On 7 July 2008, the historical centre of Melaka City, the capital of the state of Melaka, and Georgetown, the capital of the state of Penang, were both officially recognized as ‘World Heritage Sites’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO (2008) describes these historic cities as ‘unique architectural and cultural townscape[s] without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia’. Such official recognition of the country's national heritage bodes well for the Malaysian tourism sector, which celebrates diversity and thrives on its multicultural inheritance. In reality, however, the hegemonic role of the Malaysian government led by the ethnocentric United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is to strive to construct a national identity and heritage based solely on the Malay majority, which often leads to the further marginalization of ethnic minorities in multiethnic Malaysia (Cheah 2002; Reid 1997).

Official national heritage sites have come to be regarded with scepticism and disdain among many academics and social critics (King 2012). Heritage sites have been accused of functioning as political tools for manufacturing and maintaining hegemonic power. Such sites may be constructed in ways that give authenticity to the notion that ‘the nation’ has, since its formation, been a singular ethnic group with original and exclusive rights to the national territory. Naturalizing the nation- state's privileging of a single ethnic group, the heritage site reinforces the political status quo, which allows for the marginalization, discrimination and exploitation of minorities and indigenous peoples living within its territory (Hitchcock et al. 2009, 2010; Wood 1997).

In this chapter, we argue that having a multicultural world heritage site in Melaka is positive for the ethnic minorities who are marginalized in the stateconstructed narrative and heritage of the city. Using the world heritage site of Melaka as a case study, we suggest that in a multicultural, globalizing and digitizing society, traditionally conceived heritage sites may inadvertently be promoting and deepening democratic processes rather than vitiating them. Using materials from Facebook groups frequented by marginalized ethnic groups, we argue that the reworking of Melaka as a world heritage site has created a discursive space in which national and ethnic identity in Malaysia can be rearticulated in more inclusive ways.