Thursday, 18 October 2012

Embrace our history

Malay Mail article about Tanah Melayu

Salam for the last time.

Tanah Melayu has been through many transformations since it was first found until the name changed to Malaysia in 16th September 1963. After 1963, revolution and changes for the better increased speedily to put Malaysia on the map of the world. As of 2012, Malaysia is well recognized among the top countries in the globe.

Tunku Abdul Rahman shouting Merdeka Merdeka Merdeka!
Merdeka Day is celebrated every year by Malaysians with great pride, tears of joy and thankful to the people that worked hard to achieved freedom and maintaining it until in the present day. For 55 years, Malaysia changed so much with the existence of tall modern skyscrapers yet still able to preserve history in the midst of it modernization.

Article about Merdeka Day
While writing posts about histories of my hometowns has made me realized how I have little knowledge and level of awareness about the places I’ve been going all 20 years of my life. History is something that should be implemented in the mind and hearts of the new generation. Even though, the subject of history has been made compulsory for all students of school and colleges to learn, still, the awareness of the significance of history are lacking among them. We couldn’t just rely on school and college syllabus to convey the awareness but students themselves should put up an effort to learn the history of their motherland.

I still remember when my late grandfather used to take me for a ride in his car and he would drove around the PJ old town and told me how the town was once the centre of everyone’s attention. I could never forget how every time I came back to my father’s hometown in Kelantan and he would tell me how the Kelantanese like my late grandparents used to live during the reign of Japanese. He told me how lucky he was to be born after Tanah Melayu has reached independence.

For the pleasure of your viewing, I leave you with a video about history of Malaysia’s capital city.




“ Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. “ – Robert Kennedy

Thursday, 11 October 2012

Kota Bharu: Now


Hello to all my readers. I will continue my musing about Kelantan. These days, Kota Bharu has been modernized yet it still maintains its heritage and its uniqueness. Albeit, there are still wooden houses hidden in the jungle of concrete building that is ever slowly growing, Kota Bharu managed to rise into the modernization call.


Large buildings are not strangers since transformation was introduced to the old town that was used as a place where Japanese Army landed before the Independence Day. Hotels scattered around the town is a common sight for the people in Kota Bharu. The town is slowly emerging as one of the famous destination to be visited in by the tourists. One of the famous hotels in Kota Bharu is Grand Riverview Hotel located near the Kelantan River.

Grand Riverview Hotel
Grand Riverview Hotel (Right) from the across the river view. 


Shown below are the pictures of the transformation of Jalan Temenggong or known as the gateway to Kota Bharu.

Jalan Temenggong 1927
Jalan Temenggong 1980
Jalan Temenggong 2012

Kota Bharu also has quite a few malls to accommodate the demands of the growing population of its residents and tourists to shop at. KB Mall which was launched in 2005 and Kota Bharu Trade Centre which was opened to customers in 2009 are the newest shopping mall in Kota Bharu. Tesco Kota Bharu was also launched in 2006.

KB Mall
Kota Bharu Trade Centre (KBTC)
Tesco Kota Bharu

To sum it all up, Kota Bharu has faced transformation but still it managed to keep the tradition and what makes it different from other town in Malaysia. From my personal experience, I’ve been going back to Kelantan ever since I was a child because my second hometown is situated in Machang. From the way I see it, many roads have been built to give easy access to people and Kelantan will continue to rise through the call of modernization without a fail. 


Sources:

Thursday, 4 October 2012

Kota Bharu: Past


After the modern city of Petaling Jaya, we move to the east coast side of Malaysia. I will write about one of the towns in Malaysia that contains a lot of history since before Independence Day that is slowly forgotten by generation nowadays. Kota Bharu is a part of Kelantan. It is more famously known as the royal town of Kelantan since 1800’s.

Kota Bharu was established during the reign of Sultan Muhammad II in 1844 and it is known till today as the oldest town in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. Kota Bharu was named by Sultan Muhammad II. “Bharu” represents new to symbolize that the town is new.

Before Independence Day, Kota Bharu was only an old town that keeps growing because many residents move there due to job opportunity and trying to lead good lives. 

Bank Kerapu



The first bank that was erected in Kota Bharu was Bank Kerapu on 1912. The bank still exists even though now it has turn into a museum that shows the memorial of World War 2. During the Japanese time in power, the building was used as the head quarter of Japanese secret police (Kempetai).

Kota Bharu was also the place where Japanese armies landed which was on 8 December 1941 during World War 2. The residents in Kota Bharu in those days were underprivileged and the economy was declining slowly due to the war that occurred. Kota Bharu doesn’t receive a lot of help from other states during that time but still, residents from other province moved to Kota Bharu.


Under here are some pictures to show the old Kelantan before it was modernized.

Kota Bharu from the river view
Balai Besar gateway

Padang Merdeka




Sources