A Melakan Ancestral Village beyond World Heritage

Chapter 6 moves to the fringes of the World Heritage site, where the designation led to a boom in high-rise projects. This chapter analyses the friction between historic conservation and urban transformation by focusing on Kampung Chetti, a ‘heritage village’ recognized by the local conservation law. After introducing the Chetti community, the chapter deals with the heritagization of Kampung Chetti. Local conservation laws, however, turn out not to provide adequate protection from the pressures of real estate development projects. The chapter explores how the Chetti struggled in vain against a high-rise project adjacent to their village. Although recognized by the Melaka State Government as heritage, Kampung Chetti found itself at the bottom of a patrimonial hierarchy, excluded from UNESCO-derived and national heritage regulations.