Proposed Malacca Deep Sea Port Overlaps Archaeological Site

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The proposed site for the Malacca Far East deep-sea port overlaps with a protected underwater heritage zone, and its construction could harm the archaeological site.
However, the developer, Far East Melaka, had only incorporated excerpts from the heritage impact assessment (HIA) report in its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
The absence of the full report would hinder the public from evaluating the potential heritage losses.
According to the EIA report, submitted on Dec 26, 2022, the Pulau Upeh Waters Gazettement Zone, covering about 36,659.6ha, lies off the coast of Malacca.
The area was declared a protected zone, effective May 12, 2022, under sub-section 64(1) of the National Heritage Act 2005.
The law states "the (federal) minister may, on the advice of the (national heritage) commissioner, declare in the notice published in the gazette any area within which an underwater cultural heritage is situated to be a protected zone".
Whereas sub-sections 64(2) and 64(3) state that no person shall carry out any activity in the protected zone, except with the written approval of the national heritage commissioner.
The EIA report for the deep-sea port does not state if approval from the national heritage commission had been obtained.
Full heritage impact report missing
The consultant firm Dr Nik & Associates, which prepared the EIA report, said in the report: “Only significant information from the HIA report was extracted and incorporated.
“The proposed deep-sea port layout is slightly overlapped with the Pulau Upeh Waters Gazettement Zone, the acreage of the overlapped area is 37.25ha.
“As such, a hydrographic survey was carried out by GeoHydrOcean Services in October 2022 to determine the existence of any possible archaeological features or materials within the proposed deep-sea port area as well as within the proposed cruise terminal area.”
The report stated that no “significant” archaeological features, artefacts or evidence of a shipwreck were detected.
The Malacca StraitCiting other hydrographic surveys along the Malacca shoreline, it predicted that scattered small artefacts, household items, ceramics and old coins might be found during the implementation stage of the proposed project.
The EIA report did not specify how the research was conducted. It also did not state the number of times it was carried out and the number of locations scanned.
In comparison, an HIA report for Project AJA submitted in 2021, explained in detail how the research was conducted with regard to the reclamation of 121.4ha of land near Pulau Upeh. This project is still being evaluated by the Department of Environment.
The HIA report for Project AJA was prepared by Asyaari Muhamad, a senior maritime archaeological researcher from UKM’s Institut Alam & Tamadun Melayu.
It listed the findings of each trip, the number of dives and search trips, duration, locations and findings from interviews with local fisherfolk.
From the interviews, Asyaari and his team found that many fisherfolk had discovered historical artefacts at sea. This included porcelain from China during the transition period between the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as items from Europe.
In the report, Asyaari highlighted that the underwater Malacca shoreline has immense archaeological and heritage value. This included 30 to 40 shipwrecks recorded in Malacca's estuary areas. However, a full expedition was not carried out due to various constraints.
Once reclamation activities begin, these underwater historical sites and artefacts would be buried forever.
Malaysiakini has reached out to the Department of National Heritage for comment on the EIA report for the Malacca Far East deep-sea port.
Although several ports have been planned along the Malacca Strait, Far East is seeking to build a 481.5ha (equivalent to 899 football fields) “deep-sea international multi-purpose port” near Alai.
Former Pontian municipal councillor Ling Kah Chok of the MCA is the company’s major shareholder. - Mkini

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