I@H: Promoting the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Malaysia to the New UTM International Students

Mohd Ariffin Abu Hassan

UTM International organized the Culture Corner 23.0 with the theme “The Historical City of Malacca 2019”. The event was participated by almost 150 new students both international and local (7 UTM Global Buddies). The objective of this event was to promote the UNESCO World Heritage in Malaysia to all the new students which in line with the Internationalisation at Home agenda (I@H).

The city of Malacca (or Melaka) is one of the must visit places in Malaysia, as there’s so much to see and do. Plus, it’s only a couple of hours by bus from Johor Bahru making it the perfect historical destination for a quick trip. The trip began with a visit to the Mini Malaysia & Asean Cultural Park located in Ayer Keroh. The Mini Malaysia & ASEAN Cultural Park showcases the country’s 13 states represented with houses that actually look alike to the untrained eye (save for the Borneo house). However inside each abode is where the differences can be seen with life-sized wax dummies dressed in respective traditional costumes as well as local handicrafts. At the Mini Malaysia Complex there is also a model of an Orang Asli village.

Students also had the opportunity to see the impressive replicas of traditional Malaysian and ASEAN homes since each house contains furnishings, fixtures and works of art depicting the culture of each state or country. All of the participants went in and was welcomed by special performances by two minority groups in Malaysia, named Baba Nyonya from Malacca and Iban from Sarawak.

After the visit to the Mini Malaysia & Asean Cultural Park, participants were allowed to have their free time to explore many tourist attractions at t Melaka city areas such as Dataran Pahlawan, Kota A Famosa, Trishaw tours and Stadhyus. The exploring session ended with the biggest attraction in the area, that being Jonker Street. They were feasted with a vast variety of amazing local foods and souvenirs. After everyone was satisfied and had their fun, they gathered at Menara Taming Sari and headed back to Johor Bahru.