Klang: Where history resonates and diversity flourishes

City steeped in history: An aerial view of Klang and its surrounding areas. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star

KLANG: Many may not be aware that Klang is steeped in history that goes back thousands of years.

Apparently, some Bronze Age artifacts were found in the royal city, which indicates that people have been residing there since prehistoric times.

It is also probably one of the fewest locations in Malaysia which has a racially diverse history, with many Chinese and Indian immigrants entering the peninsula through the nation’s first port – Port Swettenham – now known as Port Klang.

Testimony to this is the generous population of ethnic Indians and Chinese in the royal city, as many who had disembarked there upon arrival from their respective motherlands had chosen to live and prosper in Klang.

The royal city also has Muslim, Hindu and Taoist places of worship that are over a hundred years old.

Klang played a pivotal role in the birth of the Selangor Sultanate in the 1700s after Bugis seafarers and noblemen arrived and settled at the state’s coastal region, including Klang.

Klang was also an epicentre for tin mining towards the end of the 1800s, and much of the 1900s.

It is the site of the infamous Klang war between relatives Raja Mahadi and Raja Abdullah between 1867 and 1874.

Klang, which was the nerve centre of the economy during the colonial era, was Selangor’s capital from 1974 to 1977, before the state administrative capital was relocated to Shah Alam.

MPK first took root as the Klang Health Board in 1890, and the district’s first borders were drawn up in 1895.

The Klang Health Board became the Klang Town Board in 1945 and eventually became the Klang Town Council in 1954, and then subsequently the Klang District Council in 1971, before becoming the Klang Municipal Council in 1977.

Klang is also a victim of various allegations including being mired in crime,

However, last week, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the crime rate in the city was lower than that in Gombak and Petaling Jaya.

Besides being an apt representation of Malaysia’s multiracial community, Klang is also well known as a food paradise, and is a haven for tourists.

As most Klangites would attest – to know Klang is to love Klang.