Skip to content
Melaka in Three Tenses

IIINext

Future tense

Reclaimed land, rising water and the question of what to keep.

Every old city has to decide what it keeps. These essays look at the choices in front of Melaka: who gets to live in the heritage zone, what happens to a coast that keeps moving, and whether an endangered language can find new speakers.

  1. 2 min read

    Saying it in Kristang

    Papiá Kristang, the creole of Melaka’s Portuguese-Eurasian community, has been spoken for five centuries. Whether it is still spoken in fifty years depends on what happens now.

    Illustration of decorated wooden fishing boats moored by a seaside village jetty in the evening

  2. 2 min read

    Land from the sea

    Melaka’s shoreline has moved a long way in a single generation. As the sea begins to rise, the city has to decide which way the line should move next.

    Illustration of a white mosque standing over calm sea water, with a long reclaimed shoreline and distant towers

  3. 2 min read

    A museum or a neighbourhood

    Since 2008 the old town has been a World Heritage Site, and its buildings are better cared for than they have been in generations. The question is who will still live in them.

    Illustration of old Peranakan shophouse fronts with shuttered windows, carved doors and laundry drying upstairs
Made with Modulify