GEORGE TOWN, Dec 4 — Penang had plans to set up an archaeological gallery near Guar Kepah in Kepala Batas, where researchers had found items dating back to the Neolithic period, but said today it was hampered by a lack of funds.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng disclosed the plans in a news conference here today, after his Kedah counterpart, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, asked what the Penang Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government had done to preserve the archaeological significance of Guar Kepah.
Lim said he had twice written to the Tourism and Culture Ministry — once last year and again in October this year — asking for RM3.9 million to help fund the project.
“The site is on state land so we will not allow anything to be done on the site,” he said, in veiled reference to the recent public storm over the destruction of traces of an ancient civilisation in Lembah Bujang, Kedah, believed to be the oldest in Southeast Asia.
Mukhriz had come under great heat for the demolition of the foundation stones that outlined the location of candi number 11, a Hindu temple believed to date back to between the 8th and 11th century.
Seeking to deflect the fire, the first-term mentri besar for Kedah took to Twitter earlier this morning, where he asked what the Penang government had done to protect the remains of a 5,000-year-old site in Guar Kepah.
In his response today, Lim said a farmer had been given a temporary occupation license (TOL) by the previous Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) administration to farm the land.
He noted the farmer had planted only fruit trees, which he claimed had not affected the archaeogical site, and added that the licence expired this year and was not renewed.
“We have already cancelled the TOL this year and told the farmer not to continue farming there,” Lim said.
When asked if anything was done to protect the site, Lim said it is still state government land and the site has remained untouched.
“Now that you mention it, I will ask the district office to monitor the site to make sure it’s not disturbed,” he said.
The state government had written to Putrajaya asking for funding to conduct further excavation works and to set up the gallery at the site covering 2.39 acres at north Seberang Perai.
In the letter to Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz dated October 7 this year, Lim highlighted that the site is an important archaeological site with signs of Neolithic marine adaptation.
“The research led by Prof Dr Mokhtar Saidin from the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Global Archaeology Research Centre has revealed that the site has evidence of prehistoric humans in Penang,” he stated in his letter.
The state hopes to start construction of the gallery next year and to complete it in 30 months.
The gallery will be an in situ exhibit of the excavation works at Guar Kepah and it will showcase human activities that dated between 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.
Relics and artefacts found on the site will be placed at the gallery as exhibits.
“Since we lost a historical site in Lembah Bujang, we hope the federal government will consider approving the funding to protect Guar Kepah,” Lim said.
