The image and identity of Muar as the modern royal town of the Johor Sultanate, Malaysia : from the perspective of place identity

• Main Author: Rosley, Muhamad Solehin Fitry
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Sheffield 2019

A royal proclamation of Muar in 2012 as a royal town has sparked continuous debate among the experts due to the lack of royalness image and identity. Thus, this has become a major concern for the local authority and experts in establishing the essence of Muar's identity. Therefore, the aimed to identify Muar's royal image and identity by utilising place identity as the study framework. The study emphasised the significant roles of place identity and its relationship between the Sultan of Johor and his subjects as the main attributes that shaped the entire royalness's image and identity of the place. 300 local participants were engaged in this study which contributed to the empowerment of public engagement in the decision-making process in Muar. Both photo-elicitation and cognitive mapping were selected to assess people's preferences, perceptions and cognitions about both tangible and intangible elements that significant to the people and place. Prior to the surveys, both of the methods were developed from a series of interviews with experts and local residents of Muar. The reason was to ensure the methods were relevant and holistically addressing both parties' interests as the stakeholders. The results of both methods were displayed via qualitative GIS mapping in order to visualise peoples' preferences, perceptions and cognitions regarding the royalness image and identity of Muar. In addition, this study expanded on the results by proposing a series of boundaries for the preservation and conservation of the local image and identity of Muar. The findings of this study led to the meaningful preservation and conservation strategies as well as highlighted the important roles of public engagement in establishing the royal image and identity of Muar.