Some 29 villages in Penang might face a risk of 'disappearing' forever, including its Malay heritage culture, following rampant development projects in the area, academicians said.

Among the affected villages are Kampung Bagan Dalam, Kampung Batu Maung, Kampung Batu Uban, Kampung Binjal, Kampung Buah Pala, Kampung Dalca, Kampung Dodol, Kampung Gajah, Kampung Genting, Kampung Lima Kongsi, Kampung Makam, Kampung Melayu, Kampung Nelayan, Kampung Padang Benggali and Kampung Pisang.

Other villages that might be at risk are Kampung Permatang Tepi Laut, Kampung Permatang Tok Subuh, Kampung Pondok Upeh, Kampung Pokok Asam, Kampung Pulau Jelutong, Kampung Selut, Kampung Siam, Kampung Sungai Nibong Kecil, Kampung Tanjongn Tokong, Kampung Teluk Air Tawar, Kampung Teluk Kumbar, Kampung Tengah Jelutong, Kampung Tengah Air Itam and Kampung Terang.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Policy Research and International Studies Centre (CenPRIS) director, Assoc Prof Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk, said most of the affected villages were now located in the North East district.

An aerial view of the Mutiara villages in Batu Ferringhi that could face possible demolition. - BERNAMApic
He said apart from the rampant development projects, land ownership was also a contributing factor to the issue as the lands they were occupying belonged to other people.

"One of the factors causing villages in Penang to slowly disappear is land ownership. When the landlords develop the land (of the village), that village will be gone forever, given another name and so on.

"This had happened before and is already happening. If we look at villages in Sungai Nibong here for instance, they were long gone from the Penang map because the lands were now being developed into housing projects, condominiums and others.

"Although at one point there might be people living there, the villages are not there anymore. This is the challenge that is being faced in this state," he told Bernama recently.

Azeem Fazwan said the implementation of the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) projects had also contributed to the 'disappearance' of such villages in the state as these projects involved land acquisition exercise.

He said if PTMP were to materialise, the Penang landscape would change and the current villages would be gone, too.

"If this (PTMP) were to happen, the landscape of Penang would totally change especially in the Southwest district. So, when the development begins to spread to the Southwest district, the current villages in Bayan Lepas, Teluk Kumbar, Batu Maung and Teluk Bahang will disappear," he said.

Therefore, he said, it was possible for these traditional villages to be out of the picture in five years' time if there were no efforts by stakeholders to protect and preserve the villages.

In this March 2016 file photo, Siti Hajah Hussein, 60, stands in front of her home in Kampung Batu Uban which is on the verge of 'disappearing' due to extensive commercial development. - BERNAMApic
Meanwhile, academician Prof Datuk Ahmad Murad Merican said the current traditional villages must be gazetted under the National Heritage Act to ensure the villages would not be out of the picture.

He said the state government should play its role in gazetting the villages immediately so that the identity of the Malay community in the areas remained protected and intact.

"The first challenge in gazetting traditional villages is to carry out inventory and define what is meant by traditional village. The definition of traditional villlage has not been formalised. Not all 660 villages in Penang can
be considered as traditional village.

"So, we choose a strategic village, for instance, to be turned into traditional village," he said.