A Study on Pillbox Distribution in Kedah Towards Historical Heritage Conservation

Abstract

The awareness and urge to protect and preserve the remnants of past wars as military heritage has arisen internationally almost two decades ago especially with the establishment of IcoFort (ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Fortifications and Military Heritage) by ICOMOS in 2005. The main objectives of the establishment are to research, raise awareness and initiate international cooperation in conserving and preserving military heritage in the form of monuments, landscapes and defense structures including pillbox. Pillbox is a concrete structure with special design that is used as one of the defense mechanisms in war. In Malaysia, the existence of the pillbox that was built by the British army during World War II (WWII) as one of the defense systems can still be seen scattered in six states in Malaysia, namely Johor, Penang, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah. However, the efforts to protect and preserve this pillbox as one of the heritage sites are still too little. Therefore, this study focuses on the efforts to track and record the distribution of pillbox in the state of Kedah Darul Aman as a fundamental step towards its conservation and preservation initiative. This study has adopted an exploratory approach by discovering the existence of the pillboxes in each district in Kedah and recording its information using an inventory system with reference to GPS coordinate numbers. The results of the study found that there are 27 pillboxes in the state of Kedah with 3 different typologies found in the districts of Kubang Pasu, Kota Setar and Kuala Muda that still intact and require further attention of protection and preservation.