Heritage body slams KL City Hall over failure to see historical value of Brickfields quarters

Shy of a century, the 100 Quarters in Brickfields could come under the wrecking ball soon unless the Kuala Lumpur City Hall draws up a plan to save a part of the capital city's history, says heritage authority Badan Warisan Malaysia (BWM).

The two-storey buildings have served as homes to railway families for 99 years but BWM says that underneath the simple and plain facade lies a wealth of history.

“Badan Warisan urges the mayor of Kuala Lumpur to hold a moratorium on this redevelopment until a comprehensive cultural mapping of this area is done,” its president Laurence Loh said in a letter to The Malaysian Insider.

“We need to put some brakes on the escalating erosion of the character and identity of KL before we lose the very reason why KL can still be an attractive destination for work and play for its citizens as well as transient visitors,” he added.

Built in 1915, the 100 Quarters comprises three rows of houses along Jalan Chan Ah Tong, Lorong Chan Ah Tong and Jalan Rozario – and was mainly occupied by those working in the then Malayan Railways.

It is to make way for three residential towers to be developed by Malaysia Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), which is partly-owned by Malaysia's largest pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

No gains from Deepavali carnival’

KLANG: The Malaysian Indian Textiles and General Stores Association (MITA) has claimed that many local Indian traders suffered substantial losses resulting from the Indian shopping carnivals and trade fairs held in the country.

MITA secretary Maheswary Ramasamy said the shopping carnivals held in conjunction with Deepavali last month drastically affected the livelihood of many local Indian businessmen in the Klang Valley, especially those in Little India, Brickfields.

“Such carnivals and trade fairs participated by foreign textile, handicraft and costume jewellery companies have affected the local traders’ good business during the festive season.

“It’s not fair for foreign traders to come into our country and take away the local traders’ business,” she said.
Indian trade fairs organised by local event management companies were originally meant to be participated by manufacturers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to introduce products like textiles, handicraft and costume jewellery to local traders.

Maheswary noted the objective had changed over the years as foreign traders involved in the trade fairs started doing retail sale to local customers.

The trade fairs had also become an avenue for foreign textile companies to sell their substandard and rejected items to vulnerable consumers.

She urged the relevant authorities to stop issuing permits to local event management companies that bring in foreign traders to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Surendran Subramaniam, a saree shop owner from Sungai Petani, Kedah, claimed he suffered 70% business losses due to the Deepavali carnival held at Bukit Jalil and Village Mall, Sungai Petani, recently.

“With all these trade fairs being organised in September, October and November, the good business we used to enjoy during Deepavali is also doomed,” he said, adding that local Indian traders can only expect good business during the festive season to recover their debts.

Another Indian trader from Penang who insisted on anonymity said many Indian traders selling lower range items in the island suffered losses of about 20% to 30% due to the Deepavali shopping carnivals and trade fairs.

“There were many stalls set up by organisers of such trade fairs at Penang International Sports Arena and this had badly affected the business of the surrounding Indian traders selling lower range items like clothings and imitation jewellery costing below RM100,” he said.


Source :-Bernama

Brickfields history to be wiped out

Journalist and pastor Balan Moses, who grew up in Brickfields, feels that there is very little being done to conserve the nostalgic and historical past of this part of Kuala Lumpur.

Unfortunately, the historical 100 Government Quarters in the area will be demolished to make way for modern buildings, Moses notes in his book Brickfields and Beyond: Stories from the Past to be launched tomorrow.

“The iconic Hundred Quarters along Jalan Rozario and Jalan Chan Ah Tong, which is to be demolished next year (2013) as part of a redevelopment project, should be preserved for posterity.

“I feel that the authorities should consider modifying the re-development proposal to maintain some semblance of history by retaining some of the facades of the quarters. I agree that one cannot stop development but some thought should be placed on preserving heritage buildings like these,” said Moses, who is now an editorial trainer at New Straits Times.

Moses is inviting all those who have lived in Brickfields in the 1950s and 60s to attend the launch at the Lutheran Church in Brickfields at 10am. “We can discuss ways of conserving whatever remains of the old Brickfields’ heritage can be conserved.”

Moses said that conservation had been managed very well in some parts of the city where the facades of late 19th century and early 20th century shophouses had been retained with some measure of architectural ingenuity.

There are plans to build a multi-storey car park and hawker stalls in place of the historic Hundred Quarters. “Imagine having stalls and restaurants in buildings that are a throwback to a time long gone. Tourists and locals may very well appreciate the history that comes with the food.

 “The Hundred Quarters where I lived for 15 years epitomises the neighbourhood that has grown on me over the years. I, like many others, feel the imminent loss of the place that shaped many a world view,” he told Malaysiakini in an interview.

Moses has used the uniqueness of the time they lived in as the backdrop for the stories. “All of them are stories culled from half-remembered tales from my childhood and youth, a melange of fact and fiction,” he said.

He has also attempted to include social commentary on the traditions, customs, conventions and practices among Malayans, and later Malaysians, on issues like class differences, romance and nation-building within a multi-racial populace.

The book will be launched by former Malaysian Bar Council president Dr Cyrus Das. It is an anthology of 15 short stories set in Kuala Lumpur’s historic suburb of Brickfields in the 1950s and 1960s.

This is Moses’ second effort at putting down for posterity the lifestyle, ethos and character of a community in a bygone era. He has moved genre to fiction by bringing to life some of the characters featured in his first book, Brickfields: A Place, A Time, A Memory published in 2007.

Brickfields and Beyond: Stories From The Past may be reminiscent of the past for most Malaysians who grew up in such small enclaves around the country in the 1950s and 1960s. It may also prove to be of benefit to younger readers wanting to experience a way of life redolent of the past when things were far less complicated than they are now.

“As development changes the face of Brickfields, this book may help readers conjure pictures in their mind’s eye of a time gone past that will surely never return.”

Moses, who has also been pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church Brickfields for the past five years, is contributing all proceeds from the sale of the books to the Hands Across Brickfields project which he initiated three years ago.

Under the project, nearly 200 packets of food are distributed to the poor of Brickfields, including destitute single-parent families, drug addicts and the homeless, every Sunday afternoon at the compound of the church.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/214921

Traders rally at PM's door as gloomy Deepavali looms

With only about two weeks left to Deepavali, some 40 Brickfields petty traders today took to Putrajaya in a last ditch attempt to have their traditional festive bazaar site for the last eight years restored.

Converging outside the Prime Minister's Department under the scorching afternoon sun, the traders unfurled banners and chanted slogans, appealing for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to intervene in the matter.

The protest comes after weeks of negotiations with the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry failed to yield results.

The traders are upset that their Deepavali bazaar site had been moved from Jalan Tun Sambathan - the main Brickfields thoroughfare - to the inner street Jalan Berhala, which they say has adversely affected their business.

"There is only about two weeks left before the bazaar ends. Business in the new area is very bad.

“I will not be able to recoup my investment if they don't let us move back," said a frustrated garments trader Joseph Nathan.

High-rise complex instead of police station?

PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) plan to develop a high-rise building on the land once occupied by the Brickfields district police headquarters has irked several groups.

Brickfields Community Neighbourhood Watch chairman SKK Naidu said the notice was placed on the land for nearly two weeks but he just realised its contents recently.

Naidu said that the government should rebuild a police station on the land to beef up security for the locals.
“The land is an institutional land. The Federal Territories and Urban Well-Being Ministry promised to build a police station there. Why create another problem now?” he asked.

He was referring to The Star’s article on July 17, where minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin had reportedly said that the government would build a new police station on the land.

“The details have not been finalised. The developer, police and DBKL are still discussing the matter,” Nong Chik had said.

Naidu, who claims to represent several other religious and educational societies in Brickfields, said that he would send an objection letter to DBKL tomorrrow.

He also said that DBKL should study any development in Brickfields thoroughly in order to avoid any problems in the future.

“The City Hall developed KL Sentral without building infrastructure like new roads. Now, the existing roads are very congested and locals are moving out of the place,” he said.

Brickfields Business Community (BBC) secretary A Karuppiah concurred with Naidu’s assessment, saying he would raise this matter during a dialogue session with the police soon.

“There’s nothing much to comment. We are opposed to the high-rise building project as we want a police station to be built there,” he said.

Based on the notice board, DBKL intended to convert the institutional land into a commercial land to build 34-storey service apartments.

Two blocks of office units were also slated to be developed on the prime land.

The notice also stipulated that tomorrow would be the last day for residents to object to the proposed development.

The Brickfields district police headquarters used to be situated on the land for about three decades before it was moved to Sri Petaling last year.

Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/07/30/high-rise-complex-instead-of-police-station/

‘Crime rate soaring in Brickfields’

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the government’s dogged insistence that crime rate nationwide is dropping, residents in Brickfields, particularly around Scott Road areas, are saying otherwise.

According to the Scott Central condominium’s residents association, the situation has become unbearable.
Committee chairman P Subash said the crime rate has soared in his area since the Brickfields police headquarters was shifted to Old Klang Road.

“Although the Jalan Travers police station is located nearby, sometimes they refuse to take our reports and tell us to go Old Klang Road instead.

“Now we are trying to get support from other condominium managements around this area. We are planning to meet Brickfields district police chief Wan Bari Abdul Wan Khalid to find a solution to their grouses, ” said Subash.

His sentiments was also shared by fellow committee member, Chandra Ram Prakash, 45, who said that many a time passers-by had asked for the condominium management’s CCTV footage to identify the snatch thieves marauding in the area.

“These people have asked for the CCTV footage to pass to the police [to help with] investigations,” said Chandra, who works as a contractor.

Hawker trouble in Brickfields' Little India

KUALA LUMPUR: Hawkers along Jalan Chan Ah Tong in Brickfields are unhappy over City Hall's decision to give the area a RM35 million 'face-lift' and transform it into a new Little India.As part of its plan, about 68 hawker stalls will be moved to a temporary site nearby, very much against their wishes, and then will be relocated at a new site which will cater for all hawkers in Brickfields.

PM: Complete 'Little India' by November

KUALA LUMPUR – Make sure the "Little India" project in Brickfields is up and running by November.

This is the Prime Minister's directive to Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister.If it is not ready by then, Raja Nong Chik and those involved in the project will have a lot of explaining to do, says Najib.He wants the project to be rushed to completion ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's (pic) visit to Malaysia in November to coincide with the launch of Little India. He views the project as an important milestone to establish closer ties with his Indian counterpart.

Little India of the Carribean has a hindu lady Prime Minister

 New Delhi, May 27 : When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, in November last year, he would not have had any indication that the country would soon see an 'Indian' Prime Minister, and that too a lady.