KL KrashPad - Chow Kit Kita (Part 4)

When we come to Jalan Tiong Nam 5, we face Jalan Thamboosamy.

This road connects Tiong Nam Settlement to Jalan Putra which is more an extension of Jalan Chow Kit after Jalan Raja Laut.
No need to guess, Jalan Putra is named after our First Prime Minister.

A street/road named after an Indian (Tamil) in this predominantly Chinese area?  Who was he?

 photo from 'The Victoria Institution - The 
Reminiscence of Mr R Thampipillay'

     K. Thamboosamy Pillay was a prominent Malaysian during the pre-independence years and was considered the leader of the Tamil community.

     Born in Singapore in 1850, he received his early education at Raffles Institution. He sailed to Klang in 1875 with James Guthrie Davidson, when the latter was appointed Malaya's first British Resident.

     He was later transferred to the Treasury where he eventually became chief clerk and acted as State Treasurer on a few occasions. He was sent to India by the Malayan Government to bring over the first batch of Indian immigrants for the Railway and Public Works. 

     Thamboosamy resigned from Government service in the 1880s and, going into partnership with Towkay Loke Yew, managed the New Tin Mining Company in Rawang. 

     He was one of the founders and one of the original Trustees of Victoria Institution as well as the founder of the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur.

(source: Wikipedia)

 We then come to this temple along Jalan Tiong Nam 5.  (This is the temple where I first witnessed Chinese Opera during the Hungry Ghost Festival many, many years ago.  The temple was just a wooden structure and not so grand in those days.)

It was some sort of festival day at the temple and there was a lot of activity going on.  There was also a steady stream of worshipers coming in to pray. 

One of the Elder Volunteers at the temple had earlier agreed to meet with the children to brief them about the temple and answer any questions that they may have.  See how keen the children are in learning about other cultures.

Something I never knew, a news paper clipping at the temple.

A Spider Did It

On a cobweb - Merdeka

     Crowds are flocking to a Chinese Temple in Tiong Nam Settlement Kuala Lumpur to see the word "merdeka" spun by a spider on the web in a palm tree.

     It was first discovered by elderly Chinese devotee who gasped with excitement as he say the spider complete the word.

     This was shortly after morning prayers on Sunday.

     Since the discovery, hundreds of people in Kuala Lumpur have rushed to the temple to catch a glimpse of the spider at work.

     Threads of many other unreadable letters also hang on the cobweb.

     To protect the palm tree from being trampled by the crowds, the temple authorities have erected a wire fence around it.

(No source or date of the clipping is available.) 

Posing for a group photo before leaving the temple.

KL KrashPad - Chow Kit Kita (Part 3)

From Jalan Sri Amar, we move along to Jalan Raja Laut.

The children at the overhead bridge, waiting to cross the road.  They are in for lesson number 2.

Question: Who was Raja Laut?
     YTM Raja Laut ibni al-Marhum Sultan Muhammad Shah, born in Kuala Selangor in 1850.  Penghulu and Magistrate Kuala Lumpur, member of the Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board, Chairman of the Kampung Bahru Agricultural Settlement.
     Appointed Raja Muda in 1899 but superseded in 1903.  However, allowed to keep the title until his death in 1913. (Source: royalark.net)
     When Sultan Muhammad died in 1857 without appointing an heir, Raja Laut, while being competent, was not able to succeed his father as he was the son of a concubine (Raja Asiah). (Source: http://yapahloy.

tripod.com/the_death_of_sultan_muhammad.htm)

Prominent residents of Kuala Lumpur, 1884

(from: MALAYSIA a pictorial history 1400-2004 by Wendy Khadijah Moore)

Raja Laut (cropped and enlarged)

The Chow Kit area is also home to vagrants and homeless people.

A number of NGOs do operate food kitchens and other social services in the area.  I think that this is becoming a vicious cycle - more people - more help, more help -  more people....... but  to paraphrase the words of the late Mother Theresa, 'do it anyway.'

Passing the Thakardas building.  The National Library used to be located here before moving to its own premises at Jalan Tun Razak.

I never noticed it before, but there is a Gurdwara (Sikh prayer house) located in this building.

We now arrive at Tiong Nam Settlement.

     In all my years of growing up here, I never once wondered about the origins of the name.  I just assumed that it was the name of the developer or something.  It is one of the earliest Chinese housing settlements in KL but it is now considered a slum according to this article.

     According to the same article also the Chinese community refer to this as Tiong Nam Ku meaning the Middle South Area.

     According to an interview with Mr. Ong Yoong Nyock, founder of Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Bhd (I don't think there is a link between the company and the settlement, I was just looking for the meaning or origins of Tiong Nam) published in www.frost.com, he said that the name carries the meaning of East (Tiong) and South (Nam) in Hokkien.

     Middle South or East South, either way it baffles me as the area would have been North or North West of KL Town Centre not the South East.

I only remember one Chinese Temple at Jalan Tiong Nam 5.  Over the years, a number of residential houses have been converted into Temples.

Posing for group photos in-front of the Temples.  For most of the children, this was their first time visiting Chinese temples.  Unfortunately, however, these were closed.

KL KrashPad - Chow Kit Kita (Part 2)

This is a replica of the map used for the walk-about session.

After Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, we turned into Jalan Sri Amar.

I have not been able to determine after whom this road is named.

Most probably this street is named after Datuk Sri Amar DiRaja Abdul Rahman bin Haji Andak, but I'm only guessing here.  Read about him here.

On one side to this road is the EON Bank building, formerly Wisma Cycle Carrie.

Cycle & Carriage, the distributors of Mercedes Benz vehicles in Malaysia, used to have their show-room fronting Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman with their workshop at the rear, stretching all the way to Jalan Raja Laut.

The children passing the Eon Bank Building. 

On the other side is what is known as the Jalan/Lorong Haji Taib area. While this is known to be the haunt of transvestites, prostitutes, pimps, addicts, pushers and other 'bad hats', this is also where local petty traders source their supplies from the many wholesalers operating here.  A bakers' supplies store is located here and with the Hari Raya (Eid) festival just around the corner, that place is packed with shoppers.

Who was Haji Taib?
     I couldn't get much information on-line, then I remembered a friend who left a comment in one of my earlier posts saying that he was a decedent of Haji Taib.  So I emailed him for information.
      Haji Mohamed Taib bin Haji Abdul Samad (1858 - 1925) was a descendant of Raja Mas and Sultan Baginda of Bukit Tinggi in Sumatera Barat, Indonesia.
     Haji Taib arrived in KL at the turn of the century (1900s) having eloped with his Dutch bride and having been disinherited for doing so.  They arrived with only the clothes on their backs.
     His first occupation in KL was that of a street lighter - going out at dusk, adding water to carbide and then lighting the acetylene gas lamps that lined the streets of KL at that time.  Later he ended up as a Chief Clerk in the Land Office where he got to know about the best deals and bought them for himself.
     His son, Orang Kaya Haji Abdullah, built on this wealth and in the 1920's owned the whole of Malay Street and Rodger Street, a large portion of the Central Market area and loads in Chow Kit and Kg. Baru.

KL KrashPad - Chow Kit Kita (Part 1)

Remember in my earlier posting I mentioned that I followed Fahmi Reza and his charges from KL KrashPad on their walk-about on August 7, 2010.  This post is the first of a series about that.

 logo courtesy of Fahmi Reza

Among the aims of the project are to map the people, the culture/religion and the history of the Chow Kit area. This will be undertaken by a group of children between 13 to 15 years old, with some adult supervision/advise provided by Fahmi and gang. 

Why would I be interested?  Chow Kit is famous for all the wrong reasons, yet I grew up in the area 'untouched' by all the vices associated with it.  (Any vices I acquired or display has nothing to do with the area.)  I was aware of the 'goings on' in some nooks and crannies , but the majority there were pretty much normal, decent folks who went about their lives just like anywhere else.  So when someone comes up with a project to dispel the 'dark myth' associated with the area, why should I not be interested?

Anyway, back to KL KrashPad and the Chow Kit Kita project.  About a dozen children, between 13 to 15 years, have been selected as the pilot group.  I was informed that the group was supposed to be multi racial / cultural, but as the visitors to the Pad are predominantly from one ethnic group, they will have to do.  The adults facilitating this group, however, are a mixture of ethnicity, religion, cultures and backgrounds - truly Malaysian.

The session started with an introduction, briefing and some small training to prepare the group for the walk-about.  The session was friendly and informal, and the 'adult' facilitators don't look very much older than the participants.  I was the only 'uncle' there.


It's interesting, when you have a group of children who have only been with their own ethnic/religious/cultural grouping both in school and the community they are from, there is a bias in favor of their own kind; but get them exposed to other ethnic/religious/cultural groups, and what begins as a curiosity is soon replaced by excitement and acceptance when they realize that we actually are not so different, one from another.  Kudos to Fahmi and team.

The children ready and raving to go.  This shot is also to show a little of the ambiance of the KrashPad, catering to the teen crowd.

The walk about commences...

... let by Fahmi.

First stop and first lesson, "do you know what is the name of this street?" Every one got it right, but when asked who it was named after...

 from google images

... every one of the children agreed that it was named after our first Prime Minister.
The Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) and Putrajaya are among places named after the Tunku or his full name Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah.  The Tunku is also known as the 'Father of Independence'. 

from google images 

Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman is named after our first King.

Colonel Paduka Sri Sir Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhamed was our first Yang di-Pertuan Agong.  Something I didn't know, which I found in Wikipedia, is that he was the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Seri Menanti and the 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Besar of modern Negeri Sembilan.

The road was re-named after His Majesty in 1963.  Prior to that it was known as Batu Road, possibly because it was the main access road to the tin mines in Batu which I recon was in the area of today's Jalan Ipoh/Selayang/Gombak (think Batu Caves).

The last time I saw a tin dredge in operation in KL was in the 1970s in what is now Taman Danau Kota, off Jalan Genting Kelang. 

 

KL KrashPad

In early August, I received this email:

Saudara Shaik,

I came across your Shaik's KL blog while researching on the history of Kuala Lumpur online. 

My name is Fahmi Reza. I'm an independent documentary filmmaker. In 2007 I made a short historical documentary called 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka.

Right now I'm working on a community mapping project at a new youth centre in Chow Kit called KL Krashpad, working with Chow Kit teens to map out their community and also do an oral history of the people in Chow Kit.

You mentioned on your blog that you lived in the area on Broadrick Road until 1973. I'm wondering if it's possible to meet up with you to borak-borak and hear stories of your experience growing up in the area.

My phone number is 019-------. Do let me know whether you're free to meet up anytime this week.

Thanks.

x

Fahmi Reza

A 'filmmaker' reading my blog, of course I was excited, and I made an appointment to meet up for the borak-borak session.

So what is KL Krash Pad? (A Google search came out with more than 5,000 results.) It is a collaboration between the Federal Territories Welfare Department and Yayasan Salam Malaysia to provide an activity centre with a safe, healthy and loving environment (sort of a 'safe house') for children in Kuala Lumpur, specially in the Chow Kit area. 

The welfare department is under the preview of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development..

 ..while Yayasan Salam Malaysia, according to their website, is about promoting the spirit of volunteerism among Malaysians.

It operates from a rented shop-house along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, right opposite Yaseen's the popular nasi kandar restaurant.

It is sponsored by a number of corporate entities which includes Sime Darby and HSBC Bank.

By the way, the community mapping project is called Chow Kit Kita.

 logo courtesy of Fahmi Reza 

I did follow Fahmi and the children on their first walk-about last Saturday (7AUG10) and I must admit that I probably learned more being with the children than they did from being with me.  (I'll save that for other postings)

While you are here, do check out Fahmi's documentary 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka on Youtube.  I found it enlightening.