Preserving Malaysia Culture through the Street Art Project in Developing Tourism Sector

• Main Author: Jimmy, Anak Salau
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2018
• Subjects: NX Arts in general
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26590/1/Preserving%20Malaysia%20Culture%2024pgs.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26590/4/Jimmy.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/26590/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Malaysia is a country which comprises of unique and distinct culture, with multi-racial population that brings diversity to the cultural facet of the country. Therefore, such beautiful Malaysian culture should be maintained to avoid being forgotten. Preserving the culture and heritage is vital in development of the modern world. Despite the increase in attention towards technological advancement at global level, the prime role of regional tourism industry still points towards preservation of culture and heritage of local impacts. This paper presents the frequency and descriptive analysis along with factor analysis to measure the perception of the society on street art and its importance to the city at the same time preserving the Malaysian culture. Street art has emerged as a new form of public art that is starting to gain attention in different countries, including Malaysia. Street art also brings a new kind of phenomenon to the city’s interactivity and vitality. Since it is still considerably something new in Malaysia, there has not been many local studies that examine on preserving Malaysian culture through street art, as a creative medium to enhance people’s experience. Based on case studies conducted in Georgetown, Penang and Kuching, Sarawak, this study aims to explore people’s perception on street art as one of an interactive medium to preserve our culture from being extinct. The sample size for this study was 384 samples whereby the respondents consist of residents aged 20 years and above. By conducting this research, it is hoped that it can improve the understanding and appreciation of street art as one of the tools to preserve the Malaysian culture.