George Town fears losing World Heritage status over birds' nest soup

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George Town fears losing World Heritage status over birds' nest soup
Penang residents warn that birds' nest industry is out of control

Matt Crook

George Town, the capital of Malaysia's Penang state, is a city of two tales: on one side there's a multimillion-dollar edible bird's-nest industry, on the other there are the residents who say the industry is out of control, posing a health risk and threatening the city's Unesco World Heritage status.

"The site no longer belongs to us, but to the world. We should use this recognition as a catalyst to make the George Town world heritage site a livable city," said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, general manager of the George Town World Heritage Office.

Residents are concerned that the Unesco listing, bestowed in 2008 and celebrated last month with a four-week-long festival, could be jeopardised by the swiftlet breeders who use George Town's traditional shophouses as homes for the birds before harvesting the nests, which can fetch more than $1,500 a kilogram.

The Malaysian Swiftlet Farmers Association said in 2005 that 10% of George Town's 4,000 houses had been converted to swiftlet farms, but informal counts suggest the number may be much higher today.

"Swiftlets' natural environment is a cave. When you bring swiftlets to town areas, you must create the environment to attract them. This natural habitat is not suitable for shophouses," Sharif said.

Malaysia is the world's third-largest producer of edible bird nests, with an industry that makes in excess of $450m a year, mostly through exports to China, where the nests are regarded as a medicinal delicacy. Critics say the converted buildings become irreparably damaged. The breeding spaces are kept moist, often by leaving large containers of water, potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes, a further cause for concern.

Rebecca Duckett, a council member of the Penang Heritage Trust, fought for two years to evict a swiftlet farmer who was illegally occupying two flats in a building next to her home. "There was a system of big plastic tubs, full of excrement, and hose pipes that dribbled to the point where steel beams below had completely rusted," she said.

But it isn't just residents who want swiftlet farming out of George Town. Raymond Loo, of Penang estate agents Prima Harta, says potential buyers are reluctant to live on streets where swiftlet farmers operate. "They cause damage by sound pollution and also the bird droppings. Usually bird-nest houses are not well kept. It's very easy to attract termites. Most of the swift houses I have visited have this problem."

Local people complain about loudspeakers set up by farmers to play bird calls and attract the swiftlets, while the racket when the birds leave in the morning and return in the evening is another gripe.

Opponents are up against businessmen who had been profiting from the bird's-nest trade for years before George Town's heritage listing. Jannette Lee, Penang branch manager of Crystal Swiftlets, a supplier of swiftlet farming equipment, said a compromise needed to be reached.

"Bird's-nest trading has existed for many years. Talking about the farming itself, it has just got hot in the last 12 years. I wouldn't say it's a business, but it's an investment."

She added: "If you're looking at the angle of heritage itself, people may have concerns that the facades of houses have been damaged. The concerns are valid, but provided that the swiftlet farmers are responsible, there should be no problems."

Lee says that properly enforced regulations would defuse the tension, but successive state governments have neither cracked down nor found a middle road. The government issued its Guidelines for the Application of Premise Licences for Swiftlet Farming Businesses in 2005, outlining how swiftlet farming is permitted in legally gazetted commercial areas. A moratorium on new licences for swiftlet farms was then imposed in 2008 and extended three times, but new farms continued to sprout up around George Town regardless of the regulations.

Last month the federal government released its long-awaited Swiftlet Industry Guidelines, which the Penang state authorities are now considering how to implement.

The guidelines state that swiftlet houses should be located at least 50 metres from "fully residential buildings" and that heritage buildings should be subject to conditions drawn up by relevant authorities.

Meanwhile, swiftlet farmers in Penang say that if the government decides to move them out of urban George Town they must be compensated. One breeder, who asked that his name not be printed, says the fact that farmers had relied on the industry for years could not be overlooked.

"Getting the government to chase out all the swift breeders will destroy the livelihoods of a lot of people. Swiftlets have been here for a long time," he said.

"The government has been slow to act. There have been so many new houses built that if they ever put their foot down, there would be all kinds of problems."

Dr Kenneth Khoo, secretary general of the Small- and Medium-Sized Industries Association of Penang, said disgruntled residents had to meet the breeders halfway.

"I feel swiftlet farming should be allowed to continue to exist on the condition that those farms established prior to 2008, before the heritage listing, should be allowed to stay. Those formed after shouldn't be operating," he said.

"It's not fair to say that Penang now has heritage status and therefore all of them, despite following these guidelines, should now move out." This potential cut-off would affect about 70 swiftlet houses, he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/10/bird-farming-swift-penang-malaysia

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Thats a very interesting piece Paul.

Clash of traditions I guess.

James

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hi,

There's a couple more similar articles posted by FCS and dated from 2008. They're at Reply #22 on http://www.my2home.info/index.php/topic,354.msg2772.html#msg2772

A few weeks ago I read in The Sun that one of the government committees set-up to produce guidlelines for the Swiftlet Industry comprised 50% swiflet operators. Here in Perak the local town is also most taken over by loudspeakers with tweety-bird noise 24/7. Forget the requirements to turn the speakers off at 7pm.

The centre of the town has become a large birds nest. With associated bird crap, urine, fleas. There's no extra provision in the bird houses for drainage, cleaning, and flushing bird waste. And swiflets are notoriously difficult to potty train.

Some buildings are going up specifically for swiftlets - they're built with windows which are then bricked-up, there's 4 inch plastic pipe swiftlet "doors" on all the walls of the building. And the biggest tell-tale sign of a swiftlet motel coming to a location next to you, apart from the loudspeakers, is the really thick steel door with heavy bolts.

Be careful where you buy these days. Living next to 3-storeys worth of bird effluent is being in deep guano.

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hi,

Here's the article mentioned above, the one I read then lost. It's from the Nutmeg Verses column in The Sun. So if you're buying in Penang, or anywhere for that matter, check out the surrounding properties for potential swiftlet condotels. No swimming pools but free running everything else.

It's not just Penang, there's a couple of towns near me that have become dotted with bird houses. The continuous tweet-tweet noise overwhelms life. Shop fronts are boarded up, windows bricked up, and the doors changed to steel slabs with triple locks. Luckily Malaysia is large and relatively empty so it's possible to move on. Don't take it personal, it's business.


12 Aug 2010 : Much ado about bird Farming
PARTICIPANTS at a recent forum on local governments in Penang expecting a drab affair were taken aback when the gathering saw an open verbal confrontation over the controversial bird nests industry.

Residents’ representatives, heritage conservationists and wildlife lovers engaged in an impassioned altercation with industry proponents over the issue of practising the business in urban areas.

Indeed, the industry has for many people been deemed a nuisance since it began burgeoning a few years back. Literally hundreds of operators have mushroomed in towns and cities across the country, using existing buildings to attract swiftlets to nest inside. And it is said to have come with great social costs. Not only do the birds leave their dung all over the place; but the use of speakers with loud tweeting sounds to draw the swiftlets have left neighbours restless and frustrated.

Sandwiched in the middle of this tussle is the Veterinary Department which has been entrusted by the federal government to monitor and ensure that operators adhere to various guidelines including on cleanliness and hygiene.

But the department’s responsibility does not seem to be completely neutral. For the federal government is committed to accommodate those farming bird nests. Government agencies have been given the directive to help the industry as it has been listed as a priority under the National Key Results Area (NKRA).

"Whether you like it or not the swiftlet industry is here to stay," a department official said emphatically.

Indeed, the pressure from the industry has been intense. It is expected to bring about RM1.4 billion in annual revenue by 2020, and so in March last year, it was identified as a new growth area by the federal government. Even the Penang government made a surprise decision late last year to extend its moratorium for operators, allowing them to continue in residential areas until end of 2010.

But for residents and many NGOs, the issue should not just be about the over-arching benefits of economic returns. It is about the basic principle of farming in urban areas.

Many bird-nest operators are plying their trade in heritage buildings even though the Municipal Council of Penang Island forbids bird nesting in places gazetted as heritage structures or zones. And many of the operators do not even have valid permits to engage in such activities from the local authorities.

Industry operators maintain that the birds have always been in certain towns and cities, just like pigeons and crows. But the fact remains that the activities are man-made initiatives that induce the birds to proliferate unnaturally with the intention to reap commercial benefits.

If such bird farming is allowed in an urban or heritage area, what next? If someone opts to rear chickens, goats or pigs, would that also be allowed?

The swiftlet industry was promoted by the previous state government in 2005. And it has now boomed in a way that local authorities are struggling to control. The Seberang Perai Municipal Council, for example, is in a bind as numerous illegal buildings, some as high as four or five storeys, have sprouted in rural areas, including in villages and farms, to house bird nests.

Added to that is a contention that local stakeholders such as heritage groups, the state government and residents likely to be affected by the breeding of swiftlets in their neighbourhoods, were not consulted during the formulation of federal guidelines for the industry.

And instead, the Association of Swiftlet Nests Industry was consulted. Its representatives have been put in the technical committees to approve applications (for bird-nest farming), raising questions of conflict of interest.

For many people, swiftlet farming, by its very definition is incompatible with the urban environment. And the key to the problem may be with the state governments. For the state authorities have the final prerogative to adopt whatever portions of the federal guidelines that are appropriate to the unique circumstances of the states.

And until this matter is resolved by the governments, there does not seem be any chance for the battle over bird-nest farming to simmer down even a bit.
End of Article
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=50579

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hi,

I stopped eating bird's nest anything when I found out what it was. Are there any folks who know the real-life processing regime for birds' nests. We can start a new topic.

As far as I can see the swiftlet building owner put up timber rails around which the swiftlets build nests. The nest are then used to breed. There's the usual associated fleas, bugs, mites and general biological detrius associated with a nest without plumbing, showers, and air-con.

It's hot and humid and dark in the bird condo, and I'm sure there's more growing than mushrooms.

The nest is then collected. The nasty bits are picked-out I suppose, and the whole must probably be chemically cleaned.

This leaves treated bird gob. And this makes the soup.

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the nasty bits are picked-out I suppose

Maybe they leave it in to get some extra protein
Shark fin soup, turtle soup, birds nest soup: all a no go for me.

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I would be not just concerned about the noise nuisance, pungent smells etc. as wild birds have been proven to be extremely effective vectors for virus transmission into the human population...avian flu anyone? Bringing such large avian populations into an urban environment is a disaster waiting to happen and goes against everything the WHO tried to counsel regarding such actions. This is why HK (which population has always loved having freshly slaughtered poultry in wet markets) now has central slaughtering precisely to avoid bring live birds which may have contact with wild birds into the urban areas. The fact that these swallows are free to roam and then return to their nesting sites within town is frankly frightening having experienced SARS, Avian flu and H1N1 in HK & PRC. Very bad news and very short sighted.

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The Asian perception of the health derived from birds nest will never be settled on this forum, but with Malaysia’s huge open / rural spaces away from city or urban environments why are these swift houses built  in Georgetown, it cannot be just the laziness of the owners in collecting them. If anyone has ever been to Bintan as you walk off the ferry jetty ( few hundred metres long) the huge what looks like block of flats on the left is swift apartments (see the window size) these are also “converted buildings”, so it must be cheaper than building from scratch ?? hence George town ? the trouble is unwanted buildings all over the place can fall into this category.

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hi,

For me, I don't fancy eating birds' gob, or fetid fruit filing (Durian) but what others do is up to them.         I have many Asian friends who wouldn't come within a mile of curdled milk sans needles (Stilton), or eat penicillin mold (Gorgonzola). And many UK friends who wouldn't either.

Loads of tastes and perceptions, and all the better for it.       We could open a new topic on this on the foodie threads.

I think you're right about the empty properties in Georgetown, and nothing much else to do with them. In my part of Perak recently built swiflet factories are about 50% of the total, the rest being otherwise abandoned upper stories of shophouses.

And the swiflet condos that are built are on any bit of land here and there. No policies, no organisation, all grab & greed.

Swiftlets eat flying insects such as flies. Where in Perak, and most other states, are there plenty of flies - chicken farms, where there are thousands that live off the chicken oopse. Build the swiflet factories next door to the chicken farms. Is that smart, or is that smart.

The swiflets in the factories next to the chicken farms will have such a readily available food supply that their gob will be richer, stickier, thicker, and more abundant that the half-starved swiflets in town centres. What an incentive. It's all about location, location, location.

As posted elsewhere, just how many boutique hotels can Georgtown take?