THE spiritual heart of a city offers a compelling story about its history and heritage.
To this end, in 2017, the Johor government launched the Persiaran Muafakat Bangsa Johor, the state’s very own Street of Harmony given the various religious institutions located within the vicinity in downtown Johor Baru.
The name was changed to Coronation Avenue in 2018 to reflect the heart of Johor Baru city, which encompasses heritage buildings and iconic landmarks with multi-racial and multi-cultural elements amid other attractions, and to tell the story of the city’s glorious past.
The Coronation Avenue booklet jointly published by the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) and social-purpose organisation Think City, offers a guide to the city’s iconic religious houses such as Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque, Al-Attas Mosque, Catholic Church of Immaculate Conception, Johor Ancient Temple, Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple, Arulmigu Rajamariamman Devasthanam Temple (or better known as the Sri Rajamariamman Temple) and Masjid India.
Several other places of worship such as Masjid An-Nur, Shirdi Sai Baba Society of Malaysia and The Holy Light Church are also listed.
Coronation Avenue is actually not one street, but covers heritage buildings scattered on several major roads, namely Jalan Trus, Jalan Gereja, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Jalan Ungku Puan, Jalan Abdullah Ibrahim and Jalan Dhoby.
Malaysia Tour Guides Association president Jimmy Leong, who is also its Johor chapter chairman, said the religious institutions, besides being places of worship, hold deep heritage and historical value.
Leong was part of a team involved in a product mapping study initiated by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority a few years ago to research and tie downtown Johor Baru’s heritage attractions and features together.
A certified United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) cultural heritage special guides trainer, Leong said Think City came on board the project later and offered recommendations on product enhancement and placemaking.
“The main aim is to promote our cultural heritage to Johoreans as well as to domestic and foreign tourists in hopes that they will value what we have in our backyard.
“From the product mapping study, we created four main components or heritage routes: an introduction to Johor Baru city; Johor Baru historical trail; Johor Baru spiritual heritage (which covers six places of worship — See map); and Iskandar Malaysia.
“The components also act as a guide to train tour guides in efforts to promote the related attractions through storytelling instead of just churning out facts and figures, which frankly, visitors can easily get on the Internet these days.
“We aim to tell the story of Johor Baru creatively as applied by Unesco by covering the attraction’s background, continuity or connectedness, historical or technical information, policies and aspirations.
“The product mapping study was supposed to be launched and promoted in the beginning of 2020 but had to be put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ” he told StarMetro.
Heritage promotion
Coronation Avenue falls under the spiritual heritage component, covering places of worship as well as the vanishing trades in Jalan Trus, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and Jalan Dhoby such as the Chinese herbal tea shop, bakeries, laundry service, spices shop, coffin makers and charcoal producers.
Leong, who has been actively studying Johor Baru’s history with a group of experienced tour guides, said it took them more than 20 years to collect data and research that were used in the product mapping study.
Before the study, he also conducted training and heritage promotion to heritage enthusiasts in other countries such as Singapore and they expressed strong interest in Johor Baru’s rich history.
“Before the pandemic, we mostly received tourists and groups from Singapore, Japan and other Asean countries who enjoyed learning and experiencing our heritage trails.
“This is why it is important to incorporate the three key factors in our trails, which is to help them understand the information via storytelling, experience it for themselves...for example drinking tea and having kaya toast at one of the olden coffeeshops...and finally to enjoy the whole experience, ” he said.
With the pandemic hindering most travel and tourism activities, Leong said this was a good opportunity for guides to upskill and improve themselves in preparation for the future when travel restrictions were lifted again.
“As guides, we have to change our attitude and move out of our comfort zone because the old, factual guiding styles are no longer what tourists look for, ” he said.
So far, 60 guides have been trained to promote the heritage sites using the storytelling method.
Training for others will be carried out online due to the pandemic.
As travel patterns are expected to shift following the pandemic, smaller or family groups are to be expected rather than large tour groups, said Leong.
“We foresee that tourists will prefer more tailored programmes and tours to non-commercialised attractions in order to avoid large crowds; this is where creative storytelling of cultural heritage can be at an advantage.
“Our objective is plain and simple, to promote our cultural heritage which is a valuable historical asset.
“I feel a sense of duty to at least help in packaging and promoting it well to the masses.
“History is the foundation of what and who we are today.
“So, if we do not preserve what we have now, it will be a waste, ” he said.
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