techniques and
types of communal
rice transplanting
terraces.
Techniques, tools.
The site.
· The land
structure- (i) rice
terrace cluster,
(ii) hunguan
terrace emerging
as a spider web,
(iii) traditional
farmer’s houses
(bale) and alang
( granaries), (iv)
nestled in a
amphitheatre
like semi circle.
· Farm
tools.
· Rice
64
samples.
8. Heritage Site-
Matobo Hills.
Distinctive
granite
landforms.
Spiritual aspect
Evidence of life
in the stone age
to farming.
Distinctive
history- rock art,
home of the
god.
Rock art
Mwari tradition
Shrine
The site.
· Conserve
the hills as a
reserve site with
proper law and
management
policy and
system.
· Rock
paintings.
· Shrines.
·
Documentation
of the early
history.
· Red ochre
pigment used for
painting hunting
activities.
· White
pigment from
quartz for
paining farming
activities.
9. Heritage site-
Mijikenda Kaya
Forest
Trees/ Forest
History for the
Kaya Forest.
Gazzeting.
Documentaion.
Forest site.
· Trees.
Conservation as
a reserve forest
site with proper
law and
management.
Monuments.
65
Documentation
of history.
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Appendix E: Summary Analysis and Questionnaire sent to authorities.
Summary Analysis:
Analysis of the Antiquities and Treasure Troves Act (ATTA) with regards to its
application to the Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a Living Heritage
The following is a summary of the analysis arranged in a logical sequence of questioning.
1.1 What is the purpose of ATTA (2002)?
The purpose of ATTA is to preserve antiquities and historical sites, including ancient
monuments and historical objects, as well as to regulate the discovery, recovery and trade of
treasure troves.
1.2 Which of the following best describes Kg Ayer if it were to be preserved using the
ATTA? Examine each definition of term and explain why which is applicable or not
applicable, or applicable with conditions.
(a) Ancient monument
Ancient monuments have been defined in Section 2(1) of ATTA to be any monument within
Brunei Darussalam, which reasonably dates back to 1st January 1894, along with any
monument declared in accordance with Section 17 of ATTA. Monument as defined in the
ATTA encompasses temple, mosque, church, building, port, earthwork, excavation, erection,
or any other immovable property the preservation of which is a matter of public interest in a
historical, religious, archeological or traditional sense.
To date, no ancient monument within Kampong Ayer has been declared. Archeological
research is required to identify features that have existed prior to 1 January 1894 for them to
be considered as ancient monuments and declared as such.
(b) Antiquities
Antiquities are defined by Section 2(1-a) of ATTA as “any movable or immovable object,
part of the soil or of bed of the river, lake or sea, which may be erected, inscribed or modified
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by a human agency prior to 1894”. This includes: “any parts of any object which has at a later
date been added thereto or reconstructed or restored”; and any human, plant or animal remain
reasonably believed to be older than 1 January 1894.
This describes Kampong Ayer completely except for the year established. It has been
established in the literature by LeBlanc, 2011 that the location of Kampong Ayer has shifted
along Sungai Brunei on a number of occasions through its history. According to Yunos
(2011), Kampong Ayer is most likely to have shifted to its current location around 1660 to
1673. However, Kampong Ayer expanded significantly during the first half of the 20th
Century. Therefore, it is unclear which part of the settlement complex is older than 1894.
Research is required to identify these areas for it to be defined as antiquity. Moreover, there is
also the issue that the physical form of Kampong Ayer, which was built largely from wood
and thatch, i.e. organic materials, could not last more than fifty years from biodegradation
(mainly due to attacks by wood borers and termites) as well as from frequent fire outbreaks.
Furthermore, modernization continually altered its physical form. All these pose considerable
difficulty in the identification of parts that were “erected, inscribed or modified by a human
agency prior to 1894”. Therefore, while parts of Kampong Ayer may be regarded as antiquity
as defined in the ATTA, extensive research is required to identify and map these areas for
them to be declared and preserved as such. The areas that developed after 1894 cannot be
considered as antiquity.
(c) Historical sites.
Section 17 states that His Majesty (HM) can declare “any site to be a historical site and may
determine the limits of such monument or site”. The ATTA does not offer further details in
its definition of historical site.
Despite the fact that much of the present-day Kampong Ayer has been modified and a
significant portion constructed during the 20th
Century, it cannot be denied that Modern
Brunei Darussalam emerged from the water village complex. Although it has gone through
drastic changes in physical form, location and distribution, social-cultural character and geo-
political status over five centuries of development, it serves as a reminder of Brunei’s history
and a representation of the main tenets of the Malay Islamic Monarchy that is unique to the
identity and heritage of Brunei Darussalam. As such, it would qualify as a “historical site”
and could be preserved as one under the ATTA.
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(d) Historical Objects/ Treasure Trove
Historical objects are defined by Section 2(1) as any object or artifact which has religious,
traditional, artistic or historic value attached to it, and it may include, sculptures, paintings,
architecture, decorative article, personal ornaments, manuscript, coin, vehicle, ship, boat etc.
Treasure trove has been defined by the same section to constitute a coin, a bullion, jewellery,
precious stones etc. Historical items can also be constituted as treasure trove, however the
distinction lies between the value of the good which is important for conservation as treasure
trove.
At this point, this category of objects are not relevant, because they can be conserved even if
Kampong Ayer is not protected under ATTA, because the Act is applicable to the whole of
Brunei.
1.3 If none of the terms defined adequately describes Kg Ayer, how would you define
Kg Ayer?
Based on the terms defined in the ATTA, Kampong Ayer may be preserved as a “historical
site” because of its important historical value. Some parts of the present-day Kampong Ayer
may be described as, and therefore preserved, as “antiquity” because they were established
before 1 January 1894. However, much research is required to identify these areas and prove
that they have been in existence prior to 1 January 1894 before they can be preserved as such
under the existing ATTA.
2) Impact on Inhabitants
2.1 How would the application of the ATTA to preserve Kg Ayer as a heritage site
impact the lives of the inhabitants? (Kg Ayer is a ‘living’ heritage)
(a) With respect to their daily lives.
The application of ATTA for preservation of Kampong Ayer as a heritage site would have no
or minimal impact on the daily lives of inhabitants. This is because, except for restrictions
imposed on modifying houses and the surrounding environs, it does not restrict social-
cultural activities within the site. The inhabitants, similarly, do not have to live under, or
carry out, specific sets of prescribed activities if Kampong Ayer were declared a historical
site.
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(b) With respect to what they can or cannot do to their homes and surrounding
environment.
There are restrictions imposed on alterations and modifications of declared sites. Part III of
ATTA lays down provisions for excavations, which make it mandatory for the individual to
obtain a license complying with the conditions laid down within ATTA for certain
excavations. Section 18 more specifically lays down provision, which prohibits certain acts
with regard to ancient monuments or historical sites unless prescribed by the Permanent
Secretary. These acts include, digging, excavation, irrigation, planting trees, burning lime,
demolishing, altering and erecting buildings on or in the near vicinity of the historical site.
The impact of this provision is the regulation of the activities undertaken by the inhabitants.
Prior to carrying out any activity, inhabitants are required to seek and obtain permission
and/or a license from the competent authority. The activity must not undermine or have a
deleterious effect on the preservation of Kampong Ayer as a historical site. The penalty of
non-compliance is $1000 fine and three months imprisonment, as stated in Section 37(2) of
ATTA. However, such regulatory control already exists on land-based development.
Therefore, the application of ATTA to conserve Kampong Ayer as a Historical Site would
not put its inhabitants at a disadvantage to their land-based counter-parts.
(c) With respect to their ability to grow and develop together with the rest of the nation
(e.g. benefit from development, economic growth, modernization, better quality of life,
etc.)
Regulating development in the interest of heritage conservation is a key feature of
Sustainable Development principles, visions and programmes. Land-based development is
regulated by agencies, such as the Municipal Department, the Town and Country Planning
Department, Roads, and various other agencies. Regulated development is important to
ensure that development, including modernization and economic growth, does not have
deleterious impacts on the natural environment, society and cultural heritage. This takes on
greater importance as population rises while developable space and resources diminishes
(Hague, 2011). Regulation of activities in Kampong Ayer therefore does not deny the
inhabitants the opportunity to develop along with the rest of the nation. Instead, it ensures a
more sustainable form of development. If Kampong Ayer were declared a historical site, its
inhabitants could benefit from heritage tourism and its knock-on effects.
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2.2 Are the prohibitions and penalties excessive? If so, how should the ATTA be
amended?
The penalties imposed for non compliance to prohibited acts such as excavation without
license, is laid down in Section 37(2), with a fine of 1000$ and an imprisonment of 3 months;
non compliance for acts prohibited with regard to ancient monuments and historical sites as
laid down in Section 18 attracts a fine of $1000 and an imprisonment of 3 months (Section
37(3)); non compliance with the powers of the director to enter and inspect the historical site
or ancient monument attract a fine of $1000 under Section 37(8); and any person who
maliciously or negligently destroys or disturbs any ancient monument or historical site will
attract the penalty $4000 under Section 37(9).
The penalties mentioned above are reasonable for regulated development of the heritage
property; they do not take the right away of the inhabitant but merely allows them to evolve
through the prescription of a license.
It must also be pointed out, that Section 2(3) of ATTA gives wide discretionary powers to the
Museums Committee to amend the act when necessary. The Director may relax the penalties
imposed depending on circumstances.
3) Conservation of Kg Ayer as a Living Heritage
3.1 How could Kg Ayer be conserved as a national/living heritage? List examples of the
different ways and means (draw from UNESCO World Heritage Sites/programmes, e.g.
festivals, exhibitions, workshops, etc.) - List ways, and refer to examples from other
Heritage Sites (tangible and intangible).
The literature and UNESCO World Heritage program reveal a wide range of approach to
heritage conservation. They include:
(a) Gallery, exhibitions and museums.
(b) Regular (e.g. annual) celebration of historical events, which could include reenactment of
important historical events and showcasing or partaking in traditional cultures (food,
dances, costumes, etc.)
(c) Programmes and vocational workshops that promote and teach traditional crafts and
skills.
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(d) Heritage tourism, including home stays, guides, transport services, restaurants and sale of
heritage products.
(e) Research programmes (archaeology, anthropology, etc.) to uncover lost history and
heritage and development of heritage literature.
(f) Development of heritage products, including crafts and films.
Heritage conservation requires the establishment, design and management of conservation
programmes. The law is required only to protect the heritage site and monuments.
3.2 Does the ATTA have provisions for management of Kg Ayer as a living heritage if
applied to Kg Ayer? (i.e. establish an authority, define its powers and responsibilities,
etc.?)
Section 2(2) establishes a Museum Committee for the purposes of this Act, which will
comprise of the Permanent Secretary, the Director and seven members nominated by the
minister. Section 2(3) gives discretion to the Museum Committee to make provisions as are
necessary for the proper discharge of their duties under the Act. Part VIII of ATTA lays
down the powers of the Director, which may be exercised for the execution of the provisions
of ATTA, which include delegation of these said powers.
For the purpose of maintaining a Historical Site and a conservation program, it is necessary to
establish a management agency, which could be a public-private partnership (PPP). A
dedicated management agency is needed because of the scale of responsibility and amount of
work and expertise required to maintain Kampong Ayer as a Historical Site and to run the
conservation program. A PPP approach would reduce burden on Government budget while
allowing the Private Sector to participate in lending support to, and hence promote the
sustainability of, the Kampong Ayer heritage conservation programme and activities. Such an
approach could lead to the development of a heritage-based industry and job creation, as well
as encourage research into and uncovering of Kampong Ayer’s lost historical and cultural
treasures. The existing provision allows for the Museum Committee to establish such a
management agency. It also allows the Museum Committee to establish other types of
management agencies, if PPP is not deem desirable.
3.3 Does the ATTA have provisions to safeguard any impacts on inhabitants or include
them in the conservation program? Explain.
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In Section 19(1), the “Government may after consultation with the Director, make
arrangement with the owner of the occupier (in a historical site) for its preservation,
inspection and maintenance and for such purposes make a contribution from its revenue
towards the cost of carrying out any works of repair or conservation which it deems
necessary and which the owner or occupier may be willing to undertake”. This provides for
inhabitants to participate in a Kampong Ayer conservation program in terms of financial and
technical support and guidance. It allows for inhabitants to benefit from a heritage
conservation programme, especially through heritage tourism.
The ATTA Section 20(2) however exempt the Government from any liability to loss or
damage suffered or alleged to have suffered by the occupier (inhabitants) due to works
carried out as part of restoration, repair, alteration, maintenance or conservation works
deemed necessary. However, the Government must give the occupier not less than seven
days’ notice. The occupier can also object to entry of their property or execution of works,
such as those described above, on “conscientious or religious” grounds.
Section 16(1) gives precedence to personal rights over the rights mentioned in ATTA.
3.4 If there are inadequacies with the ATTA in the conservation of Kg Ayer as living
heritage, what are they? List and explain.
The provisions in the ATTA, particularly Part IV, Sections 18-20, is adequate for the
conservation of Kg Ayer as a ‘living heritage’ because it provides for the establishment of a
management agency and protection of inhabitant’s rights, and preservation of the water
settlement complex as a historical site, and potentially as antiquities in parts.
3.5 What is the process/ procedure to preserve Kg Ayer as a living heritage using the
ATTA?
Section 17 of ATTA states that His Majesty (HM) in counsel may declare any monument to
be an ancient monument and any site to be a historical site and may determine the limits of
such monument or site, following which the director at the direction and approval of HM will
publish the same declaration in the Gazette along with the limitations and from time to time
amend or add to such schedules.
This would require the Museums Department to prepare a dossier detailing the historical
significance of Kampong Ayer, together with maps showing the boundary of the historical
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sites. The Museums Department would also need to develop in detail the management
system, the supporting infrastructure and conservation program to maintain Kampong Ayer
as a National Historical Site.
If and when HM, after deliberation with His council, declares Kampong Ayer as a National
Historical Site, the Director of Museums would then be responsible for the publication the
Declaration in the Gazette. The Museums Committee would then have the responsibility to
set in motion the processes to implement the plan and set up the management system and
conservation program, as detailed in the approved plan for the conservation of Kampong
Ayer as a National Historical Site.
In order to ensure that Kampong Ayer is a ‘living heritage’, the heritage conservation
program should include or at least allow inhabitants to participate in the preservation of the
site and conservation activities, such as showcasing historical and cultural items, demonstrate
crafts, re enacting historical events, serving as guides and hosts, and holding festivals.
Questionnaire:
Q1. Part 1.2 of the Analysis of ATTA given in the attached document describes that out of all
three definitions – antiquities, ancient monuments and historical sites, Kampong Ayer
qualifies as a historical site. Do you agree with this classification? If yes, then please
describe the reasons for agreeing to the classification. If no, then please describe the
shortcoming in the classification as a historical site.
Q2. Parts of Kampong Ayer can be conserved as antiquities if research is conducted to
identify the parts of Kampong Ayer that have existed prior to 1894. Do you agree/ disagree
with this analysis? Please state reason for your answer.
Q3. The analysis of ATTA shows that application of ATTA for preservation of Kampong
Ayer as a heritage site would have minimal or no effect on the daily lives of the inhabitants,
because it does not restrict the socio cultural activities. Do you agree with this analysis, if yes
please state the reason for this. If you don’t agree with this analysis, please state the
shortcoming in the analysis.
Q4. Part III of ATTA lays down restrictions on excavations and Section 18 prohibits acts like
irrigation, excavations, digging, altering etc on ancient monuments or historical sites. These
restrictions seem to regulate the activities of the inhabitants so that any activity does not
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undermine the preservation of Kampong Ayer as a historical site. Do you agree with this
analysis, if yes please state your reason for this. If you don’t agree with this analysis, please
state the shortcoming of the analysis.
Q5. Land based inhabitants are subjected to regulated developed through the Municipal
agency, the town and country planning department. Regulating the activities of the
inhabitants does not take their right to evolve with the rest of the country. Please state your
views on this analysis, based on comparison between the regulated development and
restrictions on both land based inhabitants and Kampong Ayer inhabitants.
Q6. Conservation of Kampong Ayer as a historical site would ensure a sustainable
development, one form of which is heritage tourism which would benefit the inhabitants. Do
you agree/ disagree with this analysis. Please state reasons for your answer.
Q7. The penalties mentioned in Section 37 for non compliance with the prohibited acts is
reasonable as it allows the inhabitants to evolve through the prescription of a license. Do you
agree/ disagree with this analysis. Please give reasons for your answer.
Q8. Section 2(3) of the ATTA gives discretionary power to the Museums Committee to
amend the act when necessary. This allows the Director to relax the penalties mentioned in
ATTA according to the circumstances or otherwise amend the ATTA for it to apply
thoroughly to Kampong Ayer. Do you agree that this discretionary power is an important
component of ATTA which allows the amendment of the ATTA in order to suit the needs of
conservation and inhabitants at the same time? Please give reasons for your answer.
Q9. The purpose of ATTA is to protect the heritage site and monuments. Heritage
conservation can be developed in order to ensure that living facets of Kampong Ayer are not
harmed through management plans, tourism, workshops etc. Do you agree with this analysis?
Please state reasons for your answer.
Q10. The ATTA has relevant provisions for conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living
heritage. Section 2(2) establishes the Museums Committee for management, Section 2(3)
gives discretionary power to the Committee to make relevant provisions for proper discharge
of their duties, Part VIII lays down the powers of the Director which may be exercised for the
execution of ATTA. Is this sufficient to manage Kampong Ayer as a historical site? Please
state your reasons.
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Q11. In order to efficiently manage a historical site and a conservation program, a
management agency must be established. ATTA establishes this management agency to be
the Museums committee. The analysis states that due to the amount of responsibility and
work with conservation of Kampong Ayer, this agency could be a public/private partnership
which would lessen the financial burden on the government and allow the private sector to
contribute to the conservation hence promoting sustainability of the conservation program.
Do you think this is a viable option, and to what extent. Please state reasons for your answer.
Q12. Various provisions within ATTA safeguard the impacts on inhabitants, such as Section
16(1) gives precedence to personal rights over the rights mentioned within ATTA, and
Section 20(2) gives right to the occupier to refuse entry on conscientious or religious
grounds. Do you think this is a sufficient safeguard for the inhabitants? Please state reasons
for your answer.
Q13. There are provisions within the ATTA which involve the inhabitants within the
conservation scheme thus making it a sustainable approach. Section 19(1) allows inhabitants
to participate in the conservation program through financial or technical support. This will
allow the inhabitants to benefit from heritage tourism. Do you agree/disagree with the
analysis? Please state reasons for your answer.
Q14. The ATTA has adequate provisions such as Part VI, Sections 18, 19 and 20, for
conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living heritage. These provisions provide for the
establishment of a management agency, protects the rights of the inhabitants, along with
preservation of Kampong Ayer as historical site and potentially some parts as antiquities. Do
you believe that these provisions are sufficient for conservation of Kampong Ayer as a living
heritage? If yes, please state your reasons. If no, please state the shortcoming of this analysis.
Q15. The process of conservation of Kampong Ayer is laid down in Section 17, whereby the
HM can after deliberation declare the water village as a national historic site, following
which the Director would be responsible for publication. Subsequently, the Museum
Committee would have the responsibility to set in motion the processes for implementation
and set up management system and conservation programs. This provision is sufficient to set
in motion the conservation program for Kampong Ayer. Please give your opinion on this
analysis, and state your reasons.
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Q16. Do you think that this analysis has sufficiently illustrated the application of ATTA to
Kampong Ayer? Please give reasons.
Q17. What shortcomings have you identified, if any, within the analysis presented to you.
Please also state the extent to which you think this Act may be applicable to Kampong Ayer.
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