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Final Report of Review Panel on the Development and Management of the Penang Botanic Gardens Table of Contents

Executive Summary

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Historic background of the Penang Botanic Gardens

1.2 Background of expansion of the Penang Botanic Gardens

1.3 Need and potential for development and the Penang Botanic gardens

1.4 Rationale for review of development and management of the Penang Botanic Gardens

1.5 Scope of review

2.0 Review of Penang Botanic Gardens

2.1 The present situation of PBG

2.2 Features of the PBG

3.0 Development of the botanic gardens in the last 20 years

3.1 Physical development

3.2 Assessment of development

3.3 Issues in the development of newly gazetted areas

4.0 The management of the botanic gardens

4.1 Staffing of gardens

4.2 Work functions of the botanic gardens department

4.3 Privatization of gardens' functions

4.4 Activities of the botanic gardens

4.5 Budget of the botanic gardens

5.0 Assessment of the performance of the botanic gardens

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5.1 Performance audit of the Auditor General

5.2 Review panel's assessment of the performance of the botanic gardens

6.0 Strategy of development of gardens

6.1 SWOT analysis

6.2 Strengths

6.3 Weaknesses

6.4 Opportunities

6.5 Threats

7.0 Development and improvement of the gardens

7.1 Redefining the role of Botanic Gardensin the 21st century

7.2 Multiple functions of PBG

7.3 National Biodiversity Center in the Botanic Gardens

7.4 Concept of land use and zoning of the botanic gardens

7.5 Development and improvement of old gardens area

7.6 Development of newly gazetted area

8.0 Programs and activities of PBG

8.1 Research in the botanic gardens

8.2 Horticulture development

8.3 Educational activities

9.0 Prioritization of development projects

9.1 Criteria for prioritization

9.2 Short term projects (1-3 years)

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9.3 Mid term projects (3-5 years)

9.4 Long term projects (5-10 years)

10.0 Management and institutional arrangements of the PBG

10.1 Option 1 Proposed corporitization of the PBG

10.2 Option 2 –PBG as a Government Department

10.3 Option 3 -New Parks and Gardens Department for Penang

10.4 Botanic gardens and Federal funding

10.5 Governance of PBG

10.5 Proposed expansion of staff of the botanic gardens

11.0 Conclusions

11.1 Future challenges

11.2 Strategic development plan for 2006-2020

References

Acknowledgements

Appendices

Members of review panel

Proposed staffing and organizational chart of PBG

Space requirements of visitor center and administrative building

Executive summary

1. Background

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The Penang Botanic Gardens was established in 1884 to introduce commercially important plants in British colonies.

The roles have changed over the years and since 1957, the gardens has functioned mainly as a recreational park

2. Expansion of the Penang Botanic Gardens

The Penang Botanic Gardens is oldest botanic gardens in Malaysia and is still the only public botanical gardens in Malaysia.

In 1989, it was proposed to expand the PBG from 72 acres to 590 acres. The expanded gardens was legally gazetted in 2004.

This expansion is the most significant change to the gardens in 125 years of its existence and present many challenges and opportunities for future development into a modern botanic gardens

3. Development of the botanic gardens in the last 20 years

Master Plan for Development

After the acceptance of the proposed expansion by the State Government, a master plan for the development of the PBG was prepared by the Town and Country Department with the assistance of an experienced Canadian landscape architect, Clive Justice. The master plan for the gardens is sometimes referred to as the Clive Justice Plan.

This master plan was submitted to the State Government in 1989 and accepted. However, the implementation of the master plan had to be delayed until the new areas were legally transferred to the PBG.

Lack of compliance of master plan

In the mean time, certain projects were implemented but many of these projects did not follow the proposed master plan. In the mean time, the PBG Department had come out with their own interim layout and concept plan which differ in significant ways from the accepted master plan.

Projects under the 9th Malaysia Plan

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Under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006 -2010), RM7 million was allocated for the development of the PBG. A number of projects were decided upon by the Gardens Department but these were not guided by the master plan. These projects were contracted to different consultants appointed by the Department of Drainage and Irrigation which was designated as the implementing agency.

4. Review Panel on the Development and Management of the Penang Botanic Gardens

Concern had been expressed by various people on the unsatisfactory state of the PBG as the maintenance of the flower beds and plant collections appear to be neglected.

The Audit Department undertook a thorough audit in 2006 and pointed out a number of issues and problems on the management performance of the PBG. The Audit Department queried about the lack of botanical activities in the gardens.

The Penang State Government commissioned an expert panel to review the development and management of the PBG and to recommend improvements that can be undertaken.

This report is the result of the work of the review panel and submitted to the State EXCO member in 2007..

5. The Management of the Penang Botanic Gardens

There are 6 objectives in the mission statement of the Penang Botanic Gardens Department.

These are:

I. ConservationII. Recreation

III. EducationIV. ResearchV. Tourism

VI. Services Out of the 6 functions, there is very little that can be considered as conservation, education and research in the activities of the PBG Department. The main functions are for recreation and tourism as well as providing services to other government department.

6. Assessment of management of PBG as a botanic gardens

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The Review Panel identified many of the weaknesses and shortcomings of the PBG as a botanical institute. These included the poor maintenance of plant collections and records, lack of a consistent planting policy and a general lack of any conservation, research and educational activities as specified in the mission statement.

7. Staffing in the Gardens

The most serious shortcoming of the PBG is the lack of qualified and trained staff to manage and operate a botanic gardens. As a result, the expertise for managing the gardens as a botanic gardens is lacking.

There is also no training program for the garden staff to improve or upgrade their skills.

There is only one graduate level post in the almost 100 staff of the gardens. As a result of the low grade of the curator’s post of the gardens, it had not been able attract qualified staff. Since the retirement of the curator from the pre-independence era in the 1970s, there had four different curators but none of the curators were qualified or trained either as a botanist or horticulturist. None were sent for training to equip them with the skills to manage a botanic gardens.

The staff structure of the PBG had not changed for the last 50 years. There was one university level staff in 1957 and there is still only one now. While the botanical gardens in the other South east Asian countries have developed in keeping with the times, the staff structure of the PBG had remained as if frozen in time.

The inability of the PBG to perform their stated functions is largely because of this antiquated staff structure. There is simply no one in the gardens able to undertake the tasks of conservation, research and education.

7. Development Proposals of the Review Panel

The review panel identified the potential for development of the PBG as a modern botanic gardens and proposed the prioritization of the many potential projects. The panel also looked into the physical development, the botanical development and the management requirements, as these should be coordinated so that the development will be integrated.

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The panel also identified the short term, midterm and long term proposals and provides detailed recommendations for the development of the PBG. These are elaborated in this report which was presented to the State EXCO member in 2007.

8. Development Issues of the PBG

Lack of accepted Master Plan

One of the most serious issues is the implementation of the projects of the 9th Malaysia Plan without an accepted Master Plan to guide the development.

The projects are undertaken by other government agencies and departments and the Botanic Gardens’ Department was not designated as the implementing agency. The Department of Drainage and Irrigation is the implementing agency. The projects are awarded to separate consultants for design and implementation as landscape projects. As a result, the projects are not coordinated or properly reviewed from a botanical perspective. This diminishes the botanical value of the development projects in the gardens.

The ad hoc nature of the implementation of the projects and without the guidance of an accepted master plan will create many future problems.

Traffic management and parking

Traffic management and parking is the most serious infrastructure problem of the gardens. During the peak periods in the use of the gardens such as during weekends, holidays or special events, the traffic congestion at the Botanic gardens is almost at choking point.

Under the interim layout plan, this traffic problem is not satisfactorily resolved or planned for. This would lead to ad hoc solutions that would compromise the concept of gardens as a traffic free zone. Already, there are proposals to design the new central core of the gardens as for car parking and this is within the gardens.

Illegal structures in the new gardens

a. Rifle club and shooting Range

The continued presence of Rifle Club and shooting range within the PBG will seriously compromise the concept of a place of tranquility for relaxation and appreciation of nature. It is

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incomprehensible that the interest of a few can be allowed to override the will of over 2 million visitors a year and compromise the value of the botanic gardens.

b. Batik shop

The illegal batik shop should be demolished as this interferes with the development of the botanic gardens.

Staffing of the PBG

It is impossible to manage the PBG gardens as a botanic gardens without a drastic change in the staff structure of the gardens. There should be at least 12 new posts at the graduate level for the gardens to be able to full fill its mission and objectives

Management committee of the PBG

The Botanic Gardens has a legally constituted Management Committee since the 1930s. This makes it different from other government departments. The Management Committee advises the PBG Department in various management and scientific issues and provides an oversight function in the development of the gardens.

The enactment is in the process of being updated and revised and is currently in the office of the State legal adviser before being presented to the State Assembly for enactment. The management committee should be activated in view of the many issues and problems facing the gardens at this juncture.

9. Conclusion

The PBG is one of the most valuable natural assets of Penang with great potential for developing into one of the best botanic gardens in the tropics. The challenge at the present moment is to make sure that this potential is not lost through poor planning and implementation.

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Historic background of the Penang Botanic Gardens

The Penang Botanic Gardens was one of the series of tropical botanic gardens that the British established for the introduction of economically important plants to their colonies. One success story was the introduction of the Brazilian rubber tree, Hevea braziliensis, to the early economic development of Malaysia.

The Penang Botanic Gardens was established in 1884 and was administered jointly with the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The two gardens had shared administrative staff up to the time of the political independence of Malaysia in 1957. The Singapore Botanic Gardens was the more established gardens with more staff and facilities.

The Penang botanic gardens was also known as the "Waterfalls Gardens" as a waterfall is clearly visible from the valley of the botanic gardens. However, this waterfalls, though still there, is now less visible because of the growth of trees and other vegetation has obscured the view.

The Penang Botanic Gardens (PBG) is oldest and is still the only public botanic gardens in peninsular Malaysia. The Gardens Department which administered the PBG was also responsible for the road side tree planting of Georgetown as well as having responsibility of agriculture and forestry in Penang. Over the years, it has lost some of its original functions when government departments were established for these in Penang. The social and recreational roles of the Penang Botanic Gardens had become the dominant functions over the last 50 years. However, the mission statement of the gardens department includes plant conservation, botanical research, horticulture and education as part of their objectives.

From the statistics compiled by the Gardens Department, over 2 million visitors come to the Penang Botanic Gardens annually, since the late 1990s. Many of the visitors are locals who make use of the gardens as a public park where they take their walks and meet their friends socially. Tourists, both local and foreign also formed a significant number of the visitors. One of the attractions in the past had been the presence of monkeys (the long tailed macaque or Macaca fascicularis) in the gardens and the immediate vicinity. This has given rise to the gardens referred to as the monkey gardens by tourists guides as well as by some locals. Feeding these monkeys had been a popular activity for visitors until the gardens department banned the practice more than 15 years ago.

1.2 Background of expansion of the Penang Botanic Gardens

The proposed improvement and expansion of the Penang Botanical Gardens has been mooted for a very long time, ever since the Centennial Celebrations

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of the Botanic Gardens in 1984. An international conference on tropical botanic gardens was held in Penang to commemorate the event. The 100th year celebrations provided the stimulus for the discussions by the Botanic Gardens Management Committee for the development of the Penang Botanic Gardens (PBG). This resulted in the proposal for the expansion of the Botanic Gardens and the drafting of a development master plan. The master plan was developed in the 1980s and endorsed by the Botanical Gardens Management Committee and submitted to the State Planning Committee and the State Executive Council (EXCO).

The Department of Town and Country Planning, who had earlier proposed the expansion of the PBG as a "green lung" in 1978 was given the task of developing the physical development plan. To help in the plan which would integrate the concept plan with the physical landscape, the services of an experienced landscape architect and botanical garden designer was obtained from the Canadian Executive Services Overseas scheme through the Canadian Government. The consultant, Mr. Clive Justice stayed in Penang for a number of months helping to develop the design of the expansion of the garden together with the Town and Country Planning Department. The design concept was based on discussions with the gardens committee. This resulted in a physical development plan which is sometimes referred to as the Clive Justice Plan after the Canadian consultant. After a series of public exhibitions, the Penang Botanic Gardens Development Master Plan (1989) was accepted by the State government in 1990.

The Master Plan document accepted in 1990 consisted of three components. It comprised of the concept plan of what the Penang Botanic Gardens, which

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took into consideration the vision and mission of the botanic gardens and the existing conditions at that time. The botanical role of the gardens in plant conservation, research, horticulture promotion and education were to be an important part of the future development of the gardens.

The physical development plan translated the concept plan to a land use plan of the gardens with the proposed layout of the various development projects for the botanical gardens. The various proposed projects followed the zoning guidelines, with the more botanical and scientific role located in the inner part of the gardens which is where the original gardens is. The more public and recreational projects of the gardens would be located from the present gardens entrance to the new gardens' entrance. The development of paths and walkways along the stream and road would be from the new entrance to the present gardens entrance and gate. There would also be specialized collections of various groups of plants in the new gardens' areas, such as the quarry areas and the former scout camp.

The development master plan also has a management component. The management plan proposed a modest increase of three professional staff to better manage the gardens as a botanical gardens. The management plan also looked at the expertise required to run the gardens as a botanical gardens.

The main obstacle to the proposed expansion of the gardens was the acquisition of the land for the expansion. The Town and Country Planning Department had proposed for the PBG to acquire about 500 acres of land that were held by the Forestry Department, The Penang Water Authority, The Penang Municipal Council, the Federal Government and the Penang State Government. Part of the land at the valley had been leased to some government departments for their quarters and also the Scouts and the Penang Rifle Club. Though all the land involved was owned by government departments and statutory bodies, the actual process of getting the agreement of the different departments to hand over the land to the botanic gardens and getting the areas gazetted was a lengthy process. One problem was the government quarters located at the front gate of the PBG. Alternative accommodation had to be found for the occupants of the government quarters. The scout’s coronation camp was vacated as their lease had expired since the 1980s. PBA generously offered an alternative camp site to the scouts in the Vale of Tempe. The process of gazettement took longer than anticipated though all relevant Departments and Agencies had agreed in principle to the extension of the botanic gardens. The proposed extension of the physical area of the garden by more than 500 additional acres was finally gazetted in 2004. The total size of the garden is now 592.74 acres or 239.97 hectares.

The proposed developments of the development master plan outside of the old garden boundaries could not be developed until the gazettement. However, there were no constraints to the proposed development and improvement of the gardens within the boundaries of the old PBG and some improvements and changes had been made over the years.

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Between the drafting of the Clive Justice Master Plan and the gazettement of the new areas to the Penang Botanic Gardens, a number of modifications were made to the plan. Three projects were implemented. These are the quarry recreational park, the horticultural centre and the surau around 2004. A subsequent project in 2008 was the Hawker center for the relocation for the hawkers now near the gate of the gardens. These have serious implications for the subsequent development of the botanic gardens. The horticultural center, hawker center and surau closed the option of locating the visitor center there and reduces the amount of parking bays.

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The PBG Department proposed a new concept and layout plan which contain a number of unresolved problems such as the Rifle club and shooting range within the gardens. The amount of parking space is clearly inadequate and

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not based on any traffic study. These will be in contradiction to the concept of the gardens as a area of tranquility and a traffic free zone.

1.3 Need and Potential for the Expansion and Development of the Penang Botanical Gardens

The need for the expansion of the PBG had become urgent with the increased number of visitors to the gardens. More public recreational space is needed to ease the congestion.

In the last two decades since the proposal of the Development Master Plan, there had been a very much more intensive usage of the gardens by the Penang public in the last 20 years but mainly as a public recreational park. The visitor numbers were about two million visitors and users per year. At peak periods, such as public holidays and weekends, there can be up to 20,000 visitors per day. There is an urgent and obvious need to increase the facilities for the increase usage.

The extension of the gardens included both the land in the valley as well as the surrounding hills. Because of the steep slopes of the surrounding hills, much of the extension cannot be developed without excessive hill cutting. The main focus of development would be in the flat land of the valley.

However, within the PBG boundary, the sloping land is covered by natural lowland and hill Dipterocarp rain forests and is therefore a natural arboretum with its large numbers of forest trees. This is a tremendous asset for any botanic gardens to have a natural forest within its boundaries. The forest part of the PBG would be an important area for plant conservation. This would also serves as a natural buffer to any future development threat. Beyond the boundaries of the Gardens is forest reserve and water catchment area which is not likely to be developed.

There are very few botanic gardens in the world with such a natural setting. Because of the natural setting, the PBG could be promoted as one of the few, if not the only "botanical gardens with a tropical rainforest". The theme of combining the botanical gardens with the natural Dipterocarp rainforest would be of great interest to local visitors and tourists alike as there is now a greater interest and appreciation of the value and biological diversity of such forests. Unlike some botanical gardens that are being proposed in Malaysia which have very little natural vegetation, there is already a very high level of plant biodiversity is in the surrounding forest of the PBG.

The need for the PBG to take on the roles of a modern botanic gardens such as scientific research, horticulture, conservation of plant biodiversity and education besides being a public recreational park has also been expressed by the public. This is the result of a greater awareness of the importance of biological diversity globally and the fact that Malaysia had participated actively in the international environmental treaties such as the Convention of Biological Diversity. The expansion of the gardens will provide the impetus for the State government to commit itself to supporting the development of a

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modern botanic gardens that will undertake botanical research, conservation, horticulture and education.

1.4 Rationale for Review of the Development and Management of the PBG

With the dramatic expansion of the land area of the Botanic Gardens and the expected allocation of development funds from the 9th Malaysia Plan, it is therefore an opportune time to undertake a comprehensive review of the role, functions, management and development of the PBG. The current expansion represents the most significant qualitative change to the gardens since its formation over 120 years ago. A review would help identify the issues, problems and challenges in the development of the Penang Botanic Gardens towards 2020.

The Botanic Gardens Committee under YB Mr. Teng Chang Yeow, the State Executive Committee Member for Environment and Tourism Development on the 10th of May 2006 requested Dato’ Dr. Leong Yueh Kwong to form and chair a panel for the review of the development, management and organizational structure of the Gardens so that it would guide the development of the gardens in the years ahead. The members of the panel are Professor Wong Khoon Meng, the director of the Rimba Ilmu Botanic Gardens of the University of Malaya and Dr. Saw Leng Guan, the director Tropical Forest Biodiversity Centre in the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia.

The members of the panel agreed to undertake the review on a honorary basis and as a public service. The time allocated for the review process was six months. At the end of this review, the review panel to come out with its report and recommendations.

1.5 Scope of Review of Penang Botanic Gardens

1.5.1 Defining the Role of Botanic Gardens

The mission statement of the Botanical Gardens Department specified a number of major roles for the Gardens, namely, botanical, recreational, horticultural and educational. However, the tourism aspect has been added on to the recreational role, while conservation has become a more important role nationally and internationally.

The review panel would examine the roles of the gardens and recommend ways on how to achieve these objectives.

1.5.2 Development of the gardens

1 Examine the present state of the botanical gardens2 Examine the various physical development plans and evaluate their

suitability and appropriateness since more than 15 years have passed

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since the plan has been accepted and the circumstances have change since then.

3 Identify the priority areas for development and recommend the projects for development in the short, medium and long term

4 Identify the issues and problems in the implementation of the development plan such as the quarters of various government departments within the gardens and the shooting club and scouts’ camp as well as illegal squatters.

5 Look into the development of the additional 500 acres of hill slope forests of the expanded gardens for conservation, scientific, horticultural and educational purposes as the development plans concentrated mainly on the flat valley.

1.5.3 Management of the gardens

The organizational structure of the Gardens Department has been largely unchanged for the last 50 years and it was inherited from the colonial government. The current staff structure and the level of expertise are clearly not sufficient or suitable for the management and the development of a modern botanical gardens with their new roles. This inadequacy is very evident when we compare the staffing of the Penang Botanical Gardens with the staffing of gardens in our neighboring countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

The staffing level at two of the best botanical gardens in South East Asia, namely, the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Queen Sirikit Botanic Gardens in Thailand consist of a very large number (about 30-40) of highly trained staff. Both these institutions are headed by reputable botanists with PhD degrees and supported by very well qualified and well trained botanists, horticulturists, educationists as well as managers of programs and administration.

Singapore Botanic Gardens which used to share the same administrative and scientific staff with the Penang Botanic Gardens in colonial times started their transformation in the 1970s. The Penang Botanic Gardens continued functioning without any such transformation and carried on as they did in the past. Today the Singapore Botanic Gardens is acknowledged as one of the best if not the best tropical botanic gardens in the world.

The Queen Sirikit Botanic Gardens (QSBG) in Chiangmai, Thailand is considered to be one of the most promising developing botanic gardens in SE Asia. The QSBG employs some of the brightest botanists and horticulturists in Thailand. As can be seen in their web site newsletter, they have a staff training scheme where the staff members are sent to local and foreign universities to undertake post graduate degrees in botany and horticulture.The management of the Penang Botanic Gardens is greatly dependent on the staffing and expertise within the gardens. Though the management of the PBG can no doubt be improved, it must be recognised that it is impossible to carry out botanical and scientific work in the gardens if there are no botanists and scientists in the gardens' staff.

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The review panel looked at:

1. The organization and structure of present staff2. The deployment of the present staff of botanical gardens for

different places3. The current management practices4. Training of staff5. Management issues6. Audit department’s 2005 report on the Botanic Gardens7. Assess the requirement for staff under the development plan of the

gardens

1.5.4 Organization and Institutional arrangements in the PBG

The constraints of the organization and institutional arrangements of the PBG for the functions of the botanical gardens is well known. They had been identified in various reports as well as being widely reported in the press over the years. The institutional constraints included the low level of the curator's post within the government hierarchy and the difficulties of creating new positions such as for botanists and horticulturists that are needed to undertake the scientific core functions of the gardens.

It was felt by the Botanic Gardens Management Committee of the 1980s that many of these constraints and barriers to effective management was the result of the Gardens' Department being a government department. As a government Department, it was subjected to all the rules and regulations that do not recognize the special nature of a botanic gardens.

The management committee commissioned a study in the early 1990s on the possible reorganization and corporitization of the gardens. It was thought at that time that the corporitization of the Gardens Department would solve many of the problems that the gardens faced. This study was under taken by a consultancy company namely, Kassim-Chan and Associates.

The review panel:

1. Review of consultancy report by Kassim-Chan Berhad on the proposed corporitization of the Penang Botanic Gardens

2. Looked into the legal status of the Gardens’ Management committee as there is an anomaly of a Government Department with a management committee

3. Explore the possibility of organization of the Botanical Gardens Department into a Parks and Gardens Department within the state government

2.0 Review of the development and management of the Penang Botanic gardens

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The panel met 3 times at the PBG as well as made visits to the Botanic Gardens at the University of Malaya as well as the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The panel also met with YB Teng Chang Yeow two times in Penang as well as accompanied him to the visit to the University of Malaya and Singapore Botanic Gardens. The panel worked with the staff and director of the PBG in the course of the review. Various documents and plans pertaining to the development of the PBG were examined. Communications of the panel members were also undertaken through phone and through email.

The main observations on the present situation of the PBG are presented in this chapter.

2.1 The present situation of the botanic gardens

2.1.1 Location and surroundings

The physical features of the PBG had not changed very much since the 1920s when the layout of the gardens was finalized. The PBG is located in a valley surrounded by relatively undisturbed Dipterocarp Hill forest. The forests surrounding the gardens are protected as a forest reserve as well as being part of the water catchment that is still used by the Penang Water Authority. There is a waterfall which eventually leads to a stream that passes through the gardens. The waterfall is the reason that the PBG is had been referred to as waterfall garden in the past. The Penang Water Authority collects the water below the waterfall into a reservoir which is a source of the water supply of Penang Island.

2.1.2 Layout and Zoning of the gardens

The zoning of the PBG into various lawns and circular roads were well established since the 1920s. Though the actual area of the PBG was 72 acres, the developed area of the PBG was only 29 acres and these are mainly in the valley. The roads of the PBG are lined with mature trees not only from Malaysia but also from throughout the tropics.

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There are three circular roads within the PBG. These are the lower circular road, the upper circular road and the upper north road. The developed land is sub-divided into various lawns, each of which had specialized collection of plant species. Besides these, there was an area designated as the formal garden where the garden was designed in an English style where the flowering plants were arranged in a symmetrical fashion.

The main work within the PBG over the past few decades was to maintain the gardens to ensure that the plant collections were in a healthy state and the lawns were well maintained. Some plant houses were built to accommodate new plant collections such as for the species orchids in the 1990s. A trail was also developed from the Lily pond to the old superintendent's house on the small hill.

3.0 Review of development of the botanic gardens in the last 15 years

3.1 Physical development

Over the last 15 years, a number of improvement and upgrading projects were carried out in the gardens in line with the expansion program of the master plan.

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Some of the major facilities and infrastructure upgrading works reported by the Director of the PBG for this period are as follows:-

3.1.1 Construction and improvement of plant houses

A number of plant houses were built and upgraded. These are:

1) The Orchidarium

2) The Cactus house

3) The Palm House

4) The Epiphyte Plant House

5) New Plant House to accommodate ex-situ collections

6) The amalgamation of Plant House 6 & 7 into Perdana Plant House (Main Plant House).

7) Upgrade of the Begonia & Bromeliad Plant House

3.1.2 Upgrading of infrastructure

A number of existing infrastructure improvements was undertaken.

Animal cages were built in two areas to house animals which were given to the state of Penang in the 1970s by neighboring countries. The cages and enclosures were housed in the botanic gardens as there were no other suitable places to put them in Penang.

These were the enclosures built for the Orang Utan and the deer.

8) The Deer enclosure, which was fenced for keeping the animals, had been converted into the Herb Garden in the 1980s.

9) Upgrade and refurbishment of the Orang Utan’s Cage. The Orang Utans have been long gone but the cages had remained. However these cages are not suitable for the display of plants.

10) Restructure and upgrade of the Lily Pond

11) Upgrading, repaving and re-fencing of Sun-Rockery

12) Built and upgrade a new toilet with handicap-friendly features

13) Upgrading, repaving and re-fencing of the Formal Gardens.

14) A face lift to the main entrance with a wall erected on both sides.

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15) Installation of Gardens Lighting system -twice

16) Build and erect a new pergola at Lawn B and R

17) Upgrading Of the Band Stand.

18) To install handicap-friendly inter-locking pavement along the whole stretch of Lower Circular Road.

19) Restoring the Middle Bridge and replacing two other rebuilt wooden

bridges with concrete structures at Lawn S .

20) Resurfacing of the road.

21) Improvement of nursery facilities.

22) Convert abandoned PBA quarters into a one–stop Horticulture Centre which commenced operations in 2005.

23) 2 units of PBA Quarters turned into an Gardens Information Centre

24) A timber gazebo replacing the Bougainvillea plant house.

25) Strengthening of the river bank

3.1.3 New Project outside of old Gardens boundaries

26) A new 8-acre Taman Rekreasi Kuari at the abandoned Quarry area was established in 2003.

3.1.4 Planned car park project

27) Three new car parks planned and sited at Lot. 3654, 2833 and2851 Mk.18 DTL, providing more than 300 parking bays for cars and buses. However, it is not clear whether 300 parking bays would be sufficient as assuming that each car has 2-4 passengers, the total number of visitors is from 600 to 1200. On peak periods, there would be a few times more than that.

3.2 An assessment of the developments listed

3.2.1 Infrastructure development

The construction of new plant houses may be considered to be part of PBG development. The rest of the projects undertaken over the last 15 years, such as building of toilets and resurfacing of roads can be more accurately describe as normal maintenance work of any public park and garden.

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3.2.2 The Quarry Gardens

The only substantial new project is the 8 acre Quarry Recreational Garden. However, this project was not part of the development PBG master plan which had proposed a water garden in the quarry area. The idea of a water garden was apparently abandoned as the waterfall that was at the quarry had since dried up as a result of the diversion of water by other users above the gardens. The lack of a natural supply of water would make a large lake problematic as water would need to be pumped up from the stream near the coronation camp. The intention of this quarry gardens development in 2003 as implied in the name "Taman Rekreasi Kuari" is that the area was developed as a recreational garden both by intention and design and not a botanic garden. As there was a difference in elevation of the front and back part of the quarry, the quarry gardens was cut into a number of levels or platforms connected by concrete steps. In the development of the quarry garden, a large part of the developed area is paved with stones, concrete and tiles to make it suitable for exercise and outdoor activities. Some trees had been planted in the platforms. The soil is generally very shallow as the use of this area as a quarry had denuded the soil. This area was subsequently covered with soil brought in as part of the development of the quarry gardens. This very shallow soil would be a constraint to the planting of large trees or plants that require deep roots.

Though the landscape is of the quarry gardens is reasonably green with trees and grasses planted for aesthetic reasons, the landscape is botanically sterile as the species planted are not guided by any planting policy based on the botanical criteria. As such, the present plantings are of limited botanical interest or value. There is very little attempt to put in features or plant collections to make the 8 acres of centrally located land botanically diverse and educational. This is a wasted opportunity for combining the development of the gardens to meet the need for recreation with that of creating something of botanical, horticultural or educational interest.

To improve the quarry gardens, the review panel recommended that a number of changes to the plantings be made. It would necessary to replace many of the trees which are not appropriate with trees more suitable with the environmental conditions of the quarry garden. A number of flat areas have been created though earthworks and these have been planted with grass and made into lawns with different botanical themes. These areas can be developed for specialized plant collections in the different lawns, such as for climbers or epiphytes on pergolas and arbors that can be constructed.

The plantings of the whole quarry area should be re-looked at again and suitable areas be designated as lawns with their own distinctive collection of plants along the lines of the old gardens. The quarry gardens should also place some emphasis on growing various flowering shrubs since the soil is too shallow for large trees. The presence of flowering shrubs such as Hibiscus, Bougainvilleas, Cannas, Crotons and other species would add color as well as horticulture interest to the gardens.

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3.3 Issues in the development of newly gazetted areas

There are a few issues that have not been resolved in the development of the new areas of the expended botanic gardens.

The three main unresolved issues are:

3.3.1 Rifle club

Though the lease to the Rifle Club has run out a few years ago, the club had been using the land as there had not been any immediate development in the site. The Rifle club is reported to be unwilling to move and had been lobbying to be allowed to stay. However, the shooting activities of the Rifle club are incompatible with the peace and tranquility of the gardens. The episodic but daily shooting practice that takes place is very disruptive and had been very unfavorably commented upon by visitors. With the expansion of the gardens, the presence of the Rifle Club inside the gardens will be totally inconsistent with the objectives of the PBG.

3.3.2 Illegal craft batik shop

The illegally building on the piece of federal land that had been leased in the 1980s for a fruit stall but the person who got the lease then proceeded to expand and then built the batik shop without any approval. The illegal building had been a problem ever since it was constructed. The plot of land is actually federal land and has actually yet to be surrendered to State though the State Government has already handed over a piece of state land that to be exchanged for the federal land.

Efforts by the MPPP to demolish the building were not successful for various reasons. This had been widely reported in the press at that time. However, the building will have to be demolished as it is located in the proposed development of the visitor and administrative complex.

3.3.3 Road access for Penang Hill residents

There is a road up Penang Hill which will be inside the gardens with the expansion. The road was outside the gardens when it was first constructed in the early 1970s. It was meant to be an emergency road up Penang Hill in case of illness and other such emergencies. The road alignment was based on an old hill footpath and the road constructed based on this does not meet the JKR standards for road safety, because of steep gradient and tight corners. However, it had been increasingly used by the Penang Hill residents and their friends in recent years though there is a JKR check point at the base. This use of this road after the expansion of the gardens will cause perpetual problems to the gardens in terms of security, especially during the hours when the gates to the gardens are closed.

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One alternative is to construct another road outside the gardens that would connect to the hill road higher up the hill. However, the terrain is steep and construction would be expensive. The JKR had indicated that it is willing to consider the realigning of the road to outside the garden.

Another alternative is to manage the traffic such as to allow access only when the gardens is open. This is likely to be problematic as the residents use the road at all times of the day and night.

3.3.4 Other miscellaneous issues

The other problems such as, government quarters, the Coronation camp and coffee shop and hawkers' stalls have been resolved as all have agreed to move or have moved.

The government quarters of the various government departments have already been relocated.

The scouts have been compensated with land in other parts of Penang where the camping activities would be more suitable for their needs.

The coffee shop and hawkers will be located to the new entrance of the gardens and the Penang municipal council has planned a hawker center with proper stalls.

4.0 Review of staffing and management of the botanic gardens

4.1 Staffing of gardens

One of the key management issues is the staffing of the PBG. The present (2006) number of staff is 98. This is quite a large number and comparable to other gardens of a similar size. However, an examination of the level of the posts and the distribution of the numbers show that most of the jobs are low level workers. (see appendix 2). There is 79 staff in this category. On the other hand, there is only one post at the level of a university graduate. This is highly unusual for a botanic gardens as it means that there can not be any botanic, scientific, horticultural or educational work due to a lack of staff and expertise.

Besides the work within the PBG, part of the staff is deployed to maintain the residences of the Governor, the State visitors' guest house and the residence of the State Secretary. There is about 20 staff members deployed for such work duties. Besides this there are four PBG staff assigned to Penang Hill to take care of the garden of the State's guest house at Bel Retiro in Penang Hill. The PBG is also called upon to provide plants for official state functions.

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The staff structure has not changed substantially in the last 50 years or so, since Merdeka in 1957. There was one curator then and there is still one curator now. Though the numbers of workers may have increase, the expertise among the staff have probably declined as the older staff with the gardening skills have retired in the last 10 years or so. They had been quite well trained to perform certain gardens' function, such as plant propagation and maintenance of plant collections.

4.1.1 Staff training

While there is little formal training courses or programs for the lower level workers, supervisory level officers were given regular training at local training institutions such as INTAN, Mardi, UM, UPM, FRIM and others. There is no formal staff training within the garden department. The staff is rotated to the various job functions among the units of the technical units.

There are four technical units in the gardens organization structure. These are: 1. Ornamental plants unit (16 staff)2. Horticulture and Landscape unit (18 staff)3. Grounds maintenance and machinery unit (20 staff)4. Botany and scientific development unit (3 staff)

There is no formal staff training course or program organized for the gardens low level workers such as gardeners. One had been proposed in the 1980s by a consultant from the Kew Botanical Gardens, Mr. Pemberton who came to Penang under the sponsorship of the British Council. Mr. Pemberton was responsible for the training of the gardens' staff at Kew. He proposed a series of basic courses on gardening skills that all PBG staff would have to know. This would be followed by more specialized skills training, depending on the job functions of the staff. However, this recommendation for the development of courses and modules within the gardens was never followed up. One of the reasons given at that time was that there is the lack of anybody within the gardens who can undertake the training. In any case, it was also pointed out are no incentives for the staff to upgrade their skills as the administrative structure of the gardens does not have any way of recognizing the skills acquired. The previous difference in grades of services for the workers was removed by a directive of the state administration resulting in the flattening of the gardens' organizational structure. The different grades of laborers were abolished and every low level staff was in the same laborers' category, regardless of whether they have passed any garden's course or not.

The need for staff training is still very much need as there are many skills necessary to run a gardens in a proper manner. A number of basic and advanced models should be offered to all staff and passing these should be mandatory. This should include:

1. Basic botany courses, such as plant classification and identification.

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Almost all gardens staff do not know how to use a taxonomic key to identify plants in the gardens. As a result, many do not know the names of plants that they are working with. Any wrong labeling of plants will go undetected as no one know the correct name or how to get the correct name through the use of a taxonomic key

2. Basic horticulture techniques such as plant propagation, composting, fertilizer application and pruning

Though some of the gardens staff know the basic horticultural techniques these are from observation of the older garden staff. The older staff are retiring and this source of learning would decline unless more structured courses are instituted.

3. Plant protection, including the identification of common diseases and their treatment.

This would include the safe use of herbicides, insecticide and other agricultural chemicals. This would be for the safety of the gardens staff.

More advanced courses would depend where the staff is assigned. The course modules should include topics like plant conservation, herbarium techniques, plant collection, landscaping and data management. Some of the skills needed are listed in the Darwin Technical Manual for Botanic Gardens

While the staff expertise of the PBG have remain stagnant or decline over the last 20 years, as the more experienced staff retired or move away, the scope of activities of the gardens have increase. It would be difficult to accomplish the mission and objectives of the PBG unless there is a serious effort to upgrade the skills of the existing gardens staff as well as employ more staff with the right qualifications.

The mission statement of the PBG list 6 major functions. These are:

1. Plant conservation2. Recreation3. Education 4. Research5. Tourism6. Service

A comparison of the mission and the current staff in the PBG shows that there is a glaring mismatch between the mission and the staff available to fulfill the mission. Each of the objectives in the mission statement would require at least one or more staff at the university graduate level and many more supporting staff. There would need to have a more detailed assessment of the types of expertise and staff needed for the PBG to accomplish its stated objectives and programs that the gardens would carry out over the next few years.

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The review panel has identified this as a critical problem and has recommended a drastic increase of professional staff recruitment. If the PBG is to fulfill their mission and objectives, it would need to rethink the whole issue of staffing and identify the kinds of expertise that would be required.

4.2 Botanical and Horticulture work at PBG

There has been very little botanical and scientific work at the PBG in the last 30 years. Many of the basic functions of the botanic gardens have been neglected or overlooked. Even the keeping of plant records of the species found in the gardens were not updated. As a result, there is no up to date records of the plants that has been lost over the years or the plants that has been planted.

There had been some research undertaken in the 1970s by some lecturers from the School of Biological Sciences at USM, mainly in the family, Zingerberaceae. Some of the specimens were grown in the gardens but the collection has since disappeared after the staff left the university. The PBG has also been a place where some of the students of USM had undertaken their research projects.

4.2.1 Inventory and labeling of plants

There had been a number of occasions over the last 20 years to get the assistance of the botanists from FRIM to help identify and update the labels of plants in the PBG. There were also occasions when passing botanists would volunteer to identify groups of plants that they have expertise and interest in. however, the labeling of plants is not yet complete.

In the last 2 years, the PBG has started with the use of a data base management system entitled BRAHMS to keep their records. This is done through the seconded staff of FRIM, Ms Lai Ee May who is posted in the PBG. Her responsibilities include the development of the plant database as well as improving the herbarium and to also undertake some education program

4.2.2 Herbarium

The PBG has a very small herbarium with about 2000 herbarium sheets. The oldest herbarium sheet dates from 1972. This is because most of the old herbarium specimens collected before 1957 were kept in the botanical gardens of Singapore as they had better facilities for the storing of the specimens. Before the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, the botanic gardens of Singapore and Penang were administered by the same government department.

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There had been no systematic collection of plants for the PBG for the herbarium for the last 30 years. Some specimens were deposited by students and visiting botanists, but these efforts were very episodic. A more systematic effort at the building up of the herbarium has only been carried out in the last few years with the secondment of a botanist form FRIM to the PBG. The PBG has no in house expertise in the identification of plants and there had been no systematic program for the collection of plants and making herbarium specimens. Even the flowering plants within the gardens were not systematically collected for the herbarium.

4.2.3 Maintenance of nursery

The nursery had been maintain mainly for the supply of plants for government functions and also partly for the replenishment of the flower beds within the garden. The propagation and sale of plants which was a practice in the 1970 and 1980s had been reduced and the varieties of plants are not very different from that available in most nurseries.

The nursery also does not produce enough plants for some of the garden functions such as the International Flower Festival. The flowering plants that are used to decorate the exhibition areas are purchased from commercial nurseries from out of the Penang state. There is no composting of the plant remains for use in the nursery.4.2.4 Maintenance and protection of trees

There is some maintenance of the trees and also some control measures for diseases. There had been a case where the falling branch of a tree had killed a foreign tourist a few years ago. The court case resulting is still not resolved and the victim's family is alleging negligence on the part of the garden by not removing dangerous branches which are likely to fall naturally or with strong winds.

Though there is a program to treat disease plants, there are some plants which were missed as the diseased plants did not seem to be treated. One example is the very fine specimen of the Firmania tree that is at the upper ring road. This tree was not treated for years though part of the trunk has rotted away. It is not known as to the rate of loss of trees in the gardens. There are no indications of any remedial are measures to save the trees that are diseased as often seen in some gardens in other countries.

4.2.5 Membership of international organizations

The Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a global network of botanic gardens with 800 institutes as members from over 120 countries. The PBG is a member of this network of botanic gardens. The main aim is for the conservation of plants.

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4.2.6 Collaboration with other institutions

The PBG has a number of collaborative arrangements with a number of institutions both inside and outside of Malaysia. Some of these arrangements are formal in the sense that there had been a signing of a memorandum of understanding. Some are more informal where there had been cooperation by mutual understanding.

a. Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia

One of the most fruitful collaboration of the PBG has been with the Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia. Though FRIM had always helped PBG whenever there had been a request such as for the identification of trees, it was only recently that this collaboration had been formalized. FRIM has seconded one of its staff to be based in the PBG full time to undertake botanical work as well as educational work. This has contributed significantly to the botanical and educational work of the PBG

b. Universiti Sains Malaysia

A memorandum of understanding had been signed between the PBG and USM in the late 1980s. However, cooperation has been mainly in the attachment of USM students to the gardens for their industrial training. USM is collaborating in the development of the Aroid walk way. USM and the PBG has also collaborated in the administration of the Mohamad Haniff Foundation in honor of the famous plant collector of the pre second world war era. Mohd Haniff worked with many renowned botanists and was employed in the PBG. His two grand sons were working in the PBG until they retired a few years ago.

c. Itabashi Botanical Gardens in Japan

The PBG has a memorandum with the Itabashi Botanic Gardens in Japan and there had been exchange of visits. The Itabashi Botanic Gardens had also donated a heavy duty plant shredding machine to the PBG to shred branches of trees and other plant parts so that they can be more easily be compost. However, the PBG has not use the machine as it does not practice composting of the plant remains.

The Itabashi Botanic Gardens is in the process of raising funds to developed a Japanese Garden behind the formal garden.

d. Adelaide Botanic Gardens

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens had been keen to establish some collaboration with the PBG over the years as Adelaide had been a

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sister city with Georgetown, Penang. Other than a few exchange visits, there had been no further collaboration.

e. Friends of the Botanic Gardens (FOBG)

The FOBG had been formed in 1994 as a support group for the activities and programs of the PBG. However, the FOBG had not been working as part of the gardens' outreach program for various reasons. They have an office in one of the old quarters of the PBG within the gardens where they have their own garden related activities such as composting and plant exchanges and sales. They also operate the Botanika shop in the gardens where they sell books and other souvenirs. They pay rent to the gardens and the PBG department lists the Botanika as one of their privatized projects.

f. Malaysian Nature Society in the gardens

The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is one of the oldest environmental and conservation NGO in the country. They rent one of the old quarters building in the PBG. They help out in nature education programs of the PBG.

4.2.7 Planting Policy

Since the retirement of Mr. Cheang Kok Choy, the first Malaysian post colonial curator of the PBG in the early 1970s, there had been no clearly articulated planting policy in the gardens. Planting along the roadsides in the gardens was not based on the choice of plants of botanical interests, but on what is commercially available in the market. One example is the rows of Asoka trees (Polyalthia longifolia) near the entrance to the garden. In more recent times, there had been more regular planting with plants of botanical and horticultural interests have been carried out along the road leading to the gardens.

A planting policy is very important as it guides the choice of trees, shrubs and herbs to plant in a botanic gardens. The plants define the character of the gardens. A planting policy would also guide the exchange program for seeds or other planting material with other gardens and botanical institutes. The policy would help determine the types of trees to replace and what other new species of trees need to be obtained.

The planting policy would also determine the kinds of flowering plants to be put into the flowering beds and how they should be maintained throughout the year as many flowering bed are from annuals and need to be replanted.

The planting of trees and other plants in the new quarry gardens is chosen by the landscape architect and is not guided by any planting policy of the PBG.

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4.2.8 Maintenance of plants in the gardens

The maintenance of collection of plants is one of the core functions of botanic gardens. The lack of a clear planting policy has resulted in collection of plants and trees slowly deteriorating as species are lost through neglect or natural attrition.

There had not been an updated record of the inventory of the plant collections in the gardens. There is no data base on the plants in the botanic gardens where the species of plants are, where they are located, what is their health status and phenological records as to their flowering times. These are very useful information for the management of the gardens.

However, for the plants in the plant houses, records of the plants are in the gardens database.

4.2.9 Replacement of plants lost through time

Ornamental trees or flowers that are dead or diseased are sometimes not replaced, though similar plants are replanted at the same spot when possible. This leads to a slow decrease of the number of species in the garden as there is always a natural attrition of plants due to disease, old age or bad weather. Some of the flowering trees are represented by only one specimen and hence very venerable to future loss to the gardens should any thing happen to these specimens. A comparison of old photographs of the gardens with the present one shows the loss of a number of well known and well liked tree species. As a safeguard against the loss of trees or plants that are well known and well liked by visitors to the gardens, such as the yellow Tababuoia and the pink Cassia javanica, there should be duplicates to these species. Seeds should be collected from many of the rare trees found in the gardens.

4.2.10 Lack of flowers in Gardens

It had been commented on by a number of visitors including some state and local policy makers that there are not enough flowers in the PBG. While flowers by themselves do not make up the botanic gardens, the lack of flowers is often an indication of poor management as the maintenance of flower beds and flowering shrubs require more work than just watering and fertilizing. There are some flower beds in the PBG in very public and visible places that are not renewed or properly weeded, resulting in some weed species being mixed up with the original plants. These can be seen in the formal garden where weeds like Mikania splendens can be found scrambling on various species of shrubs. A number of the more aggressive and hardy species of plants have invaded other flower beds and it is not known from looking at the rows of shrubs and herbaceous plants as to which species are intention and which are invasive species.

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4.2.11 Plant and seed exchange program

Many botanic gardens also maintain an active exchange program for seed with other botanic gardens. There has not been an active exchange program of seeds and plant specimens between PBG with other gardens and botanical institutions. There had been little or no systematic introduction of plants of conservation and botanical interest for many years. For example, when the rare tree species, Maingaya malayana was rediscovered in Penang Hill, many institutions in Malaysia took the opportunity to plant this species. However, PBG does not have any specimen of this species.

4.2.12 Checklist or catalogue of plants of the PBG

There has not been a publication of any checklist of plants grown in the PBG such as practiced by many botanical gardens, such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens or the Bogor Botanic Gardens.

4.2.13 Composting of plant cuttings

The PBG does not practice the composting of the grass cuttings plant trimmings which is a large amount of the biomass. Part of the reason may be the privatization of the grass cutting function to outside contractors. Plant trimmings and branches of trees are also not compost or used though there is a large heavy duty shedding machine donated by Itabashi Botanic Gardens from Japan.

4.3 Privatization of gardens function

A number of functions and services of the gardens had been privatized to contractors. The services that had been privatized is that of grass cutting and security. This would reduce the burden of the gardens on these tasks.

4.3.1 Grass Cutting

Grass cutting is often privatized when the institution does not have enough staff. In a botanical gardens, there should be more conditions than other institutions or organizations as one of the objectives of the gardens is to show by example the best practices of garden management. The recycling of plant material through composting and mulching is a common practice of most gardens. The compost can be used to improve the conditions of the soil and excess can be sold to the public. The gardens should review their practice and conditions for the privatization of grass cutting and should have greater supervision of this by the gardens staff.

4.3.2 Security services

There had been a problem of the gardens staff implementing the security checks as the gardens staff has no legal jurisdiction to apprehend violators of gardens regulations such as littering, feeding monkeys and stealing or damaging plants and gardens' property. As there had not been any change in

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the laws to permit the staff of the gardens to implement security measures, it is logical to privatize this to a securities company. However, the implementation of the regulations of the gardens by the security guards inside the gardens appear to be confine to the front entrance of the gardens. This is largely due to operating budget constraints which restrict hiring additional security guards

4.3.3 Orchid House

The rational of the privatization of the orchid plant house at the front of the formal garden is not easy to understand. This is because the location is a choice location for the PBG to display its orchids and gardening expertise. The orchid plant house was previously maintained by the gardens before though it was often locked because of the lack of staff to man the plant house. This has given rise to complaints that the plant houses are not available to the visitors to appreciate except from a distance or through the protective fences.

After the privatization of the orchid house to a flower vendor, the owner of the privatized plant house just sells its orchids and other flowers to the public. It has also put up signs that no photographs can be taken of the flowers. One reason given for prohibiting picture taking is that photographers who take pictures are obstructing the other visitors who are interested in buying of the flowers. This prohibition of visitors taking pictures is contrary to the spirit of the botanical gardens as a public amenity. Besides orchids, there are now other plants such as cacti and other hanging plants such as Hoya and ferns being sold, mixed with the orchids.

This privatization of the orchid house should be reviewed and stopped. There is now a horticulture center of the PBG near the surau. The vendor should be located there and not inside the PBG.

Orchids are the most attractive and popular of flowers. Many gardens pride themselves on their orchid collection. The PBG should put in some effort to develop the hybrid and species orchid collections. The gardens should not avoid its responsibility of maintaining and displaying orchids and use "privatization" as a means of not putting in the effort of developing a collection that the gardens can be proud of.

4.3.4 Botanika shop

The lease of the Botanika shop is not privatization in the usual sense. This is because the shop is run by the Friends of the Botanic Gardens (FOBG). FOBG was formed in 1994 as a support group to help the gardens in various activities such as educational programs and other activities of the gardens. Though the Botanic Gardens Department acts as the land lord and collects rent from renting the premise to the Botanika shop, the FOBG is a not for profit organization. The PBG could cooperate to a greater extend with the FOBG.

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4.3.5 Horticulture and Garden Center

The Horticulture and Garden Center has been privatized to a number of landscape and garden companies. These companies are profit seeking companies but serve a useful function in providing plants and garden accessories to the public. This is part of the effort to promote horticulture within the state

4.3.6 Traffic management and car parking

Traffic management is a crucial issue in the development and management of the Penang Botanic Gardens. At the present moment, about 2 million visitors come to the gardens every year. On a weekend or public holidays or when there are special events such as a flower show, the road leading in and out of the gardens are jam packed with cars. There is no effective management of the traffic and parking of vehicles is extremely disorganized and haphazard leading to visitors deciding not to attend the functions in the future.

Provision of adequate car parking is critical to the management and functioning of the gardens. The interim layout plan does not address this issue satisfactorily and there is no up to date traffic study. A development master plan for the gardens must address this issue.

With the gazettement of the expansion of the PBG, the area where cars are park is now legally part of the PBG. This means that the PBG can collect the parking fees to supplement the budget of the gardens. However, this would only be a temporary measure as with the development of the new areas of the gardens, no cars will be allowed within the gardens grounds. The new car park would be located at the new gardens' entrance.

4.4 Activities of the botanic gardens

4.4.1 Recreation and tourism

This is the most important aspect of the activities of the PBG at this point in time. There are about two million visitors a year to the gardens. At peak periods, such as during school holidays and at week ends, there are as much as 20,000 visitors a day. This has resulted in serious over crowding as well as traffic jams and cars are parked all over in a haphazard manner.

Most of the visitors of the PBG are regular users and the main activity is walking along the roads and foot paths for their daily exercise. Appreciation of the plants and flowers appear to be incidental but most appreciate the shaded surroundings of the trees and the ambiance of peace and tranquility when it is not too crowded.

Any future development would need to take this usage pattern into consideration and provision of more open space and walking trails would be

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as important as putting in more plant collections from the public point of view.

4.4.3 Scientific and Botanic research

There is very little scientific and botanic research from within the PBG. Some work had been done by students from USM and visiting scientists. This is a serious failing in the development and management of the gardens in the last 50 years. There had not been a systematic collection of plants within the gardens and surrounding areas and kept in the herbarium. It is only in the last few years when there has been some collection by the Forestry Research Institute –Penang Botanic Gardens collaborative program when a seconded staff of FRIM started a collection and started a training program for the identification of plants and the making of herbarium specimens. This may be discontinued if the collaboration program ends.

4.4.4 Horticulture

The PBG organizes annual flower shows. The PBG have also initiated the development of the horticultural center which is run on a privatized basis as the stalls are rented out for the sale of plants and gardening tools. The role of the PBG appears to be that of a land lord as there is no control of the horticultural center and some of the stalls have become tea houses rather than encouraging horticultural activities.

4.4.5 Education

In the last few years, there had been some environmental education programs conducted by the Friends of the Garden as well as the Malaysian Nature Society. With the secondment of a botanist from FRIM, there had been a great increase in the educational programs of the garden.

4.5 Budget of the botanic gardens

The annual budget for the PBG for the years from 1996 to 2006 is shown in the table below. As can be seem from the operations budget, there is a very slow increase from about RM 1.5 million per year from 1996 to 2002 and then to a slightly greater increase to about two million in 2005 and 2006. Most of the operations budget goes to the salaries of the PBG staff.

In terms of the development budget, the amounts fluctuate from a low of RM 265,000 to RM 755,000 between the years from 1996 to 2004. After this, there is a jump in 2005 and 2006 where the amounts allocated are RM 1,110,000 and RM 1,375,000 respectively.

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Budget allocation of Penang Botanical Gardens from 1996 to 2006

Year Operations Budget (RM)

Development Budget (RM)

1996 1,428,040.00 415,000.001997 1,571,060.00 351,000.001998 1,444,050.00 265,000.001999 1,302,390.00 400,000.002000 1,347,630.00 700,000.002001 1,493,500.00 755,000.002002 1,518,500.00 521,794.002003 1,701,160.00 300,000.002004 1,645,480.00 445,000.002005 1,937,330.00 1,110,000.00

From the year 1996 to 2006, a total of RM 6,637,794 had been allocated and spent by the Gardens Department for development projects. The original estimated budget by the JKR in 1989 for the implementation of the whole physical master plan was estimated at about RM 7 million. However, looking at the list of development activities, the only item that was from the physical master plan was the quarry gardens. The rest of the budget appears to have gone for upgrading work within the old boundaries of the gardens.

The operations budget for this period is RM 15,828,690. The total of RM 22,466,484 had been allocated and spent for the operations and development of the gardens for the period of 11 years. Though most of these would have gone to the salaries of the staff, many of the botanical gardens activities such as the organization of the annual flower shows would have come from this part of the budget.

5.0 Assessment of the performance of the botanic gardens

5.1 Performance audit of the Auditor General office in 2005

The Audit Department undertook a thorough audit of the Penang Botanic Gardens and raised a number of issues.

Among the substantial issues are:

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a. Expertise and training of staff

The gardens department was queried as to why there were so little training programs for the gardens staff. There was no systematic internal training within the gardens. There is also no systematic external training programs though the PBG does send its staff for training outside when the opportunities present themselves, such as in INTAN and other government training schemes.

b. Botanical, horticulture and research activities

The audit pointed out to the lack of such activities despite the stated mission of the gardens.

c. Implementation of the Quarry Recreational Garden

Another query was on the slow implementation of the Quarry garden and why the development was not on schedule. It pointed out by the Gardens Department that there were some delays in some of the projects within the quarry garden as a result of contractor delays and that the quarry garden was not yet open to the public. However, as of today, November 2006, the quarry gardens is now partially open

The Gardens Department replied to each of the points raised by the Audit Department and the explanation presumably acceptable. The main reason given by of the Gardens Department was there was not enough qualified staff to manage the PBG as a botanic gardens. Besides the work within the gardens, the BG Department has to undertake the many different tasks given by the State Government

5.2 Review panel's assessment of the performance of the botanic gardens

The review panel agreed that the many points raised by the Audit Department are valid and steps have to be taken to rectify the situation if the Penang Botanic Gardens is to function as a botanic gardens. There is a need to systematically identify the major short comings of the PBG as a botanical gardens and to rectify these. However, the review panel can also appreciate the explanation of the Botanic Gardens' Department as it is not possible to undertake botanical and horticultural activities if there is no qualified staff to undertake such activities. These shortcomings identified by the Audit Department point to the fundamental weakness of the staff structure of the gardens as a botanical institute.

As the Audit Department is not a scientific or botanical institute, their identification of the short comings in administration and management can not be expected to identify the scientific shortcomings and the missed opportunities to improve the gardens over the years.

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However, the findings of the weaknesses of the PBG would be a good starting point for a more botanical and scientific audit. The scientific and botanical weaknesses of the PBG have been identified by the review panel as can be seen in other parts of this report. It is probably beyond the scope of the Review panel to undertake a similar the very thorough audit that was done by the audit department, but the review panel has identify the major issues that needs to be addressed and more carefully monitored.

The level of skills of the botanic gardens staff is very low and there is no training in the maintenance of plant collections or specialized exhibits of the gardens such as the formal garden. The intrusion of weeds and invasive flower species is rampant in the flower beds and these are not weeded out. After a while, it is not clear what the original plants are which were planted by design and what came as a result of accident.

The review panel would also recommend some measures on the improvement on the development and management of the gardens.

6.0 Strategy of development of gardens

After the review of the development and management of the PBG, it is necessary to develop a strategy to guide the development and management of the PBG into the future. The framework of the strategy can be recommended after the SWOT analysis.

One of the most useful techniques to begin the development of a strategy is to undertake a SWOT analysis to see what the strengths and weakness of the gardens are. From this, one can identify the opportunities as well as the threats that would obstruct the realization of the opportunities. The SWOT analysis was undertaken by the review panel and the findings summarized below.

6.1 SWOT Analysis of Penang Botanical Gardens 2005

6.1.1 Strengths

Historical advantage

Already established and oldest garden in Malaysia Only public botanical gardens in Malaysia Good collection of living plants Large size after the expansion Security of tenure Good infrastructure within gardens

Natural assets

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Natural surroundings with natural and undisturbed rain forest and with diversity of habitats such as lowlands, hills, streams and ponds

High biodiversity of surrounding forest areas Close proximity to town and accessibility to Penang residents and

tourists Adjacent to Penang Hills, with protected water catchment areas and

hill conservation area Isolated from future urban development Potential for future development with gazettement of expansion of

gardens

Public support

Strong support from government (at the present moment) Friends of Botanical Gardens as a support group for garden

activities Vocal local support High usage of gardens by locals and tourists Near University Science of Malaysia and other local institutions A well established links with institutions, like FRIM and other

gardens

6.1.2 Weaknesses

Staffing

Lack of qualified staff to manage the botanical, scientific, conservation and educational functions of the gardens

Lack of internal expertise in developing botanic gardens as an botanical institute as there are no botanists and horticulturists in the permanent staff

Low level of post for the head of the Botanic Gardens Department and inability to upgrade the post to attract suitable candidates

No internal training program for the staff of the gardens to enable them to do their work better

Staff time diverted to other functions and duties Workers have discipline problem and not very enthusiastic about

their work

Budget and finance

Low operating and development budget Constraints as a government department in getting private sector

funds

Administration

Administrative constraints due to government regulations and little flexibility in staff recruitment and funding

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No increase in positions for professional staff for the last 50 years Lack of understanding of functions of botanic gardens by decision

makers resulting in lower priority in botanical gardens functions and garden department asked to perform other non gardens function such as maintaining grounds of official residences

Little systematic implementation of existing master plan

Activities and programs

Lack of attractive flowers and plants that are of interest to the public

Lack of introduction of botanically interesting plants for many years Plant houses not open to the public No planting policy to increase the diversity and botanical interest of

the gardens Managed as a public park for the recreational use of residents Little botanical and scientific activities Little educational activities No botanical publications of the work in the PBG Road to Penang Hill bisecting the front part of the gardens General lack of understanding of functions of botanic gardens by

the public as most come to use the gardens for recreation and exercise

Lack of public transportation and poor accessibility except by private vehicles

6.1.3 Opportunities

Botanical Research and Conservation Increasing interest and support for biodiversity conservation

nationally and internationally Interest in biodiversity conservation increasing in Malaysia and

interest of the Prime Minister in developing the PBG as a National Biodiversity Center

Development of herbarium of regional flora Development of National Plant Biodiversity Center Cooperation with other botanical gardens in the country and in the

region Medicinal plants center for education and research Economic and medicinal plants center for education and research Potential for the development of a tissue and cell culture lab for

ornamental plants Development of specialized plant collections for various groups of

plants which are of economic interest such as fruits, spices and ornamentals

Collection of plants of historical and social interests such as the plants that are used as names of roads and towns in Malaysia, such as Jelutong, Gelugor, Ipoh, Tampoi, Johor and many others

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Cooperation with other botanical gardens in the country and in the region in training and staff exchange

Collaboration with other botanical gardens and institutes in the country and in the region in plant collection and exchange

Conserve rare and endangered plants Tissue culture lab for ornamental plants Close links with university and opportunities for cooperative

research with USM Potential of developing the PBG into one of the best tropical

botanical gardens in the region Potential of the PBG being one of the top tourism destination of

Penang

Public education Increase of interest in nature among Malaysian public and increase

public support Educational center for plant biodiversity and conservation Development of interpretive trails in the forest Plant identification courses for the public Courses on composting of organic material for use as mulch and

fertilizers Development of educational exhibits

Horticulture Center of horticultural development in Penang by providing advise

on plants and venue for flower shows Development of courses for landscape gardeners and flower

nursery businesses Potential as center of horticulture development in Penang through

research and education Permanent flower display and exhibition center to raise level of

horticulture Development of gardening and landscaping courses for the public To stimulate the horticulture industry by market information on

opportunities into cut flower industry e.g. Singapore, Thailand and Sri Lanka

Recreation and tourism

Interpretive trails in the forest for education and tourism Educational center for nature study center and outreach programs Public events catering (musical events, flower fest, school based

programs and wedding receptions) Potential of developing and promoting the PBG as show case of the

tropical rainforest for tourism Organizing courses for tourist guides Increased public recreational space, including for children, senior

citizens and the disabled Increased recreational and public areas in the quarry gardens Contribution to quality of life

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Forest trails in the hill part of the gardens Increase of walking trails along the streams

Finance and fund raising

Build up public support for botanic gardens to the extend that the government will recognize the value in supporting the PBG financially

Establishment of Botanical Gardens Trust fund for flexibility in undertaking projects

Opportunity of establishing a green sponsorship program from public donors

Public events catering (musical events, flower fest, school based programs and wedding receptions) in gardens mall and quarry gardens

Good Restaurant in the proposed garden mall

6.1.4 Threats

Planning and implementation

Ad hoc changes to master plan for development arising from outside projects such as the surau and horticulture center.

Lack of a current master plan and the urgent need for a coherent master plan that would guide the physical development. The interim layout plan used by the gardens does not address the problems of traffic management and control

Lack of political will to evict the illegal squatters notably the rifle club and shooting range and the batik shop which are now within the gazetted boundaries of the PBG.

Haphazard implementation of development due to poor planning Haphazard development based on sponsors’ proposal or outside

pressure Overdevelopment of physical infrastructure that would spoilt the

ambience of a botanic gardens Pressure to convert areas for non-botanical function or

development Overuse of gardens for recreation and tourism and resulting in

overcrowding Privatization of gardens or gardens function to the extend that the

gardens would lose the ability to undertake core functions such as development of plant collections and propagation of plants

Unclear direction of the development of the gardens Weak implementation of development plans arising from staff and

budget constraints

Staffing

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Lack of a staff policy to provide for botanists, horticulturists and ecologists that would implement the objectives and mission of the PBG

Obstacles to the upgrading the posts of the PBG so that it can be a real botanic gardens

Inability to get proper staff for garden that can plan and implement botanical projects

Inability to get proper staff for gardens because of the lack of senior posts

Lack of training in development and management of a botanical gardens

Administration and Finance

Diversion of botanical gardens staff to maintain other gardens and official residences

Insufficient funding for development and operations Pressure for privatization of gardens or garden land Un-sustained support from state and federal government Difficulty of getting the Shooting Club to vacate their premise even

though the lease has expired Constraints by rigid government regulations on staffing

Human and natural hazards

Monkey problem from both the long tailed macaque and silver leaf monkeys that makes it difficult to develop gardens without the plants being destroyed

Tortoise threat to water lilies and other aquatic plants in lily pond Theft and vandalism of plants in green houses, flower beds and

lawns

7.0 Development and improvement of the gardens

7.1 Redefining the role of Botanic Gardens

Botanic gardens in the 21st century will have new and important roles to play as a result of the changing state of the environment. The rapid and permanent loss of natural ecosystems world wide has meant that species of plants have been threatened or lost. Conservation has therefore become an important aspect of botanic gardens.

In the last 50 years or so, there had been a dramatic changing of the roles of the botanic gardens world wide. This also reflected in the roles of botanic gardens in Malaysia. However, the PBG has not responded to some of the changing demands placed upon it by the changing social and economic conditions as a result of the very rapid economic development since political independence.

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The PBG originated as one of the British tropical colonial gardens for the introduction of economic plants to the colonies, as well as having some role in agriculture and forestry. However, the PBG lost its forestry and agricultural functions with the formation of these departments in the 1920s and 1930s.

Recreational and park functions became the dominant features from the 1970s onwards. The organizational structure of the gardens had not changed much in the last 40 years. However, there had been an increase in the educational and botanical functions in the last few years.

The current trend is that botanical gardens of the 21st century will take on an important conservation role as natural habitats are lost through deforestation and development. PBG will take on this conservation function, especially with the realization that plants are increasingly endangered and they are also an important natural resource with the advent of biotechnology.

7.2 Multiple functions of PBG

PBG will take on multiple functions, as indicated in its mission statement and list of objectives of the PBG. Given the social context of Penang where there is a shortage of public recreational space, it will continue to play a recreational and tourism role. However, there would be greater emphasis given to the botanical, horticultural, education and conservation roles.

7.3 National Biodiversity Center in the Botanic Gardens

The idea of locating one of the two proposed National Biodiversity Center at the Penang Botanical Gardens was first mooted by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Sri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, at a meeting of the National Biodiversity and Biotechnology Council in 2005. The other National Biodiversity Center would be located in Kuala Lumpur. As the proposed center would be at the PBG, it is presumed that the emphasis would be on plant biodiversity of the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

As the tasks of a National Biodiversity Center would be many in view of the great biological diversity in Malaysia, the role of the gardens would be one of coordination as well as being the focal point of the efforts of many of the institutions and department involved in biological diversity research and development. The first stage of the work would be to develop a strategy for the development of the NBC. This would involve the definition of the objectives, the scope of work as well as having programs and projects that would achieve the objectives.

Following the development of the strategy, the next stage would involve the documentation and research of the biological diversity in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. This would require that the PBG and the NBC undertake expeditions to collect plants in the northern region. The existing and proposed national parks, such as those in Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak would be good starting points for the collection of plant to document

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the great plant biodiversity in the region. These expeditions should be undertaken with the cooperation with the research institutes, such as FRIM, the local universities, the forestry departments and the national parks department. The plant specimens, when collected will be identified and stored in the herbarium of the PBG. Duplicate specimens will also be deposited in the collaborating partners of the NBC. This means that the existing small herbarium of the PBG will have to be expanded and modernized to the standards of the research institutions such as FRIM and the University of Malaya Botanic Gardens herbaria. The present PBG office can be converted to be the NBG and the herbarium in it expanded. The target would be to have a herbarium that can store 100,000 herbarium sheets. This a modest size compared to the FRIM herbarium.

The documentation of the biodiversity could be followed by investigations on the possible utilization of the biodiversity and the use of biotechnology techniques to achieve this. The biodiversity studies would also include the documentation of the existing usage of these plants for food, medicine and ornaments. These ethno-botanical studies would be invaluable as a starting point for utilization as the indigenous knowledge that exists at the present moment have been accumulated and tested over many generations. The initial screening of the chemical constituents of the plants can be undertaken by a phyto-chemistry laboratory at the NBC. Some of the economically more promising plants can be propagated through a tissue and cell culture laboratory to be set up at the NBC. The potential of the commercial production of plant products by cell culture is quite good.

As the PBG does not have, at this point, the expertise to undertake this tasks, it would need to built up the necessary expertise by the employment of new staff. This would require support and finance from the Federal Government. A working group consisting of scientists and researchers from the universities, research institutes as well as government departments would need to be formed to come out with a working paper on the establishment of the NBC in Penang.

7.4 Concept of land use zoning of the botanic gardens

From the SWOT analysis, it is evident that there are many opportunities to improve the PBG in both the physical development as well as management improvements.

Given the size of the PBG and the multiple functions that it has to serve, the Botanic Gardens Committee in the 1980s developed a concept of the zoning and land use of the expanded gardens. Basically, it is to have different broad zones for the different activities of the gardens, though there are some overlaps.

7.4.1 Botanic Functions Area

The old botanic gardens would be more botanic in nature as the collection of trees and other plants are already well established. This area is also

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surrounded by forested areas which is a natural arboretum as the number of tree species is high as the forest is relatively undisturbed. Research collections of plants would be in these areas, including the various plant houses and other designated areas.

The botanic inner part of the PBG is the core scientific, education and conservation areas of the botanic gardens.

7.4.3 Hill forest as arboretum

The surrounding hills will have a number of functions. They will scientific and educational functions where the forest will be preserved for their biological diversity. They will have an educational function as there will be a network of interpretive trails on the tropical rain forests. These trails will also be used by those visitors who prefer more challenging walking paths.

7.4.1 Public Functions Area

The new part would be more for public function areas. There are four major areas in this more public zone.

The new entrance of the gardens to be located in the edge of the newly gazetted area is near the present batik house and horticulture area. The administrative office and the visitor center and the new car park will be located in this area. This continues along the valley with the stream leading from the gardens. This new zone ends at the formal garden. It is proposed that footpaths and walkways be developed along the stream. There will display flowers and ornamentals as well have landscape footpaths both along the stream as well as by the roads. The commercial aspects of horticulture, such as the garden accessories and plant sales shops will be at the front part of the garden and not inside the garden boundaries. The hawker stalls for food and souvenirs will be located at the front gate of the new garden.

A second public area will be the quarry gardens which have various flat lawns designed for public functions and exercise areas.

The third public area will be the proposed garden mall where the present government quarters and hawker center is. This will be the geographic center of the new botanic gardens from where one can go to the quarry gardens, the old gardens, the flower exhibition areas, formal garden and the Bambusetum. This will be landscaped and be shaded by trees so that it would be a rest and social area. A number of water ponds are proposed to make this as the mall and water gardens.

The fourth area would be connected to the formal garden and this would be the permanent flower display area and also linked up to the Bambusetum and the end of the stream walkways.

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Despite the broad zoning of the gardens into the botanic and the public zones, there is considerable overlap as there would be specialized collections of plants on display in the public areas.

7.5 Development and improvement of old gardens area

7.5.1 Plant houses

The review panel examined all the plant houses and made a number of recommendations for improving the collections and display in the plant houses.

The species orchid house has a good number of species but they are over shadowed by non orchid species that were placed there to provide the back drop. The non orchid species should be drastically pruned and trimmed so as not to crowd out the often smaller wild orchids. The labeling of the species need to be reviewed regularly as some of the species have died and other species replaced them.

The ornamental plan houses with species like begonias and bromeliads are generally well kept but some other species are placed together with these. It was recommended that the themes of the plant houses should be well defined and the identity of the plant houses should not be blurred with the introduction of too many other species.

The fern house still contains a number of species of ferns that were planted over 50 years ago. However, there had been the addition of a large number of other species of epiphytic Nepenthes as well as a number of ginger species. It was recommended that there should be a predominance of ferns in the fern house. Nepenthes and gingers are interesting enough to have plant house of their own.

7.5.2 Outdoor plant collections

The proposed aroid walkway when developed will be an interesting addition to the plant collections in the garden. At the present moment, the aroid species are not very accessible and the walkway would be an excellent way to display these species. Many of these are of ornamental interest.

The medicinal plant collection

The medicinal plant collection is neglected and filled with various weed species. As medicinal plants are of considerable interest to the public, this collection of plants should be revived and weeded and properly labeled.

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The economic plant collection

The economic plant collection is actually not located in one place but the plants of economic interest are fruit trees and other plants with useful economic products. There should be enrichment planting of the plants of economic interests in Penang and Malaysia as they have historic and cultural significance to Penang.

7.5.3 Themed gardens

a. The Formal Garden

The most visited part of the outdoor gardens would be the Formal Garden near the front gate. The garden is landscaped in the English style with water fountains, ponds, pergola s well as rows of flower beds. The flowers are generally colorful. The arrangements of the plant collections are often symmetrical as well as having some geometric patterns. The formal garden has also a number of old trees such as the Tembusu and the Lagestromias. A recent addition has been the colorful Bauhinia creeper with its long lasting orange flowers.

A closer examination shows that the flowering plants are very badly maintained and that the flower beds have not been weeded for some time. As a result, the plants are inter mixed and the arrangements very mixed. The gardeners in attendance in the gardens appear not to be able to distinguish between weeds and flowers that were originally planted. It had been proposed this year (2006) that the services of a landscape and gardens consultant from Sri Lanka be employed for a few months to rectify the gardens as well as trained the gardeners. However, he was not able to come because of health reasons and has returned to Sri Lanka after his services in FRIM.

As the formal garden is a very prominent area for visitors, the improvement of the formal garden remains a high priority.

b. The Japanese Garden

The other themed garden is the Japanese Garden located in the shade and by the stream near the PBA reservoir. The Japanese garden is well hidden and not known to most visitors of the garden as it is in a very secluded and shaded area by the stream below the reservoir. This is not a suitable place for a Japanese garden as it is too shaded and plants put there have great difficulty in sustaining themselves. The clearest indication that it s a Japanese garden are the stone lanterns as the plants have been replaced by native species.

It is recommended that the Japanese garden be abandoned and a more suitable place be identified for the development of a Japanese garden. One possible site is behind the formal garden. Another possibility is one of the lawns in the quarry gardens. The site of the present Japanese garden is to be

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used for the planting trees of economic interest, especially the shade tolerant species.

7.5.4 New flower exhibition and display area

As part of the restoration of the formal garden, it is proposed that a new flower show and exhibition area be developed adjacent to the formal garden. This is the current nursery area. The nursery would be shifted to across the stream near the Coronation camp site.

The week long International Floral Festival organized by the PBG is has become a popular annual event attracting a large number of exhibiters for their flowers as well as other competition. The location of the festival is in the formal gardens. However, as the International Floral Festival falls on a rainy season, the ground become soggy and need to be restored after the week. A designed and landscaped area next to formal garden for flower shows and displays would enhance the festival as well as providing a better venue. This would also avoid the destruction of the grounds of the formal garden.

The proposed new walking trails along the stream will form the fringe of flower show.

7.5.5 Lily pond, walkway and Curtis trail

The lily pond and the two paths leading to it is one of the hidden treasures of the gardens. However, the pond has been experiencing various problems over the years and the water lilies and lotus plants have disappeared. With the disappearance has meant the disappearance of the green frogs that use to sit on the leaves in the pond. There is a need to determine the root cause of the problems affecting the lily pond and restore it to its original condition. From the lily pond, a trail up to the former residence of the first curator of the PBG has been built. The trail is constructed with stones and concrete and goes down to the near the lawns of the palm collection.

The improvement of this part of the garden is of high priority.

7.5.6 Herbarium, library and laboratories

In the development plan for the new ly gazetted area of the PBG, the administrative center of the gardens will be shifted to near the new entrance of the gardens. It will be together with the new visitor center as well as the meeting rooms and lecture hall.

The present administrative building will then be converted to house botanical and scientific work of the garden. It is proposed to increase the size of the herbarium and library. The library will be a research library. It is also proposed that a tissue and cell culture laboratory be built so that the propagation of plants through single cell and tissue culture of rare and endangered plants can be done.

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The National Biodiversity Center can either be housed here or at the new administrative complex at the entrance. It may be that the office of the NBC be at the administrative complex while the work on plant biodiversity documentation and some biotechnology research be undertaken at the laboratory.

7.6 Development of newly gazetted area

A number of projects had been proposed for the newly gazetted area from the old entrance to the outer limits of gardens boundary near the Horticulture center. The new entrance to the PBG will be located there. Besides the entrance, there will be the new car park and the new visitor and administrative center. 7.6.1 New entrance and visitor center to gardens

The new entrance to the garden will be located near the present horticulture center. There will be a number of facilities built near the new entrance. There will be the new visitor and administration complex. As there will be no entry for vehicles, there would have to have adequate parking before the gate. There would be about parking lots for about 300 cars based on the interim layout plan. The actual number of parking bays needed will be assess and provisions for parking made. Options would include the construction of multi-storey car parks or the construction of car parks nearer the Youth Park so that the parking can be shared. A traffic management study will have to be made before any construction of the admistrative complex and front gate.

The hawkers from inside the garden will be relocated to a hawker complex that would be designed and built by the MPPP.

The visitor center and the administrative complex would be the first part of the garden that the visitor will see. The visitor center will give an introduction of the gardens to the visitor. Hence the facilities at the visitor center will have space for exhibits explaining the features of the PBG as well as information on plant biodiversity. Other features of the visitor center will be:

7.6.2 Visitor information and display center

Visitor information on the gardens and the plants of interest in the gardensExhibits on the plant diversity of MalaysiaFeatures of the tropical rain forests surrounding the gardensSouvenir and books sale centerLecture Theater for briefing tourists and other visitors with audio-visual facilitiesPublic toilets

7.6.3 The administrative center would have the following:

Office space for all staff (general office of about 1,000 sq feet)Meeting rooms

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Staff room (the head, the deputy, an open office room for staff, etc.)Reception areaMeeting rooms for training and workshopsAudio visual roomTea roomResource centerStaff rest room for the general staff (they don't seem to have one at the present moment.)

7.6.4 New hawker center

The hawkers of the present garden will be relocated to a site near the horticulture center. The landscape area for stalls to accommodate the existing hawker stalls would be of a design consistent with the overall design of the botanic gardens. There will be sufficient tree planting in the new hawker center to provide shade for the stalls. MPPP will be responsible for the relocation and design of complex as well as for its management.

7.6.5 Stream walkway

The Clive Justice Plan had proposed the development of landscaped walkways along the stream from the front of new entrance to the fern plant house of the old garden boundary. The objective of this project is to provide over a kilometer of pathways along both sides of the stream for the use of visitors. These pathways will greater increase the capacity of PBG to cater to the gardens' regular users that come daily for walks in the mornings and evenings. The paths will be paved and there will be bridges connecting both sides of the stream. Bridges along the stream to double the amount of recreational walking space as the pathways will be along both sides of the stream.

Along the paths will be landscape lawns with special collections of flowering plants. There will be various structures such as pergolas along the pathways that would be used to display flowering creepers and climbers, such as Thunbergias, Bauhinias, etc. There would be rest areas, toilets and shelters. There had been proposals for some exercise facilities along the way. The plant collections that will be displayed will include the species that are free , such as the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Bunga Raya), Oleanders,Tecomaria, Lagestromias, Cassias, Jacarandas and others.

This walkway would probably be the most used part of the expanded garden and special attention must be given to the development of this project.

7.6.6 Bambusetum

It is proposed that the grounds of the coronation camp be developed into a Bambusetum. This would be a collection and display of bamboos of Malaysia and tropical regions. The site is ideal for the Bambusetum as it has fully

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matured trees that can provide shade to some species of bamboos. It is also located by the stream which enhances the opportunities for landscaping.

Bamboos are very useful plants as they provide material for construction, the making of household utensils as well as being edible. The cultures of Asia have had great use of bamboo and part of their culture closely tied to the cultivation and use of bamboo. Hence, the Bambusetum can have a bamboo handcraft display area.

The Bambusetum if properly developed will have the potential of being the best bamboo collection in the tropics. Besides the research into the biology and diversity of bamboos, the Bambusetum would be a prime visitor attraction and of great interest to tourists.

One condition is that the Bambusetum must be well designed and well planned and implemented. For this, the gardens will need to retain the services of a consultant who has expertise in bamboo.

7.6.7 Gardens mall and water gardens

The proposed water gardens and mall is the core of the new botanic gardens. Geographically located at almost the center of the new gardens, it is the convergent point of the quarry garden, the former coronation camp, the old part of the botanic gardens and the new garden. This would be a easily identified meeting point from which one could explore all parts of the new botanic gardens.

The concept underlying this proposal is that there are physical constraints arising from the previous land use of the area. As a result of the paved area for the government quarters and the coffee shop and stalls, there are not many trees in the area. There are some rain trees and other large trees around in some parts and these had been planted for shade. There would be much greater effort to create more greenery in this area and a planting program for shade trees.

Given the centrality of the location, a mall where people can gather and interact socially after their walks and visits to the other parts of the garden would be a logical choice. However, this area should be well shaded with trees

A garden mall would serve this purpose of being a place where people can gather and rest. In the original master plan, there is a shallow pond in the area. This concept can be extended to have a number of water gardens. The water gardens would be developed to house a collection of water plants. The water plants that would generate public interest would the water lilies and lotus species. A large pond with the Brazilian giant water lily (Victoria amazonia) would be a good choice and provide a memorable feature to the garden. This could become a world class collection of water lilies and other aquatic plants

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The garden mall would also provide shade for the visitor as well as provide drinks and water. An aesthetic feature would be to have some water fountains in the area.

This area would also have provision for a restaurant. The ideal location would be the present Rifle Club where it is relatively removed from the center but accessible for dining. The shooting range of the rifle club is completely inconsistent with the functions of the botanic gardens and there can be no question of the rifle club being in the gardens. No botanical gardens anywhere in the world would tolerate a shooting range in its premise.

7.6.8 Improvement to quarry gardens

The present quarry garden was developed not according to the original master plan. The original plan specified that there would be two large ponds starting from the quarry face and extending down towards the coffee shop and government quarters, the lack of water from the top of the quarry makes this concept difficult to implement. This is because the water from the streams above the quarry had been diverted above the quarry for farming activities so that the water fall no longer exists for most months of the year.

The quarry area was developed in 2002 without the shallow pools and a large part was developed as a recreation and exercise area for the public. As a result, there is quite a lot of paving and concrete slabs to make it suitable for heavy usage. The soil is shallow as the old quarry floor was bare rock. The quarry gardens consist of various levels because of the terrain. Most of the unpaved areas had been turfed and trees planted to soften the landscape

One glaring feature is that all the plants grown have little or no botanical value or interest and the quarry garden was developed basically as a park. There are no plant collections or any theme in the planting. It is therefore a wasted opportunity to developed a proper addition to a botanical gardens.

The review panel visited the quarry gardens sites and identified possible plantings and landscape features that would enhanced the aesthetic value of this part of the botanical gardens. The present landscaped areas would be modified to reflect the various themes and horticultural collections

The panel also recommended various collections of plants of botanical interests that could be planted. The plant collections that could be located here include shrubs and small trees such as hibiscus and bougainvilleas. A systematic collection of these plants would add color to the gardens besides being suitable for the thin soil. The area would also be used to display flowering creepers and hoyas. With pergolas and arbors constructed, various climbing plants and epiphytic species could be displayed in the quarry gardens.

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A detailed landscape and planting plan should be prepared before any more random planting takes place in the quarry gardens. Trees currently planted which are not suitable should be removed or transplanted elsewhere.

7.7 Plant collections of the PBG

A total of 18 collections were discussed during the meetings.

1 Grasses collection

The grasses collection at the display lawn should be taken out from the collection due to high maintenance.

2 Bamboo collection

The species of bamboo in the river banks can be expanded and the scouts’ camp be made into a bamboo display area

3 Fern collection

The existing fern house to be enriched and other areas of outdoor ferns identified

4 Palm collection

The current palm house would be enough as there are a number of lawns where palms have grown which includes sun as well as shade palms.

5 Bunga Raya (Hibiscus) collectionDevelop a collection of our national flower. This would be an important collection of all the varieties of the Hibiscus which are grown in Malaysia. Besides the Malaysian species, the collection could be extended to other species grown and hybridized as ornamentals in other countries. There had been a collection of hibiscus species imported from Hawaii in the 1980s but they were grown in an unsuitable habitat and they all subsequently perished.

6 Cactus collection

Expand the cactus house in future. Cactus are generally easy to grow and popular as an exhibit. However, the present cactus house is too small and should be enlarged so that the larger cacti species can be grown.

7 Aroids collection

Malaysia has a great diversity of orchids and many of them grown well outside of the forests where many of them are found. There are

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various aroids in some of the plant houses as well as along the stream in the garden. There is a proposal to create an aroid walkway where the footpath would meander along the beds of aroids and the diversity can be effectively shown.

8 Ginger collection

There had been a ginger research collection in the gardens, especially the Globba species. However, most of the specimens have been lost over time as the botanist who started the collection passed away

Gingers are are great interest both as food and spice, medicine as well as ornamentals. A ginger collection if developed and displayed well would be of great interest to botanists and the general public. Malaysia has a large diversity ginger species

It is recommended that a ginger collection be re-established and a plant house for ginger be constructed.

9 Plants associated with a town or a village name

Many of the Malaysian towns and street names are associated with the names of trees. In Penang itself, there are streets named Jelutong, Glugor, Nibong, Pinang which are all plant names. Many towns are also named after trees such as Ipoh, Tampoi, Johor, and others. A collection of these trees planted at various parts of the gardens with explanatory labels would be of great cultural interest.

10 Medicinal plants

Medicinal plants have always had a high level of public interest, as can be seen in the inquiries of the public about the medicine plant collections and also requests of identification of various medicinal plantsThe current collection of medicinal plants would have to be completely restored as many species of weed have intruded into the medicine plant areas and also overwhelmed some of the planted medicinal species.As them medicinal plants have different environmental requirements, the present open air location is not suitable for many of the plants currently grown thereIt is recommended that a medicinal plant house be built to supplement the open air exhibits11 Begonia collection

PBG already has a begonia collection in different plant house and these should be centralized in a begonia house by itself.

12 Bromeliad collection

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Due to lack of diversity of species in the present collection, PBG should seek help from other gardens to obtain new species and specimens

13 Epiphytes

The epiphyte house could be integrated with the collection of climbers. Delicate species of epiphytes should be planted at a higher site.

14 Climbers

The climber plants are to be combined with epiphytes in the epiphyte house. Some of the climbers are more considerable horticulture and ornamental value

15 Aquatic plants

There are some aquatic plants at the lily pond but most of them have been eaten up by the tortoises that were released by the public despite the prohibition of such practices by the gardens department.

The lily pond needs to be restored. It also requires a greater amount of monitoring and maintenance to ensure the survival of the water plants and the associated frog species. The water lily pond had been a very popular site with visitors

16 Orchids

Develop a hybrid of orchid collections. Hybrids are more attractive because of the bigger flowers they had been bred for longer lasting flowers. Besides the orchid house which had been privatized to a flower vendor, an orchid area should be allocated for the display of the orchids.

The existing species collection is in a large plant house with steep slopes inside the plant house. The collections of the species orchids are overwhelmed by the non orchid plants grown inside the plant houses.

17 Ethno-botanical collections

The gardens have a large number of species of economically important plants growing at various locations. Some of these plants, such as fruit trees have been planted along the streams. The ethno-botanical collections, especially the rare and endangered fruit trees should be improved. Various species of spice plants, especially those associated with the early history of Penang, such as cloves, nutmegs, gambier and others should be planted for their historic and educational value.

18 Figs collection

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The fig family is well represented in Malaysia. Figs also attract birds, insects and small mammals such as squirrels. The increase of birds within the gardens would contribute to the interest of the gardens for nature appreciation. Fig trees are also attractive and are of ornamental and landscape interest, beside their botanical value

7.8 Interpretive forest trails in forest arboretum

After the survey of the boundaries of the park, there would be a need to identify the potential trails in the forested part of PBG. There should be a series of trails based on the level of difficulty, the duration needed to walk the trails and the botanical and ecological features of interest in these trails.

The trails should have interpretive signboards pointing out the interesting features of the tropical rainforest, such as buttress roots, lianas, cauliflory and epiphytes. These can be developed as guided walks or hikes and with well labeled directional signs. These trails have educational value as well as the potential as being promoted as tourist attractions, given the interest in tropical rain forest.

As a start, there should be about four trails that would cover the forested areas. The trail to the waterfall from which the PBG got its name waterfall garden should be developed though it is quite a steep climb in a number of parts if one starts from the lily pond. The trail from the lily pond to the former curator's house now known as the Curtis Trail has already been paved but no signboard exists at the present moment. Other possible trails are those leading to Bukit Chendana which is now part of the gardens.

8.0 Development of Programs and Research activities of PBG

8.1 Research in the botanic gardens

It would be premature to plan out the detailed research program of the PBG but should include the following topics, especially when there are plans for the establishment of a national biodiversity center in the PBG. Documenting the biodiversity of plants in northern region of

peninsular Malaysia

Plant collecting and building up of the herbarium

Conservation of rare and endangered plants

Introduction of plants of horticulture potential

Tissue and cell culture laboratory

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The research can be undertaken with cooperation with universities and research organizations. Research with visiting scientists as well as collaboration with other botanic gardens should be encouraged

8.2 Horticulture development

The PBG as has the potential to be the center for horticulture activities and industry for Penang. The activities to work towards that goal would be to:

Promotion of horticulture through flower shows and exhibition. This is already being done on a regular basis.

Conduction of courses on gardening and landscape design

Clinics on plant propagation and plant protection

8.3 Educational activities

There is a potential to increase the education programs in the gardens for both the schools as well as the general public

Environmental education for schools in the PBG. This is already being carried out to some extend

Courses on plant identification for general public

Public lecture series on plants and gardening

Visiting botanists and lecturers talks and lectures

Development of interpretive trails on the tropical rain forests

9.0 Prioritization of development projects

9.1 The New master Plan of the PBG : re-conceptualizing the layout, landscape and architectural plans

The Clive Justice master plan has been superseded by events in the 20 years since it was first developed. The Clive Justice master plan was an attempt to integrate the various functions of the gardens in a holistic manner. However, over the years, there had been a number of ad hoc developments not consistent with the overall plan such as the quarry gardens. There had also been a change in priorities and thinking. About where to locate the administrative office and visitor center and the use of the land previously used for the government quarters and coffee shop and hawker stalls.

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The whole issue of providing sufficient parking and the management of traffic would be based on a comprehensive traffic study for the gardens. This should be perquisite to the development of the new master plan. The interim layout plan that the PBG is following had not taken the traffic and parking problems into consideration as there had been traffic study before the drafting of the layout plan by one of the landscape consultants commissioned by the Botanic Gardens Department

While most of elements of the JC master plan can still be used, there is a need to re-conceptualize the development of the gardens, especially in the new areas. There is a need to develop layout, landscape and architectural plans before starting on the development as the plans. There should be no development until the drafting and acceptance of a new master plan for the gardens. The master plan must have traffic management and parking component based on a thorough traffic study.

Many elements of the master plan for development are inter-connected and development has to be synchronized. This would result in a new development master plan which would have to be followed closely.

Given the fact that the amount of funds available for the development of the gardens is insufficient to embark on a simultaneous development, there is a need to prioritize the development. The development will be based on the prioritization of the different components into different projects, based on the availability of funds and other criteria.

9.1 Criteria for prioritization

1. Importance of project for subsequent development

2. Feasibility and ease of implementation

3. Economic feasibility

9.2 Prioritization of projects

a. Importance of projects to new gardens

Based on the importance of projects, there are 4 projects which are of the highest priority. These are:

1. Visitor Center and Administrative complex

The visitor center and administrative complex is the show case of the expansion of the gardens. This because the visitor center and

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administrative complex it is a symbol of the expansion of the garden to beyond the boundaries of the old garden as well as indicating that there is a new approach of the development of the garden. The visitor center would cater to the visitors and tourists as to what the new PBG is like.

2. Stream walkway

This is of high priority as it would provide for an increase of recreational space to the visitors as well as increased of flowering plants along the landscape pathways. It would almost double the amount of foot paths and tracks for the users of the garden.

3. Garden mall and water gardens

This project will be the show case of the new garden and will be the most memorable part of a visit to the garden. It will be the center point or "center of gravity" of the new gardens where all parts of the garden converge and also a meeting point of all visitors as well as a rest area. The landscaped area, water features and shaded rest area will be the focal point of the gardens. This project also transforms a visually messy area after the demolishing of the government quarters to an aesthetically attractive area.

4. Bambusetum

The Bambusetum would be a novel attraction of the gardens and will be unique in tropical botanic gardens. Though there are bamboo features in the gardens in Japan and China, these are not in the tropics.

Another consideration is that since the scouts have vacated the land, it would be prudent to make use of the land vacated.

b. Immediately implementable

There are a number of projects that immediately implementable and at low or almost no cost, such as the improvement and rearrangement of the plant house. The improvement of the formal garden will also fall into this category as it would require weeding and replanting of the flower beds which have become neglected. This would require an analysis of what the short coming are at the present moment and take the steps to rectify them.

c. Economic feasibility and low cost of implementation

There are a number of necessary projects but are essentially low cost, such as the transfer of the plant houses to near the coronation camp.

9.3 Implementation plans within 9MP period

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After the development of the new master plan, the implementation of the development of the PBG is dependent on the available funds for the projects. The chief source of funds will be the various allocations of the 9th Malaysia Plan

The PBG submitted a development budget for the 9th Malaysia Plan for a total of RM 8,600,000.

These were for a total of 13 projects for the 5 year plan period.

The list, as submitted by the PBG is as follows:

Budget of implementation for 2006-2010 in the 9th Malaysia Plan

Name of project Cost in RM1 Construction of façade of new entrance 1,050,0002 Pavilion 500,0003 Flora Penangiana and Malayasiana 500,0004 Coronation camp 1,000,0005 Curtis Jungle Park 250,0006 New administrative complex 950,0007 Lighting in gardens 500,0008 Scientific and educational program 400,0009 Recreation and green tourism 250,00010 Program for plant records 100,00011 Landscape program 600,00012 Infrastructure and facilities 1,000,00013 Botanic facilities 1,500,000

TOTAL 8,600,000

The approved amount is under 9th Malaysia Plan is almost what the PBG Department asked for. Besides this, there will be some annual allocation for the development and maintenance of the gardens.

However, in view of the recommendations of the review committee, the allocations may have to be reviewed again and adjusted as the projects may have different priorities. There is no provision for the preparation of the new master plan for the development of the gardens while more than RM one million is allocated for building of a façade of the new entrance to the gardens. The development of the stream walkway is not in the projects listed but this of high priority as this is the most public of projects.

9.4 Phasing of projects

The phasing of the projects can be grouped under short, medium and long term

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9.4.1 Short term projects (1-3 years)

i. Walking trails along stream

ii. New garden entrance

iii. Visitor center and administrative complex

iv. Car park

v. Garden water mall and water plants

vi. Transfer of nursery to scout camp house area

vii. Improvement to plant houses

viii. Aroid walkway

ix. Improvement to quarry garden

x. Hiking and interpretive trails

xi. Curtis trail

xii. Waterfall trail

xiii. Improvement to quarry gardens

xiv. Development of herbarium

xv. Development of laboratory

xvi. National biodiversity center

xvii. Inventory of all plants of the gardens

9.4.2 Mid-term projects (3-5 years)

i. Bambusetum

ii. Tropical forest retreat in upper garden

iii. Economic plant garden

iv. Tree planting program

v. Plant identification courses

vi. Certificate course in gardening and landscaping

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9.4.3 Long term projects (5-10 years)

i. Restaurant near garden mall

ii. Visiting scientist's program

iii. Completion of all projects identified in development plan

10.0 Management and institutional arrangements of the PBG

The organizational structure of the Gardens Department has been largely unchanged for the last 40 years and it was inherited from the colonial government. This is not suitable for the management and the development of a modern botanical gardens with their new roles. This is very evident when we compare the Penang Botanical Gardens staffing with the staffing of gardens in our neighboring countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

However, the structure of staffing of the Botanical Gardens would be closely tied up with what the Gardens actually do.

The institutional arrangements and options are discussed below.

10.1 Option 1-Proposed corporitization of the PBG

10.1.1 Review panel's assessment of proposed corporitization

In the course of the work of the review panel over the last few months, it looked at the issue of the proposed Corporatization of the Penang Botanic Gardens as part of its overall review. A few years ago, the Penang State Government had commissioned a study by a consultancy company, Kassim Chan and Associates on the feasibility of Corporatization of the Penang Botanic Gardens. The report was submitted in 200x.

The reason for the consultancy study on Corporatization was because of the administrative constraints in the development of the gardens as a government department. It was thought that the employment of staff could be more flexible in other kinds of institutional arrangements, such as corporitization.

The mission of the gardens is to undertake the following functions normally associated with the botanic gardens such as horticulture and plant displays, botanical and scientific research and exchanges, education could not be met without an increase of professional and highly qualified staff. The Botanic Gardens Department found that it was very difficult to increase the number of professional staff because

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of government regulations. The very "flat" organizational structure of the gardens department hierarchy where there is very little differentiation of the various categories of staff meant that there is very little incentives for the staff to improve their skills and work performances. As a result of this, there had been suggestions since the 1980s that the corporitization of the gardens could be a possible solution.

10.1.2 Rationale of Corporatization of the Gardens

The consultancy study by Kassim- Chan Associates on the corporitization of the gardens was to assess the feasibility of overcoming the constraints to the development and management of the gardens.

a. Administrative constraints

As pointed out earlier, the structure of the Botanic Gardens Department has not change much in the last 50 years. This is unusual even for a government department as most departments have expanded their staff when they expanded their functions and take on new challenges. In the PBG, there is only one graduate level post which is the curator of the gardens. This post is also at a low level in terms of the government bureaucracy. Most of the other gardens' posts are at the clerical and laborers' level. As such, it is not possible to carry out the mission and objectives that require professional expertise.

The main functions of the present gardens' staff are to maintain the grounds of the gardens, provide services to the Governor's residence as well as to supply plants for official functions of the state. There is no staff available for botanical, horticultural and educational activities. As a government department, it had been very difficult to increase the numbers of professional staff that the gardens need to carry out its functions as a botanic gardens.

b. Legal anomaly

It had recently been pointed out that there is a legal anomaly that is related to the corporitization of the gardens. The gardens have a Botanic Gardens Management committee to manage and supervise its activities. Among the government departments in Penang, the Botanic Gardens Department is the only department that has an external management committee. This was inherited from colonial days when the Resident was chair of the Gardens' management committee. Over the years, some modifications to the provisions in the Gardens Enactment had been made, but this does not solve the problem as government departments normally do not have management committees to oversee their functions.

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Management committee had been chaired by a state assemblyman or State EXCO member for the last 30 years or so. As the curator of the gardens is answerable only to the State Secretary as head of the State Government's administration, the curator is not answerable to the management committee and the gardens management committee has only an advisory role.

It was felt that there would be a need to review and have appropriate state legislation that would remove the legal anomaly

10.1.3 Issues in Corporatization

a. Lack of income generation capacity of gardens

To corporatise imply that the Botanic Gardens would be independent of the state secretariat in terms of finance and management. However, the financing of the gardens would be a very serious problem as the gardens will not be able to generate the income to run the gardens and its activities. The Kassim Chan report identifies this as the main problem towards any corporitization.

The proposed corporitization would be unlike the recent Corporatization of the Penang Water Authority or the Penang Port Commission, which have a steady source of income. The Penang Botanic Gardens would be more like that of the corporitization of the Penang Library and the Penang Museum, where they are dependent on grants from the state government for their development and activities.

b. Governance of the corporatised gardens

This would be under some board of trustees or directors appointed by the state, much like the museum and library board. There would be the enabling state legislature to put this into effect.

10.1.4 The review panel's recommendation

The review panel deliberated on the issue and looked at the advantages and disadvantages as well as the experience of some corporatised bodies.

Advantages of corporitization

a. Flexibility in employment of staffb. Change of organizational structure to meet the gardens' needsc. Raising of funds for gardens' activitiesd. Input from stakeholders in gardens' managemente. Greater flexibility in determining responsibilities

Disadvantages

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a. Need to raise funds for staff salaries and development expenditures

b. Insecurity of grants from State government allocationc. Loss of some benefits to staff as government servantsIt concluded that despite the attractions of corporitization, the lack of a source of income make this option a non-viable one.

10.2 Option 2-Retaining the status quo as government department

After much deliberation on the experience of other statutory bodies in the state, it was the opinion of the panel that the Botanic Gardens would not be able to overcome the problem of finding the funds for its activities and development. The Penang Botanic gardens would be better off as a government department and try to overcome the problems of staffing and organization in other ways. This status quo option is the least disruptive if certain unique features and problems of developing and operating a botanic gardens are recognised by the State government and .

The major problem is that the present staff structure is totally inadequate for the development and operations of the PBG as a botanic gardens. The number of professional staff must greatly increase to the level of comparable botanic gardens in the region.

The Penang Botanic Gardens has fallen behind almost all the botanic gardens in South East Asia. To catch up would require a complete revamp in the staffing and funding of the gardens. If this transformation is not accepted by the State and Federal government, it would not be possible to make anymore meaningful changes to the botanic gardens. Penang and Malaysia will continue to fall behind the neighboring South East Asian countries, such as Singapore, Thailand and even Indonesia in terms of expertise employed in the botanic gardens. The Bogor Botanic Gardens, which has considerable financial constraints, had always been head by renowned botanists and have a strong professional support staff.

The level of funding to the gardens would also have to be drastically increased. The special position of the gardens within the civil service must be recognised as it the gardens provide valuable services to the public at large and can raise funds for its programs and activities. This has been recognised by the other countries in South East Asia and public donations are sorted and used by the botanic gardens for their activities.

In terms of governance, the botanic gardens have their own board of trustees or management to help guide the development of these gardens.

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10.3 Option 3-New parks and gardens department for Penang

While remaining a government department rather than a corporatised body, one other option would be to have an expanded department that would be responsible for all parks and gardens in Penang.

There had been proposals over the years that the Penang State should have a Parks and Gardens Department. This department would be responsible the planning, development and management of all the public open space, recreational space as well as gardens including the Penang Botanical Gardens.

At the present moment, the responsibilities of all the different parks and gardens are in many different departments and statutory bodies, such as the Penang Gardens Department, Penang Water Authority, Municipal councils, government departments such as the Irrigation and Drainage Department (for the Riverine parks), the Public Works Department and others. There is no integrated planning for parks and gardens and the management of public open spaces is uneven.

A Parks and Gardens Department would improve integration and planning of all the parks and gardens in the State of Penang. It would overcome the fragmented approach to the planning, development and management of the parks and gardens of the state. The issue of providing adequate public open space and the creation of a system of botanic gardens for both the island and Sebarang Perai is more easily accomplished with the creation of a parks and gardens department.

However, as this would mean the amalgamation of many different departments and institutions, the bureaucratic hurdles are many and difficult to resolve. Nevertheless, the idea of a parks and gardens department is a logical one and may be pursued in the future. However, from the view point of the development and management of the PBG within the next few years, the retention of the status quo for the Gardens Department as a government department seems the most practical approach for the time being.

10.4 Legal status of Gardens Management Committee

It had recently been pointed out by the State Legal Advisor that there is a legal anomaly in the Botanic Gardens Department, as a government department, having a management board. This anomaly is the result of colonial history where a management board was formed in the 1930 to help manage the gardens. No change was made in the post colonial period when the whole civil service was revamped.

The recommendation of the Penang Botanic Gardens to retaining its status as a government department would mean that a solution has to be found for the legal status of the Botanic Gardens Management Committee and to define its roles. Under existing government

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regulations, there is no provision for a management committee or an advisory committee to oversee the functioning of a government department. It has continued without much attention paid to the legality of the committee when the present regulations of the government bureaucracy was changed.

One possible solution would be to rename the Botanic Gardens Management Committee as the Botanic Gardens' Council or Board The main function would be to provide advice on the policy and direction to the development of the PBG as well as to have an oversight function on the management. It would also be the trustee of the newly approved Botanic Gardens Trust Fund which would be able to accept donations and other fund raising efforts and direct them to the development of the gardens.

10.5 Botanic gardens and Federal funding

At the present moment, it is unclear as to whether the Penang Botanic Gardens fall into the jurisdiction of a Federal Ministry. This is important to determine because there is a great deal of interest in the conservation of the biodiversity of Malaysia both nationally and international. Malaysia is a country that has been classified as one of the 12 countries in the world with the highest level of biodiversity and labeled as a "mega-diversity" country. Malaysia has signed the Convention on Biological Diversity which carries some international obligation to undertake to conserve biodiversity.

The botanic gardens is seen as an important institution for the ex-situ conservation of plants, where plants are taken out of their natural habitats and placed in the botanic gardens. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) is the Ministry designated to be responsible for the natural resources of Malaysia and the protection of biodiversity. It would be the logical Ministry for the PBG to fall under. The Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) which is developing a botanic gardens is under the NRE.

One benefit for the PBG to be under the NRE is that development funds could be made available for the gardens' development. This becomes more important when the National Biodiversity Center proposed for the PBG becomes a reality.

10.6 Governance of the PBG

The issue of governance of the PBG is an important one. This is because the running of a botanic gardens is unlike the running of a government department in many aspects. One indication of the special status of botanic gardens is that many botanic gardens have special provisions even when funded completely by the government.

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Many botanic gardens in other parts of the world have strong linkages with the universities. Gardens often have joint appointments where the professor of botany in the university also serves as the director of the botanic gardens. This has been partly historical where universities establish botanic gardens for research and scientific work.

In cases where there is no strong linkage between universities and the botanic gardens, the management of the botanic gardens is often advised by botanists or answerable to a management committee or advisory board. The PBG was managed in the 1930s by a high level management board. The curator was answerable to this management committee. However, in recent years, with the change in government regulations and procedures, the PBG management committee is seen as legally anomalous, as the head of department is only answerable to the State secretary who is head of the government administration.

However, there are cases where there is a board or council for some state departments such as the Penang National Parks Council. It is proposed that a botanic gardens board or council be formed to advise and guide the development and management of the Penang Botanic Gardens.

To advise and guide the scientific development of the PBG, it is proposed that in addition to a management board or council, there should be a scientific advisory committee consisting of eminent botanists and horticulturists.

10.7 Organizational structure and staffing

The staffing of an institution is the key to the successful development and management of the institution. The fact that the PBG has not been able to function over the years as a botanic gardens is because of the lack of qualified staff. AS the PBG is entering a new phase of development and has the intention to undertake botanical research, conservation of plant biodiversity, education programs as well as develop horticulture activities, there is a need to transform the staff structure to achieve these goals. It cannot adopt the business as usual approach where there is an annual increase of one or two staff. The level of staffing that is required in PBG can be estimated by comparing the level of staffing in botanical countries in our neighboring countries.

Some comparisons can also be made with developed countries, such as Adelaide Botanic Gardens in Australia and Itabashi Botanic Gardens in Japan where the PBG has MOU for cooperation with some of these gardens.

While it is probably unrealistic to have the same level of staffing at the professional level as the gardens of developed countries, the PBG can

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strive for getting the minimal amount of professional staff for the gardens.

10.7.1 Propose new organizational structure of gardens

The gardens department has proposed an expanded staff organization in view of changed priorities of the gardens as well as the expanded gardens area. There has also been a proposal to make the Penang Botanic Gardens as a national center for biodiversity conservation and biotech innovation. The proposed organizational structure by the PBG department is in appendix 3.

10.7.2 Proposed expansion of staff of the botanic gardens

It is clear that one graduate level staff is not enough to manage a botanic gardens. There should be at least 10 to 15 graduate level staff to undertake the botanical, horticultural and education functions of the gardens.

The actual number of staff will depend on the detailed plans and programs of the gardens, but minimally, the following staff strengths are indicated below.

Staff requirements to meet the mission and objectives of garden are as follows.

Director of gardens

Overall charge of the development and management of the PBGDevelop and implement the Strategic Plan of the gardensProvide vision and leadership so as to develop the PBG to be one of the leading gardens in AsiaThe director of the gardens should be an experienced administrator with a background in botany or horticulture. He or she should have a graduate degree, at the masters or doctorate level

Deputy Director for research

Overall charge of the scientific research of the PBGProvide leadership on scientific programsDevelop research programsAdvise the director on all matters scientific The research director should be a botanist with a proven ability in botanical research

Planning and development

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One officer to plan and implement the physical development projects of the gardens. This would involve the coordination of the requirements of all sections of the garden and liaise with the different agencies to ensure that the implementation of projects is on schedule and of acceptable quality

Duties will include the training of staff as well as the preparation of the training curriculum and the production of training material.

Gardens management

One officer to ensure the plant collections, plant houses, plant protection are maintained to a high standard. The officer will also be responsible or the management of the work force within the gardens and to ensure disciple and keeping of the work schedule

Duties will include the development and management of the nursery

Administration and finance

One officer to manage the finance of the officeManage PBG trust fundRaise funds for garden from private sector

Recreation and park function

One Administrative officer, with responsibilities for corporate affairs and tourism. The duties would include managing events in the PBG, including booking and rental of space for weddings, etc

Servicing state functions and officials residences

One Administrative officer in charge service functions of maintaining the gardens of official residences, supply of plants for state functions, public relations and liaison with the government sector

Research on botany and plant diversity

Four botanists

Development of herbarium, plant collection program, documenting biodiversity of northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, development of data base of plants in gardens and region for the following taxonomic groups of plants

Dicotyledon Monocotyledon Lower plants

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Establishment of tissue and cell culture laboratory and research on the propagation of rare and endangered species of plants

Seed and plant exchange program with other botanical gardens and research institutes and universities

Undertake research projects and seek funds for the project through various funding sources

Develop materials for the visitor center

Publication of research newsletter and other publications of the gardens

Plant Conservation and Education

One conservation biologist

To develop public education programs on conservation and environmental issues

Liaise with schools and develop schools' education program

Develop interpretive trails in the forested areas of the botanic gardens

Horticulture

Two horticulturists for development of landscape within the gardens, including the establishment of flower beds, ornamental plant collections, as well as evaluate native plants for introduction to gardens of Penang.

Other duties will include the organization of the international flower festival, various flower shows as well as undertake programs to support the local horticulture industry

11.0 Conclusions

11.1 Future challenges

There are many challenges in the development and management of the PBG as a botanic gardens with scientific, botanical, horticultural and educational functions beside the parks and recreational function.

It would require a qualitative transformation in the approach to the development and management of the PBG. The PBG had plodded along over the last 50 years in a "business as usual" approach. This can be seen in the fact that the organizational structure had remained unchanged for the last 50 years with only one graduate level post.

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All the other comparable botanic gardens in our neighboring countries such as Singapore and Thailand have made the transition towards the development of a modern botanic gardens, able to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. This is clearly reflected in their level of professional staffing and the budgets allocated for their development and operations

The development of the PBG into a modern botanic gardens is all the more important as Malaysia and Penang aspire to full fill the vision of 2020 where Penang will be a fully developed state. All developed countries have botanic gardens that are often a source of civic pride and considered to be a great social asset. These gardens generally are able meet the educational, botanical and conservation challenges of the coming decades.

In order for the PBG to be transformed into a modern botanic gardens, policy makers would have to look upon the PBG as a new entity and not adopt the business as usual approach. It will have to provide full support for the development and staffing of the gardens.

11.2 Strategic development plan for 2006-2020

The review panel has identified most of the issues and problems in the development and management of the PBG. It has proposed some of the ways in which the problems can be overcome and the priorities of the development and management of the PBG.

However, this is only a start and there is a need to prepare a detailed strategic development plan for the PBG. This should be a commissioned study with external consultants. These external consultants can be from Malaysia as well as from the region or other parts of the world with well established botanic gardens.

The PBG has the potential of being one of the leading tropical botanic gardens in the world. The potential has yet to be realized.

References

Lai Ee May 2006. An assessment of the proposed development and management of the Penang Botanic Gardens. Report of project submitted for the Kew International Diploma in Botanic gardens Management

Jabatan Kebun Bunga 2006. Penang Botanic Gardens 1884-2006

Botanic Gardens Conservation International 1998 The Darwin Technical Manual for Botanic Gardens.

Anon 1989 The proposed development of the Penang Botanic Gardens.

7

Acknowledgements

The review panel would like to thank YB Teng Chang Yeow, the Penang EXCO member for the support given to this study and also to his special assistant, Ms Ooi Bee Leing for facilitating the review

Thanks are also due to Mr. Lim Boon Tiong, the director of the Penang Botanic Gardens for his full cooperation in this review

7

Appendices

Appendix - Members of review panel

Dato' Dr. Leong Yueh Kwong – ChairProfessor Wong Khoon Meng- University of MalayaDr Saw Leng Guan- Forestry Research Institute

Malaysia

Support staff

En. Baharunizam SERIMs. Lai Ee May FRIM

Discussions held with:

Professor Chan Lai Keng USMDato' Tengku Idaura Friend of Botanic GardensMr. Kanda Kumar Malaysian Nature SocietyMr. Lim Boon Teong PBG

Appendix 2 -Present staff list of PBG

7

SENARAI PERJAWATAN MENGIKUT BUKU PERJAWATAN(Disediakan setiap 6 bulan sehingga September)

Jabatan : JABATAN KEBUN BUNGA PULAU PINANGTarikh Disediakan : 26.9.2005

Butiran Tajuk Kod Gaji SSM

Kod Skim Bilangan Jawatan

Kenyataan

2004 2005 Kosong 

1.    

2.   

3.   

4.   

5.   

6.   

7.   

8.   

9.   

10.    

11.   

12.   

13.   

14.   

15.   

 Penguasa Taman & Kebun BungaPegawai Pertanian

 Penolong Pegawai Pertanian

 Pembantu Pertanian

 Pembantu Pertanian

 Pembantu Tadbir (Perkeranian/Operasi)

 Pembantu Tadbir (Perkeranian/Operasi)

 Pembantu Tadbir (Perkeranian/Operasi) Pembantu Tadbir (Kew) Pembantu Tadbir Rendah Pembantu Tadbir Rendah (Formen Kebun) Pembantu Am Rendah Pembantu Am Rendah (pencetak label)  Tukang K3 Pemandu Kenderaan Bermotor Pekerja Rendah Awam

 G41

  

G27  

G22 

G17 

N22 

N17 

N17 

W17 

N11 

N11  

N1 

N1 

R9 

R3 

R1

 1015

  

2022 

4830 

4830 

3200

 3200

 3200

 3200

 4200

 4200  5454

 5454

 6920

 6700

 6580

 1  1 1 3 1 

1 

1 

1 1 2  1 1 

1 3 

79

1

1

1

3

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

3

79

-

-

-

1

-

-

-

-

-

1

-

1

1

-

19

Penyandang bersarawajib pada 13.4.2001

Kekosongan jawatanbelum diisi, pertukaran, persaraan, menjawat jawatan lain & letak jawatan.

JUMLAH 98 98 23

7

Appendix 3- Proposed staffing and organizational chart of PBG