Public Participation in Heritage Sites Conservation in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges

There are escalating numbers of decay and neglect in most heritage sites cases in Malaysia. Although Malaysia has introduced the heritage and planning legislation to manage heritage sites conservation, it is timely that the public participates and accords full protection of the heritage sites. The objective of the research is to analyze the laws that govern the public participation process in heritage sites conservation and to address the problems encountered in its application. This paper is a library based research uses a qualitative approach to analyze the laws that govern public participation process in the development of heritage sites. The findings show that effective public participation depends on clear and comprehensive legislation to strengthen the compliance and implementation of the heritage related laws.