Monday, August 15, 2011

British Road Names in KL

An email with information of old KL road names brought back nostalgic memories.

All the names reminded me of growing up in KL. Whenever it's school holidays, my brother and I followed our parents to town. I've no recollection why we ended up in the City all the time but I do remember vaguely of the trips to the dentist, shopping for school uniforms, textbooks, toys etc because of all the walking under the sweltering heat of the tropical weather!

I remember my father will always drive pass Central Market, which at the time was a wet and dirty market, to park his Peugeot 305 in nearby Bank Pertanian Malaysia as it was closest to my mom's and his office in Medan Pasar and Leboh Ampang before continuing our journey to the colonial-looking Sin Seng Nam coffee shop for some serious breakfast- Chee Cheong Fun, soup noodles and steamed bread with kaya and butter.

Before I get carried away giving a low down of my childhood, fast forward to today, some of the names in the list below are still recognisable. In fact, one is still used interchangeably - Bukit Tunku/Kenny Hill. Unfortunately, I must say I cannot recognise the rest.

When I was young(er), my parents always told me stories about their courtship days eating porridge in Campbell Road. Now I see that's in Dang Wangi!

It does also explain why some KL buildings inherit partial English names that doesn't make sense anymore to our generation, for example SJKC Jalan Davidson, while it is located in Jalan Hang Jebat.

Jalan Davidson in Jalan Hang Jebat, does it make sense?

The list below:

1) Jalan Raja Laut = Broadrick Road
2) Jalan Cheng Lock = Foch Avenue
3) Jalan Dang Wangi - Campbell Road
4) Jalan Dewan Bahasa = Old Airport Road
5) Jalan Esfahan = Straits Road
6) Jalan Hang Jebat = Davidson Road
7) Jalan Hang Kasturi = Rodger Road
8) Jalan Hang Lekir = Cecil Road
9) Jalan Hang Lekiu = Klyne Road
10) Jalan Hang Tuah = Shaw Road
11) Jalan Masjid India = Dickson Road
12) Jalan Lebuh Pasar = Market Street
13) Medan Pasar Besar = Old Market Square
14) Jalan P Ramlee = Parry Road
15) Jalan Raja Chulan = Weld Road
16) Jalan Sultan Ismail = Treacher Road
17) Jalan Syed Putra = Loarnie Road
18) Jalan TAR = Batu Road
19) Jalan Tun HS Lee = High Street
20) Jalan Tun Perak = Mountbatten Road
21) Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin/Silang = Cross Road
22) Changkat Raja Chulan = Hicks Road
23) Jalan Bukit Aman @ Bukit Aman = Bluff Road @ Bluff Hill
24) Bukit Tunku = Kenny Hill
25) Jalan Cenderawasih = Spooner Road
26) Jalan Dato Onn = Brockman Road
27) Jalan Duta = Guillemard Road
28) Jalan Gereja = Church Street
29) Jalan Istana = Taylor Road
30) Jalan Kebun Bunga = Orchid Road
31) Jalan Kinabalu = Old River Road
32) Jalan Langgak Golf = Golf View Road
33) Jalan Mahkamah Persekutuan = Holland Road
34) Jalan Mahkamah Tinggi = Clarke Road
35) Jalan Raja Abdullah = Hale Road
36) Jalan Raja Alang = Hans Road
37) Jalan Raja = Raja Road
38) Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz = Princes Road
39) Jalan Semarak = Gurney Road
40) Jalan Sultan Sulaiman = Swettenham Road
41) Jalan Tangsi = Barrack Road
42) Jalan Traver = Damansara Road
43) Jalan Tun Ismail = Maxwell Road
44) Jalan Tun Razak/Pekeliling = Circular Road
45) Jalan Wisma Putra = Hose Drive
46) Persiaran Mahameru = Swettenham Drive
47) Persiaran Maybank = Court Hill
48) Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin = Clifford Road

Would be interested to know about British road names in other Malaysian cities. If you have anymore to add in here, please feel free to write in the comment box.

10 comments:

KC & the Sunshine Runners said...

very good information here ... :-)
from KC

T and T said...

Wow I never knew many of those roads were formally known by the English road names. The road names should never have been changed for purposes of preserving our colonial heritage.

cRAzYtoMatOmaN-D said...

In Kuching, there are still quite a few roads with British names...some are just plain English

Maxwell
Rodway
Green ( used to be horse riding route)
Carpenter Street
Abell
Ellis
Crookshank
Main Bazaar
McDougall
Central
Uplands
Midlands
Lowlands

penelope haque said...

yeah I know, some names were actually much nicer … not to mention much shorter!

Unknown said...

jalan ipoh old name

Unknown said...

jalan ipoh old road name?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gerard De Cotta said...

Main issue is Xneophobia and Racist politics practised by majority Malays.

Gerard De Cotta said...

Main issue is Xneophobia and Racist politics practised by majority Malays.

Peter Tan said...

Jalan Ipoh is an old name. It was just Ipoh Road in the 1960s. And Ipoh Road because it was the road to take if you were going to Ipoh! Same with Pahang Road, Ampang Road and even Batu Road (leading to Batu Village).