Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Colonial KL
When Frank Swettenham, the third British Resident of Selangor, arrived to take up his post
in 1882, KL was yet again in ruins following a major fire and a flood the previous year. He
ruled that KL be rebuilt in brick, creating the Brickfields area in the process where the
building blocks of the reborn colonial city were crafted. Swettenham also commissioned
the country's first railway linking the tin mines of KL with the port at Klang, later renamed
Port Swettenham in his honour.
By 1886, scrappy, disease-ridden KL had morphed into one of the 'neatest and prettiest
Chinese and Malay towns in the Colony or the States', according to Sir Frederick Weld,
Governor of the Straits Settlements. The city's most prestigious building - the Sultan Ab-
dul Samad Building housing the government offices - was completed in 1897, a year after
KL had become the capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States of Negeri Sembil-
an, Pahang, Perak and Selangor.
The early 20th century was the dawn of the age of the motorcar and the subsequent glob-
al demand for rubber for tyres further improved KL's fortunes. Rubber plantations spread
around the city and across the peninsula. City life improved, with amenities such as piped
water and electricity coming online. Local Chinese millionaires such as Chua Cheng Bok
and Loke Yew built grand mansions; the biggest would eventually become the old Istana
Negara (National Palace) after WWII.
A History of Malaya by Barbara and Leonard Andaya brilliantly explores the evolution of 'Malayness' in
Malaysia's history and the challenges of building a multiracial, post-independence nation.
 
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