A talk by Dr Mohd Jaki bin Mamat entitled, “Restoration Works of Kampung Teluk Memali Mosque” was held at Hotel Seri Malaysia, Ipoh on Saturday, March 17. It was recorded as the second in the series of talks under “Bicara Warisan 2018”.
Mohd Jaki is currently with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and is one of those involved in the relocation and restoration of the 107-year old mosque. The conservation is a joint effort by ATSA Architects together with Dato’ Dr Hj Baharuddin Abu Kassim, Jurubena Bertiga International Partnership, Kuala Lumpur, the Architecture Unit of Politeknik Ungku Omar and the committee of Taman Seri Bougainvillea prayer house.
Due to frequent flooding in Kampung Gajah, the local inhabitants were relocated to a new village. Their village mosque was moved, lock stock and barrel, to Taman Seri Bougainvillea, Bandar Seri Botani, Ipoh, about 60 kilometres away from its former site near the riverbank.
The project to restore this mosque was done in three phases. In phase one, the team of volunteers measured, labelled, coded and dismantled the building.
During the second phase, the team did a dilapidation survey report and after it was completed, the components were segregated.
“It was discovered that some of the components had to be replicated with newer materials as they were hollow on the inside and could not be used anymore,” Jaki mentioned.
The third and final phase was the rebuilding and reassembling of the mosque at its new site in Bandar Seri Botani. Students from UiTM Seri Iskandar were tasked to help design the landscaping for the area surrounding the mosque.
Jaki commended the volunteers from Bandar Seri Botani and students from different universities who pitched in to help in the restoration of the mosque. This mammoth effort to dismantle, construct and restore the mosque began in 2016 and was completed in March 2017.
“Currently, the mosque is being cared for by the local Muslim community. I’m very satisfied with what we’ve done considering that we’re on a shoestring budget,” he said during the talk.
However, he has one regret – the mosque could not be fully restored with all of its original components. The relocated mosque is painted in bright yellow and is now open for use by the local Muslim community.
The next session of Bicara Warisan is scheduled for April 28. For details, call Hisham at 013 424 1917.
Amy Chan
