This is a photo from several years back, when the Urban Sketchers Kuching participated in one of the SHS's events. That's my sketch of the General Post Office in the background.
More recently I was added to a chat group - a collection of members and non members (I'm on this group) to share ideas and information regarding Sarawak's heritage.
I began by asking a question - does SHS have a list of the gazetted buildings in Sarawak? These are buildings protected by law in Malaysia because of their historical value. It is as simple as it sounds. It seems that this social club is still in the process of obtaining this list from the Museum. My thinking is that unless there is a baseline to work from, how can an organisation of concerned (and learned in many instances) citizens hope to conserve our built heritage.? There isn't a 'brief' to start with, and worse still none to built on - to continue the list of buildings to be placed under protection.
In the midst of the conversation, I was reminded that they are a non partisan, non profit organisation of volunteers. I have heard this phrase used before, using to account for shortfalls in their performance. '.. we are only volunteers, how much can we do?'
A lot, you can do a lot if you heart is in the right place. And I feel that if you want to carry a banner for conserving local heritage, you'll need to do more than just host events to run shoulders under the fuse of promoting awareness
I have been invited to join this society before, one of their members wasted RM50 to purchase an enrolment form on my behalf which I never signed or submitted. Many of their events are informative, about Sarawak's heritage; music, stories, art, fabric, and others.
But it falls short if one considers the number of learned and powerful people amongst its members.
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