Nostalgia of Old Malaya.

Old town in Malaya as I remember it.

Changes has occurred so fast in Malaysia today that before you know it you are in a different world. The old days are gone and a new world emerges, a new civilised world, a world that leave you breathless to catch up with, event moves so fast that you are lost in your own little world. Unlike the old days where time moved slowly, people were different, more friendly, visit each other often, changes occur slowly, and scenes do not change very much.

I remember the idlic Melaka , the Melaka of old, Melaka when trishaw was a king of transport in town. Slow moving, convenient, no hassle and just plain sitting on three wheels with a driver behind you. I remember Jonker Street as it was, a peaceful cool place to walk by then but has now turned into a tourist place with antiques and restaurants. And the inside of these Jonker Street Chinese houses are a wonder by itself, a wide courtyards with sometime even fountain/s in them. Most of these are now rebuilt and commercialised. The Melaka of old was a place to remember. The new Melaka is vibrant, busy and full of traffic, cars, one way streets, narrow but still accessible.

And Kuala Lumpur has changed so dramatically that anyone been here 50 years ago is a stranger in the City now. As usual then life in Kuala Lumpur was slow, and I remember when I was a small boy going to the Railway Station from Melaka Street bus station by trishaw. The distance must be about 2 km over, the old man cycling the trishaw sweating away, cycling slowly with my uncle and I and some luggage on it; the worst part was when he had to go up hill at the Victory Avenue then (now called Jalan Raja, I think - I stand corrected or is it Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin?). Trishaw of similar size and make as found in Melaka except that the Kuala Lumpur trishaw had the carriage was at a side, left side of the bicycle if I remember properly. Whereas those trishaws in Melaka and Penang then, the carriage was in the front (on the older version but has since changed their carriage positioning). I don't know why the difference.

Kuala Lumpur had the famous Masjid Jamek then, its still there. The biggest mosque in Kuala Lumpur before Masjid Negara was built.

The various scenes of Kuala Lumpur are still deep in my mind. In fact these scenes were everywhere in Malaya/newly formed Malaysia then, but I remember most of those found in Malaya, especially in Kuala Lumpur when I was a small boy - before Malaya got independent from the British.

The Indian Newspaper shops usually attached themselves to the outside walls of shop houses selling from newspapers to bananas to garland, to betel nut leaves & concoctions, and maybe even shavers and nail clippers.

The simple old man tailor at shop corners, usually Chinaman, not only taking made to order and measured on the spot shorts, trousers and shirt, made to measure, but also repairing of torn garments and sewing of missing buttons.

The road side key makers, with simple tools, also usually and are still Chinaman, and where you could wait while he makes your duplicate keys. In those days everyone was in no hurry, so he just took his time.

The road side barbers, mostly Indian then but in this picture a Chinese man. As a small boy then that was the cheapest way to get your hair cut, other than going to the village barber or the traveling barbers, which were quite a number in those days. They actually came to your house to just give you a hair cut.

And of course in towns there were many Chinese and Indian temples such as this one. I think this picture is not of a temple in Kuala Lumpur as the trishaw shows that it had a front carriage. I am not sure where this temple is. But similar temples may be found in Kuala Lumpur.

And moving up north a good stopping place was Penang. Its a bigger town, then, than Melaka (both are of City status now) but smaller than Kuala Lumpur. Here is a street scene of Penang in not too distant past. See the scene of a bigger place, even then, but also observe that in those days most sign boards were in Chinese. It has since been changed to mostly English and Bahasa Malaysia.

Of one particular interest in Penang, in fact in Kuala Lumpur and probably in most towns in Malaya then, was the Anglo-Indian architectural style of the shop houses. Business at the bottom i.e. ground floor, and living quarters on top. And a 5-foot way where pedestrians can walk in the rain and the hot sun.

Those days are gone, now modern buildings have taken over the towns, (and Cities) mostly multistorey blocks, and cars and taxis have taken over trishaws, except for trishaws used for tourist attractions, barbers are now called hairdressers, tailors operate from shopping complexes and they no more sew torn apparels or replace missing buttons or even made to order shorts, trousers and shirts as these now can be bought over the counter ready made, street fruit stalls (at least most of them) taken over by supermarkets and hypermarkets, and there are many mosques and temples and churches. But Malaysia being a predominantly a Muslim country there are many big mosques in all towns and cities.

You may still find key makers in towns but they use modern tools and make exact duplicates of keys and electronic remotes almost instant. And newspapers get delivered to your houses in the morning, or you can buy them at proper news stands with them no more selling bananas, garland or betel leaves.

The past are just nostalgia. A new Malaysia has emerged.