QuickCheck: Does the 'SS' in SS2 mean Sungai Way-Subang?

An aerial view of SS2's commercial area in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. - courtesy of Jcadraver (CC BY-SA 4.0)

PETALING Jaya is Selangor's most populous city and oldest planned township. At almost 70 years old, the city has gathered a lot of unique and interesting stories along the way but one thing that strikes most visitors, is its somewhat 'unimaginative' street and neighbourhood names.

While PJ-ites would be loath to have any of their street names changed, it's fair to admit that the numerical naming convention can be intimidating to outsiders. While some neighbourhoods are called Sections (e.g Section 1), others like SS2 use a double-S instead. Some have guessed that it means Sub Section but it actually stands for Sungai Way-Subang.

Is this true?

Verdict:

TRUE

According to the Petaling Jaya City Council's (MBPJ) website, in the early 1950s Kuala Lumpur had begun to experience serious congestion due to a rapid rise in the city's population which had also caused squatter colonies to spring up along its edges.

To overcome this double problem, the Selangor state government decided to develop a planned township on the outskirts of KL to ease the population pressure in the city.

They identified 485ha rubber estate, the Effingham Estate, as the site of KL's new satellite town, and started planning Malaya's first planned township which eventually was founded in 1952.

The new town was first divided into numbered sections (Sections 1 through 22, plus 17A, 51 and 51A) but as the population grew, more and more land was opened up to aid with its expansion.

Going back to the question of what 'SS' in SS2 stands for, it stands for Sungai Way-Subang. The reason being that as PJ grew, development started to crawl Southward, following Way River (Sungai Way) until it almost reached the area which would eventually become Subang Jaya.

These new neighbourhoods were given the prefixes SS, for Sungai Way-Subang, along with a number. There are 28 in total, but SS12 to SS19 are in Subang Jaya.

Other 'new' areas of PJ include the areas to the North which have the prefix PJU for Petaling Jaya Utara, as well as areas with the prefix PJS (Petaling Jaya Selatan), which are south of PJ's Old Town.

References:

1. https://www.starproperty.my/news/90743/city-s-old-timers-reflect-on-old-town-s-history-and-growth

2. https://www.mbpj.gov.my/en/mbpj/profile/background#:~:text=Petaling%20Jaya%20made%20history%20on,Act%201976%20by%20the%20government.

3. http://www.waterproject.net.my/index.cfm?&menuid=3