We have to put people first

(BRIEF CAPTION): A row of heritage buildings at Lebuh Prangin in George Town, Penang./Picby:CHAN BOON KAI/The Star/17 October 2018.

WHEN I was small, there was a good nasi kandar stall in the Bayan Lepas old town in Penang. My dad used to take me there, and every time, I would ask for “tambah nasi” (extra rice). The nasi kandar stall occupied a rickety one-storey coffeeshop along the Bayan Lepas main road. In that same row were a few other single- and double-storey shophouses, including a beautiful double-storey pre-war townhouse.

If you wish to visit that nasi kandar shop now, you can’t. It disappeared many, many years ago. But that townhouse was only demolished quite recently. I do wish that building could have been preserved, but I also understand that it was a necessary sacrifice.