KUALA LUMPUR: The nomination of selected Chinese new villages for Unesco World Heritage status was made by the International Council of Monuments and Sites (Icomos) Malaysia and not directly by the Housing and Local Government Ministry, says its minister Nga Kor Ming.
Nga said that while the ministry is not directly involved, the government supports the world heritage nominations for any type of village.
“Regardless of whether it's a Malay or Indian village being nominated as a Unesco World Heritage Site, we will support it.
“This would be the pride of Malaysia as it provides global recognition towards our culture,” Nga told the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Jan 21).
He added that such recognition would spur local community economies, while complementing Visit Malaysia 2026.
Nga further stressed the government’s equal commitment to all traditional villages.
He also pointed out that traditional Malay villages are under the purview of the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.
According to Nga, some 858 development projects were carried out at Chinese new villages with an allocation of RM100.5mil.
This comprised 560 basic infrastructure projects, performing repair works on 279 dilapidated houses alongside building 19 new homes.
The ministry, he said, also carried out programmes to uplift the socio-economic status of residents.
Nga said some 50 Indian villages received development allocations to uplift their basic infrastructure, benefitting more than 22,000 community members.
“We remain committed to uplifting both Chinese New Villages and Indian villages,” he said.
Nga was responding to a question by Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd. Muttalib (PN-Maran) on how the government evaluates development allocations for Chinese New Villages to ensure it contributes towards strengthening national unity.
In a supplementary question, Ismail asked about government efforts to strengthen the command of Bahasa Malaysia among Chinese new village residents.
To this, Nga said he himself was from a Chinese new village and scored an A+ for the Malay and Malay literature subjects when sitting for his Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination.
“This proves that those from Chinese new village are not necessarily weak at the language,” Nga added.
