Although Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is not the first major human settlement in the country, it has a fascinating and colourful history. In this article, we look at its historical milestones and how Malaysia’s cultural and economic centre came to be.
The Capital’s Interesting Origin
Kuala Lumpur was founded in a stroke of luck in circa 1857, when a member of Selangor’s royal family hired Chinese prospectors from the town of Lukut to establish new tin mines. The group travelled upstream and arrived at the intersection of the Gombak and Klang rivers. They then set up a camp there due to the area’s strategic location, in which resources can be easily transported by boat.
They named the area Kuala Lumpur – the first Malay word means confluence, while the second signifies mud. The historic landing area in Ampang is now overlooked by the capital’s oldest mosque, Masjid Jamek.
Sadly, within a month, most of the pioneers were decimated by Malaria and other deadly tropical diseases. Nevertheless, they succeeded in opening a flourishing tin mine in Ampang, luring more people to the area. These included additional miners who wanted to strike it rich and merchants who did business with the prospectors, as well as people of different races.
The pioneers established a commercial heart called Medan Pasar (Old Market Square) and the Chinese mainly lived near the area. The Malays and then Indian Muslims and Indian Chettiars settled further north in places like Kampung Rawa, with Jalan Tun Perak (previously called Java Street) being the boundary between the Malay and Chinese territories.
Roads were then constructed originating from the early town centre. First were Ampang Road, Pudu Road and Batu Road (areas where miners also began to live in), followed by Petaling Street and Damansara Road.
Kuala Lumpur’s First Leader
While Kuala Lumpur became a vibrant frontier town, crime and violence were rife due to the presence of many ‘secret societies’, Chinese criminal gangs. To bring peace and order, Klang’s Malay Chief appointed a Chinese Headman (Kapitan Cina). Kuala Lumpur’s first Kapitan Cina was Hiu Siew, who owns a mine in Lukut and established a trading post in the area in 1859, which later grew into the town.
Image source: freemalaysiatoday.com
But the Chinese Headman with the most significant contribution in developing KL in its fledgling years was Yap Ah Loy, the 3rd Kapitan Cina. Apart from opening the first school in Kuala Lumpur as well as prisons, he created laws that maintained peace and order so that the town would become Selangor’s commercial heart.
However, Kuala Lumpur was razed to the ground during the Selangor Civil War, when forces affiliated with Raja Mahdi occupied the town in 1872. But in the following year, Yap Ah Loy, who supported Tengku Kudin, was able to take it back with the assistance of Pahang Malays. The Chinese Headman also reconstructed and repopulated the town.
A Time of Foreign Rulers
The Selangor Civil War sparked fears that Britain’s Straits Settlements (Singapore, Malacca, and Penang Island) would be affected, so the UK sent a new territorial governor by the name of Andrew Clarke to check and resolve the situation.
He gathered the warring factions and persuaded them to end hostilities. This culminated in the signing of Pangkor Agreement. Apart from the ending of the civil war, it also led to the installation of a British Resident Minister, who must be consulted for all affairs excluding those involving Malay religion and custom, while Selangor’s Sultan remains as the head of the government.
This greater British involvement would further develop Kuala Lumpur, as Selangor’s Resident Minister Frank Swettenham selected it as his administrative centre. He also supervised the city’s rebirth following a cholera epidemic in the late 1870s and a fire that burnt down the town in 1881. In a rebuilding that spanned five years, he commanded that structure should only be made out of bricks and tiles to prevent fires. Swettenham also instructed the construction of wider streets in the town. Moreover, he started the construction of a railway connecting Klang with KL that opened in 1886.
Kuala Lumpur prospered further in the early 20th century due to the rise of Selangor’s rubber industry. Consequently, the town’s population rose from 30,000 in 1900 to more than 110,000 by 1931. The town’s land area also expanded from 20 sq km to 93 sq km in 1948, during which it became a municipality.
But amidst World War II, the city was occupied by Japanese forces from January 1942 to August 1945. This was a time of suffering and economic stagnation, with many lives lost. But after the US unleashed atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945, the occupying Japanese forces surrendered in September 1945 and governance was returned to British hands.
Independence (Merdeka)
However, the resumption of British rule was short-lived as Malaysians yearned for freedom. Tunku Abdul Rahman, who will later become the country’s first prime minister, led a delegation of political leaders to negotiate with the United Kingdom. They reached an agreement in February 1956, whereby the British will relinquish control over Malaysia. The official proclamation of independence was held at Stadium Merdeka in KL on 31 August 1957, following 151 years of British rule.
Post-independence, Kuala Lumpur continued to prosper, but it experienced another dark period during the May 1969 Chinese Malay racial riots which damaged parts of the city.
By 1 February 1972, KL officially became a city. Subsequently, Selangor’s state government handed over Kuala Lumpur to the Federal Government on 1 February 1974. And the metropolis was turned into a federal territory. At that time, the city’s territory increased to 243 sq km, which remains until this day.
Present State of Kuala Lumpur
KL has grown by leaps and bounds from being a tiny trading outpost on the intersection of Gombak and Klang rivers, turning into one of Asia’s best cities, with its population reaching a staggering 7.78 million in 2019.
It is now home to record-setting infrastructure projects like the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world. There are also massive developments presently underway, such as the RM40 billion Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project.
Image source: theedgemarkets.com
Envisioned as Kuala Lumpur’s new financial district, this 70-acre development will comprise 26 buildings with more than 21 million sf of combined gross floor area. These include homes, offices, hotels, shops and cultural venues.
Furthermore, the Pakatan Harapan-led Federal Government announced on 17 December 2019 that it has revived the RM140 billion Bandar Malaysia project and it will also contain a station for the postponed Singapore-KL High-Speed Rail (HSR).
For more articles like this, visit PropSocial's discussion page.
(Written by G. Zizan, 26th December 2019)
