The renaming of Jalan Wong Ah Jang in Kuantan is another link to Malaysia’s heritage lost
The destruction of links to Malaysia’s heritage are rewriting the nation’s sense of history
The Kuantan City Council’s (MPK) decision to rename Jalan Wong Ah Jang 1 to 5 with Jalan Bunga Kamboja 1 to 5 is continuing the trend in eliminating Malaysia’s heritage and sense of history.
Wong Ah Jang arrived in Kuantan at the age of 15, initially working in an iron mine, before becoming a rubber trader. Wong also created Kuantan’s first motorized public transport system, and was actually involved in the town’s community development, in the 1920s.
This is not the first time this has happened in Malaysia. Back in 1975, Jalan Hugh Low, named after Perak’s 3rd British resident (1877-1889) became Jalan Sultan Iskandar. This was done along with Jalan Belfield, which became Jalan Sultan Yusuf.
In Kuala Lumpur, a number of roads had their names changed. Some of these included Jalan Hicks, which became Changkat Raja Chulan, Station Street, which became Jalan Balai Polis, Bluff Road, which became Jalan Bukit Aman, Bellany Road, which became Jalan Bukit Nanas, and Jalan Bukit Kenny, which became Jalan Bukit Tunku.
These name changes have taken away from the heritage of Malaysia’s cities. The old names were snippets of history kept in the public view, of names of people involved in the formation and development of those early towns, which have now become major cities.
Jalan Swettenham was changed to Jalan Salahuddin. Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham (1850-1946), was a British colonial administrator who became the first resident general of the Federated Malay States.
In many cases, these street names were the last links to Malaysia’s rich and diverse history.
By accident or design, the younger generation are now without any visual links to Malaysia’s colonial past, which played an important role in building the nation Malaysia is today.
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Yaap Ah Loy was not a Kapitan. What a convenient title. He was a warlord. A Triad. He did develop a Chinese getto of slums. You like the Europeans created a history to celebrate what you consider is factual which is how these stories are often painted. You like the EDuropean colonialists makee asssumptions about the place "consisting of small fising villages" as if the Malays were not a civilization. WRONG. Like Sir Stamford Raffles "founded Singapore". If thats your idea of history. Good luck to you. Things will change and the Malays likee it or not will do what the Thais, Indonesians, Philippinos, Burmese, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Lao and others havee donee. Eradicate the Sino British view of the world.
How doess any of what you write on this subject correct or make history as we kneow it favourrable to the Malays. They are reclaiming theirs. In the process wiping out the gloss of the Anglo Chinese versions. Just like India and China re claimed theirs.
Thiss is about the Malays reclaining their history. Not retaining that of the Chinese, Indians or Europeans. That too is because they want to re claim their history over whats been imposed on them.
Your arguments have as much validty as the British claims to having brought the English language and the railways to wherever it is they went to as some form of enlightened despotism. The Malays did not ask the Chinese or British to come over and build roads or railways or Lee Rubber buildings for them. The Chinesse ventured there in search of prosperity awway from their decripit and violent desease ridden, poverty stricken feduaal societies. Then too they prospered with the help of of the British both of them uninvited opportunists at tthe eexpeensse of the Malays.
The Porrtuguese published diaagramss and maps of Malay townships wwhen they arrived in Malacca to show well designed and planned urban centres unlikee whaat the British spawned in liees as they did whereever they went.
It is not as if Britain brought the English languagee, Roads and Railways to their colonies as some kind of expression of their enlightened despotism. It was in fact the need for the transportation of goods and services they plundered from these places andd not to develop the local people, the Malays.
Chinese women as they are historically known for supplied the British with an outlet for their lust, pimped by their own people for a profit whilst the British returned that hospitality with opium to addict the profit seeking Chinese opportunists with a capacity to work till they dropped.
Your analogies will make Hitler proud. Arbeicht machtt Frei. You celebrate someething you ought to be ashamed of. History is not what the victor writes. It is what you discovere from your own knowledge.
Speaking for countriess likee India and China, tthey had a cculture long beforee Britain was civilized. They have sought out and corrected Britains viewss and distortions of their respective
histories.
Of people like you and the mentality thats so deeply ingrained in your warped minds, it is no wonder that all of South East Asia disallows the public display of yyour language, characters, cultural icons and anything else that is Chinese. Singapore and Malayssia are the only excceptions to that rule. It is what civilized nations do to locust plagues.