Jalan TAR

Let's continue our walk....

You will pass Plaza TAR which advertises itself as a one-stop wholesale centre. Just sometime ago it wanted to be the IT and communication equipment centre, but that didn't take off except for a few mobile phone dealers who took up stalls in the building.

This building used to be Hankyu Jaya, a popular department store in the 1980's. It was later taken over by Mun Lung, at that time an established textile dealer further along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Somehow, business did not flourish as expected and the store was closed. The building remained abandoned for many years.

Workmen laying cables along the sidewalk in-front of the Plaza TAR.

A taxi driver once quipped, "If no one digs here, our city will no longer be called KL." KL, according to him, stands for Korek Lubang (meaning 'digging holes' in Malay).

WARNING: Watch your step! The sidewalks will remain like this for many days or weeks afterwards. Also watch out for missing man-hole covers and open drains.

Mydin is doing very well in here.

Where ever you are in Kuala Lumpur, you are never far away from a convenience store for your needs.

It is to be noted that the quadrangle area surrounded by Jalan Sri Amar, Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Chow Kit and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman is well know for it's wholesale establishments. Fruits, ready-made garments, bags, clocks and watches, toys and many more items are available at very competitive prices.

The area is however also notorious for its drug addicts, transvestites (or pondans as they are known locally), prostitutes and snatch thieves. So it would be wise for new-comers not to wander off to any of the side roads and lanes alone.

UMNO headquarters used to be in this building before they moved to PWTC (Putra World Trade Centre). Currently the Malay Research and Strategic Foundation has it's office here.

There are many bank branches along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

K.S. Gill has been selling and servicing pens for a long time along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

The outlet was further along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, but moved to this location in the last few years.

The Tune Hotel at the junction of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Sultan Ismail.

The building started as the Sentosa Medical Centre. It was opened by then Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak.

What is interesting is that Sentosa belonged to Tan Sri Dr. David Tan Chee Khoon, nicknamed "Mr. Opposition" for his outspoken views in Parliament. Dr. Tan was a leader of the Labour Party, Socialist Front coalition before co-founding the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan). He later left to co-found the Parti Keadilan Masyarakat (Pekemas) when Gerakan together with other parties joined the Alliance party to form the Barisan Nasional.

Dr. Tan was a Member of the Malaysian Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1978 when he retired from active politics.

Sentosa has since moved to the Damai Kompleks area and recenlty became a member hospital in the KPJ Group.

Tune Hotel is a member of the Air Asia group.