Delay in Atkinson Clock Tower issue causing concern

The court is to rule next month if the historical clock tower can remain or be replaced with a modern mall.

KOTA KINABALU: Concern is rising over the delay by the state government to protect historical sites around Sabah from destruction by commercial interests.

Hanging in the balance is the more than century old unique wooden Atkinson Clock Tower that the city’s residents have made a cause célèbres in their fight to preserve the city’s and the state’s landmark colonial inheritance.

Heritage Sabah, a powerful mishmash of concerned citizens fighting for preservation of the last vestiges of the state’s historic buildings, is disturbed that the state government is taking so long to rule on matter.

They say it is a fight between preservation of a Sabah identity against gratuitous and unjustifiable materialism.

Cosily linked government and business concerns, on the other hand, are all for the construction of a controversial 16-storey shopping mall-cum-hotel at the last surviving heritage site in the heart of the city.

“Many Sabahans think that because the issue has died down, the matter is resolved,” said Heritage Sabah spokesperson Richard Nelson Sokial who helped initiate a protest early last year against the proposed destruction of the clock tower and its replacement with a shopping complex.

“In reality, the issue is far from over. If the High Court rules in favour of the developer and its associated partners to build a proposed shopping mall, one of Kota Kinabalu city’s last surviving historical sites will be destroyed,” he warned.

A judicial review of the project was filed by housewife Lim Swee Geck and social activist Jeffery Chang against the Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) and City Hall or Dewan Bandaraya Kota Kinabalu (DBKK) last year and is pending judgment.

The two had sought to block the developers from going ahead with the project last year after the plans for commercial development of the site at the foot of Signal Hill were leaked through social network Facebook.

An online petition to the Sabah government to turn the historical site into a city park has gained the support of around 10,000 residents and visitors.

Still in limbo

Sokial urged the public to be well-informed about the issue and not to be lulled into a false sense of security as the fate of the tower is still in limbo.

“We should give the Sabah state government a chance to rectify past wrongdoings. If the current state government truly has the interests of KK city folk and Sabahans at heart, there is still room for them to do right for the rakyat and turn this historical place into a public park for all and not another shopping mall,” Sokial said.

Last year, the public outcry that ensued over the fate of the tower and fallout against the state Barisan Nasional government prompted Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Masidi Manjun to intervene.

Subsequently, Environment Protection Department under his ministry rejected the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project.

The move infuriated SHTDA chairman Rubin Balang who called for Masidi’s resignation.

In a furious outburst, Balang went on to say the clock tower had no historical value while another senior government official went so far as to say that Atkinson, a British colonial official after whom the tower was named, was an assassin, prompting further public outrage.

In a damage control attempt to stop the issue from turning farcical, state Local Government and Housing Minister Hajiji Mohd Noor requested NGOs and interested parties not to publicise the issue any further.

SHTDA and its activities portfolio are under the Sabah Ministry of Local Government and Housing. The Central Board which is responsible for all development projects in the city is also chaired by permanent secretary to the Sabah Ministry of Local Government and Housing.

Court hearing next month

The Sabah Museum that is responsible for the 106-year-old clock tower that was built in 1905, has denied giving any permission for any commercial building next to the 15.24m wooden tower built in memory of Jesselton’s first District Officer, Francis George Atkinson who died of malaria in 1902.

The clock tower was gazetted as a historical building in 1983 and is protected under the Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Enactment 1997 and the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Enactment 1977.

City dwellers claim Kota Kinabalu is already overrun with shopping malls and many shop lots lie empty and unused.

The judicial review of the matter before the Kota Kinabalu High Court will be held on the June 6.