Today
the 21st Century Pengerang area is a thriving mixed community.The
jetty facilities have been expanded seeing many tourists from
Singapore traveling by bumboat to its shores.
A
new 10mil Ringit marina and airconditioned complex is also being
built near the main jetty area.
Hopefully any other new developments like this now or in the future
will leave the WW2 site well alone. But with modern development
you just never know...
Since
the war the WW2 battery itself hasn't been completely forgotten
and it is evident that a survey team within recent years had surveyed
the various WW2 structures at Tg Pengelih. Evidence of this survey
can be seen by the various spray painted number designations on
each structure.
Further
investigation of newspaper reports from 1992 confirms that there
were plans in the pipeline to turn the battery into a military
themed tourist park attraction. However as the actual land on
which the battery is located is gazetted military training land
things were bound to get complicated. As things turned out the
military eventually decided to use part of the same land for construction
of a Naval training base, KD Pularek.
Because of this it is safe to assume that any plans for a tourist
site at Tg Pengelih would have had to have been scrubbed.
This is unfortunate as tourist photos from the early 90's show
the site had been spruced up, probably in anticipation of the
site being turned into a tourist attraction. Vegetation had been
cleared and the various WW2 structures given a new lick of white
paint, the area looked very smart indeed.
Today
the site is in a pretty sad state. It's now very overgrown and
the structures are weighed down by graffiti left by visitors.
Metal scavengers have even stolen iron support struts from inside
the various structures. Some of the old structures are also allegedly
used by drug addicts.
It's
a shame that yet another historically significant site like this
in Malaysia has been left in limbo. Hopefully one day what is
left of the battery can be properly restored and maintained for
prosperity like other WW2 batteries at Batu Maung in Penang or
Fort Siloso in Singapore.
|