Community participation towards vernacular future's re-settlement for Orang Seletar at Kampung Bakar Batu, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Abstract

"Orang Seletar" is a diminishing maritime indigenous people or known as "Orang Laut Asli" who lived for centuries along the coast of Straits of Johore in between Malaysia and Singapore. There are currently less than two thousand remaining people and they are not wary of their own declining population, unaware of the modern world and caught in hardcore poverty problems. The current settlement which was built for them in Kampung Bakar Batu was once an estuary with rich sea lives which sustain the existence of these sea people. Unfortunately the settlement is now badly populated and has been targeted for major urban development area in the future Iskandar Region development. "Orang Seletar" settlement (built by Natives and indigenous people concern department) consists of small singular single storey stone houses were built in the middle of the land, away from the sea, disregarding the importance of sea to their existing maritime lifestyle, believes, culture and heritage. The paper aims to understand the existing Orang Seletar socio-culture as a basis for their future resettlement at Kampung Bakar Batu. This paper will capture the research and design process carried out with a group of 32 students and three lecturers on failure of existing government initiated housing. Community Participation has been used as a method to rectify and understand these people needs. Data from questionnaires and interview were analyzed to form a master plan and design concept that mainly targeted at reviving the socio culture and improving socio-economy of these people. The team will explore design alternatives from modern to traditional vernacular in approach. The options will be presented to Orang Seletar community and these people's priority is to not about preserving their culture and tradition, but to survive further to adapt to the modern world. Design of resettlements must put into account their self-sufficient ways to modernized and be competitive in the future worlds. Thus, this directly impacts their vernacular resettlement futures in their architecture.