The KL Festival opened with a bang at the DBKL Auditorium last night with a traditional Malaysian music concert, marking the start of a month-long programme of activities.
Amid the buzz of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh announcing the KL Festival will also continue as an annual city event, and this year's theatre, music and dance performances selling out fast and downtown city walks and activities nearly booked out, it is clear the public is also keen to listen – with conversations emerging as a new form of festival currency.
Badan Warisan Malaysia (BWM, The Heritage of Malaysia Trust) adds to this momentum with a talk series titled "The Diverse Origins of Kuala Lumpur" (May 9-31). The free admission series will see expert speakers trace the city’s early history and the figures and events that shaped its transformation from a muddy confluence into today’s capital.
Ten sessions across four venues - the BWM bungalow, Rumah Tangsi, Wisma Maran and the Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall - have drawn strong demand, with most already fully booked.
BWM's team will be looking to fill any no-shows and encourages advance registration, as only a limited number of walk-in seats may be available. It reflects a public appetite not only for performance in downtown KL, but also for engaging more deeply with the city’s stories - past and present - through these talks.
This year’s Kl Festival's theme "Memory & Tomorrow" also fits squarely within the framework of the sessions.
Lim Wei-Ling, BWM president, sees the response to the talks as a positive sign, noting that the special series reflects the growing popularity of its regular monthly programmes. While capacity is limited for the KL Festival sessions, she adds that the talks will be recorded and made available at a later date.
“The KL history talks offer a more reflective and intellectually focused counterpoint to the broader arts programming throughout the festival. We provide a platform for a diverse range of speakers from various ethnicities and communities to share their own narratives on Kuala Lumpur’s early history," says Lim.
With audiences - young and old - embracing community-led documentation and oral history, there is much still to discover.
"At Badan Warisan Malaysia we do not propagate an official line on the nation’s history. History is meant to be alive and not confined to school textbooks. We encourage debate and new discoveries and recognise the importance of oral history, especially in this part of the world.
"In the end one might conclude that Kuala Lumpur and the nation is in reality a culmination of the efforts and contributions from various communities which reflect the beautiful diversity of this country,” she adds.
For those already registered, the first talk series begins tomorrow at Wisma Maran with "KL Trails and Tails", led by Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur. On the same day, Datuk Ar Hajeedar Abdul Majid presents "Meara Bustak aka Kuala Lumpur". On Sunday, Glenn Yap discusses "The Life and Legacy of Yap Ah Loy, the third Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur".
On May 16, "The Legacy and Heritage of Loke Chow Kit" will be led by Ar Junn Ng and Ar Noor Fazlina Rosley at Rumah Tangsi, a mansion formerly owned by Loke.
Those without registration can join the waitlist.
“In truth, the topics came about organically and almost accidentally. On the one hand, we took great pains to ensure representation from various communities. On the other hand, invariably someone from our membership or in the audience from our past talks would highlight the need to cover a certain topic or individual. For example, the pioneer capitalist and philanthropist Thamboosamy Pillai. And then someone else would highlight the need to tell the story of the Orang Asli who made up the earliest human settlements in Kuala Lumpur,” says Lim.
The remaining six talk series will be held at BWM - including "Asal Usul Orang Asli Kuala Lumpur" (May 16) by Shereen Ajani, Batin Ulang Sipang and Mahat China, moderated by Dr Kamal Solhaimi Fadzil, "Thamboosamy Pillai - Administrator, Capitalist & Philantropist" (May 23) by Dr Siva Sundara Raja, "Sutan Puasa and Abdullah Hukum" (May 30) by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, "The Klang Wars" (May 30) by Khoo Salma, "Muddy Waters: The Lost Sungai Lumpur" (May 31) by Dr Lim Teckwyn and Peter Leong and "Kuala Lumpur - Past, Present and Future" (May 31) by Ar Azim A. Aziz.
“We are very excited because in this series of talks, we don’t just have the tried and tested narratives, we also have some brand new materials. For example, Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur will be speaking about their most recent publication and discoveries in walking through with us "KL’s Trails & Tales". And for the very first time, we will be featuring the Orang Asli community, namely Shereen Ajani and Batin Ulang Sipang, whose families and ancestors came from Bukit Nanas and the KLCC area,” says Lim.
It seems clear that 10 sessions may not be enough for next year’s KL Festival heritage talks, with BWM likely to need to expand both its speaker line-up and venues.
“The response this year has been overwhelming, and we are humbled at Badan Warisan Malaysia. It also underscores how our shared history remains profoundly relevant and widely felt," concludes Lim.
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