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©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Elizabeth Cardosa

When I was invited to contribute an essay that imagines what Kuala Lumpur would look like in 50 years, I decided to conduct an informal survey of some heritage aficionados to find out what they envisaged Kuala Lumpur to be in the year 2057.

For the most part, their responses were painfully negative – “there will not be any heritage buildings left”, “a city bereft of character”, “new ‘heritage’ buildings promoted as tourist attractions”, “a city overrun by concrete high-rise buildings and traffic”, “inhospitable public spaces glaring with advertisements”.

When I read their responses, I was reminded of a cartoon by Lat which shows coach loads of camera-toting tourists pouring out to look at the last remaining traditional house in the city hemmed in by a towering landscape of skyscrapers.

So, is Kuala Lumpur really going to present such a bleak picture 50 years from now? If it is indeed so pessimistic, then why should we bother persisting in our battle to promote the preservation of our built heritage?

In 2057, Badan Warisan Malaysia will celebrate its 75th anniversary and modern Kuala Lumpur will be 200 years old.

The city will be a collection of high-rise buildings in the Golden Triangle, and around KLCC, although these areas will by then have declined in commercial importance. A large percentage of new commercial development will be located toward the west of the city, from Petaling Jaya and along Jalan Damansara up to Mutiara Damansara. The majority of the city’s population will live in suburbs and commute to these newer commercial nodes.

The rows of buildings comprising mainly late 19th and early 20th century shophouses found in Kuala Lumpur’s historic centre will have diminished in number but some two-storey and three-storey rows will remain, modest, interspersed with new, grander and taller buildings. These pockets of century old shophouses will be much renovated, and given over to new uses, and much sought after by the intellectual and affluent as showpieces of civic activity and architecture from times past.

The handful of highly visible public and civic buildings surrounding the “Padang”, most especially the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and those designed in the style of the British “Raj”, will remain architectural icons, and be compared, favourably, with the buildings of the early and mid-21st century.

Other icons which will have survived will be some of the official buildings which form part of our Merdeka legacy. Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara will remain vibrant places of recreation, sports and cultural activity enjoyed by all peoples, regardless of colour or creed. Close by, Pudu Jail will have long disappeared and will remain a blighted space with a series of failed commercial developments.

The Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Perdana) though will have been thoroughly overrun by a further warren of roads which will have carved it up into little patches of green.

The Parliament House which is located on an adjacent site will continue to stand elegant, amidst the oasis of its rolling lawns and landscaped gardens. The park at KLCC will continue to be a haven, a little worn at the seams, but with a lush and mature canopy of trees and vegetation of over 60-years-old catering to an ageing population who live in the surrounding high rise apartment buildings.

In 2057, heritage will have become fashionable, and whatever remaining building stock which can be called heritage will be much valued and appreciated by our children and our children’s children. At least, I hope that this will be the case.

Elizabeth Cardosa is Badan Warisan Malaysia executive director.

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