Community project to commemorate old buildings in Jalan Sultan

A CULTURE and arts event, “LIGHT a Lantern — Save Jalan Sultan 2.0” will take place this Saturday to commemorate and preserve the heritage of the age-old buildings along Jalan Sultan, Kuala Lumpur

The Petaling Street Community Art Project is organising the event and will be held at its centre along Jalan Panggung from 5pm.

This is the second time they are organising such an event to help save Jalan Sultan from being acquired to make way for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project.

Petaling Street Community Art Project director Yeoh Lian Heng said the event was being held to create awareness among the community about the value and heritage of Petaling Street.

“The city’s famous landmarks such as the Klang Bus Stand and Plaza Warisan as well as UDA Ocean were the first heritage buildings that were sacrificed to make way for the MRT,” he said.

Property owners along Jalan Sultan were issued letters by the Attorney-General and Department of Director-General of Lands and Mines (KPTG) last year, asking them to sign a document giving consent to move out of their premises for six months to facilitate MRT Corp’s tunnelling works.

If they fail to move out, the land would be acquired automatically under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.

Yeoh said they would compile a photographic history and display photos during the event to make the public aware about the importance of Kuala Lumpur’s heritage.

“We expect between 800 and 1,000 people to attend,” he said.

Meanwhile, assistant project director Chong Keat Aun said Jalan Panggung was known as “Jalan Budaya” (culture street) and was famous for holding community events such as drama, theatre and music.

“It was a place where Chinese theatre artists used to perform and the last was held in 1999. This year, we want to recapture the exciting moments in conjunction with Chap Goh Meh,” said Chong.

He also said that when rental rates for premises in the area soared after the year 2000, old cafes, bookshops as well as art and craft stores had closed shop.

The performances this Saturday will include experimental opera, Nyoba dance, Teo Chew ancient drums, Cantonese folk songs, Soon Choon Mee theatre, Malay poetry recitals and Street Spring Calligraphy.