GEORGE TOWN, Dec 2 — The 133-year-old Penang Botanic Gardens is not just a pretty park, it has a colourful history complete with hidden tunnels and old train tracks.
The gardens, originally established in 1884 by Charles Curtis, was used as a base by the Japanese during World War II.
According to Penang Botanic Gardens curator Saw Leng Guan, the Japanese dug tunnels that were used as storage bunkers to hide ammunition and bombs such as torpedoes from the British.
When the Japanese lost the war, he believes they destroyed all their plans of the tunnels and even collapsed the entrance to some of them.
“These tunnels were discovered after the war and there were records of people going into these tunnels in search of Japanese gold at that time,” he said in an interview with Malay Mail this week.
Over the years, most of these tunnels have collapsed leaving very little signs of their existence.
Saw pointed out several remnants of the tunnels along a path heading towards the lily pond in the gardens.
What remains are stacks of rocks, believed to be the walls that formed the entrances of the tunnels, hidden underneath overgrown bushes and vegetation.
“We don’t have plans to dig up and restore these tunnels as it might be dangerous so we might only clear up some of these sites and put a signage there to tell the history of the tunnels,” he said.
It is believed that some of these storage bunkers may still have remnants of ammunition and bombs inside but Saw could not confirm this.
“Maybe we could use a sonar technology system to roughly map out the tunnels in the gardens so we know the locations but we won’t be able to ascertain for sure what’s inside,” he said.
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He also believed these tunnels do not lead or connect to anywhere else.
“They only dug deep enough to make a storage bunker and they dug many of these all around the gardens,” he said.
Saw said they have also unearthed a set of train tracks due to earlier works many years ago.
“These are train tracks used by the Japanese to transport their supplies and ammunition and we have kept it in storage,” he said.
He said there are plans to display the train tracks as an exhibit in the gardens.
Currently all plans for the management of the gardens are still pending due to the drafting of a Special Area Plan (SAP) for it and also the recent passing of the Penang State Park (Botanic) Corporation Enactment 2017.
The passing of the enactment which will lead to the corporatisation of the gardens has led to concerns by various civil society groups that the state might develop the area.
Saw said the gardens is the oldest botanic gardens in Malaysia but its original function as a centre for botanic research, conservation and education was lost over the years after the British left.
“All botanic research activities have stopped since then and this gardens was maintained mostly as a park,” he said.
The expansive 243 hectares were fashioned after an English garden with manicured lawns and beautiful vistas and Saw said this will be maintained under the corporatisation.
However, the enactment will enable those in charge of the gardens to revert back to its original function as a botanic research centre.
“We need to strengthen the back end, which is the research, conservation and education part, in order for us to introduce sustainable plans for the front end, which is the visible parts of the gardens that people see,” he said.
Other than the tunnels and train tracks, the gardens’ herbarium is also a treasure trove of specimens older even than the gardens.
These are earlier botanic research works and records conducted by botanists back in the late 1800s.
“We have specimens that date back to the 1870s and specimens by King’s Collectors who were well-known for their botanic collection of specimens all over the world,” he said.
These specimens are samples of plants in the gardens that were preserved and filed according to its genus and type.
Even though the botanic gardens is 133 years old, its herbarium only has about 4,403 specimens which is very little compared to the over 600,000 specimens at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Saw said a lot of specimens from the Penang Botanic Gardens were taken to Singapore during the British era as the main administrative centre was in Singapore then and Penang was just an extension.
“This is why the passing of the enactment was important, it will allow the gardens to be operated as a botanic garden and a centre of excellence for research instead of just as a park,” he said.
He stressed that the treatment of the botanic gardens as just a park had led to confusion over the years, and caused more harm than good.
“This is why a new management body under a body corporate with qualified experts and professional are needed,” he said in a statement later.
He added that what the gardens need is a fresh and new management approach without the interference of non-expert bureaucrats.
“What we need are botanists and horticulturalists to turn this gardens around for it to fulfil its functions as a botanic gardens and not a park,” he said.
As for the SAP for the gardens, Saw said he is now reviewing the draft so that amendments made to it are more congruent to the vision, mission and objectives of the botanic gardens.
“This draft is now subjected to a review by a panel in December 2017. Inputs from this panel will further improve the draft,” he said.
The draft will then be open for public viewing and a public hearing will be held in the first quarter of 2018.
“After that, the state should be able to gazette the SAP,” he said.
The Penang State Park (Botanic) Corporation Enactment 2017 was tabled and passed in the state legislative assembly early this month.
It will pave the way for the corporatisation of the Penang Botanic Gardens but the state government has reassured the public that entrance fees will not be charged for the gardens under this exercise.
