On 3 August 2024, a 300-strong team led by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) plus the police and excavators went for back-street hawkers of Chinatown, KL. Videos online looked like a typhoon had swept through, leaving mangled masses of metal from broken stalls and awnings. Was this a helpful use of taxpayer-funded manpower?
Many find the back-lane hawkers in old Kuala Lumpur fascinating. It’s not just fancy hotels that offer “al fresco lunches”, these stalls do too – but on a budget. This earthy charm is part of the diversity that makes KL attractive, not just more skyscrapers and shopping malls that look the same anywhere in the world.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
Are we repeating the mistake of Singapore? They went on a crusade to “clean up” the streets of vendors in the 1980s only to belatedly realise… whoops!
If the nooks and crannies behind Kuala Lumpur’s Petaling Street and Sultan Street are properly managed, it will add to the old city’s existing tourist attractions, such as the River of Life, Merdeka Square, Central Market, plus several mosques and temples.
But back-lane stalls are “dirty and messy”. Well, if a mamak restaurant is dirty, does DBKL demolish the whole shop? No, they impose fines or suspensions. It’s about regulation, not destruction. Anyway, the hawkers have every incentive to keep the back lanes clean because this is their place to “cari makan”.
Elena Mei Yun runs “KL - the hidden secrets bike tour” and she says, “The stalls do have licences. They are not illegal. They do not block the back lanes. Motorbikes and bicycles move through freely.”
There are many delicious food and drink stalls here, including Foo Hwa kopitiam, Sai Kee stir fry (dai chow), and Tian Tong “Seven-Decades noodles”. Other famous stalls are Back Lane Wantan Mee and Ah Sai mixed rice.
It took years of campaigning by dedicated heritage activists to change the mindset of people and the government that the “dingy and dirty” old shops in Penang and Malacca were precious antiques that should be restored and celebrated.
As a schoolboy in the 1960s and 1970s, I remember the stampedes of wheeled hawker stalls in Petaling Street whenever somebody shouted that DBKL had come. Suddenly, all the traders would jump on the bicycles attached to their carts and start pedalling like crazy. In their haste to escape, some would even just throw away things.
You see, they were licensed as mobile hawkers but not allowed to hang around Petaling Street, as that would be yes, you guessed it, “block traffic”!
The government spent RM11 million to transform the area into a pedestrian shopping arcade by installing Chinese arches and a green translucent roof to cover the street. Thanks to that commonsense decision, Petaling Street is now a proper and popular tourist attraction - even if sticklers for legality may fuss and fume about the “not-so-original” watches or handbags sold there.
In May, Petaling Street was ranked as the “sixth coolest street in the world” by global entertainment magazine, Time Out. This was for its “unique blend of cultural heritage and trendy new hangout spots”.
If the authorities can adopt a similar open-minded view about what tourism is, the back lanes of Chinatown can also be beautified, perhaps with street art.
The best example of a back lane reborn is Kwai Chai Hong or Demon’s Alley at the tail end of Petaling Street. It got its name because drug dealers and prostitutes used to hang out there. Refurbishment costing RM1.5 million in 2019 saw this former crime den rejuvenated with six wall murals depicting life in the 1960s.
This has helped transform the surrounding area of run-down shops into many Instagram-worthy eateries such as Merchant’s Lane (which was a former brothel). Property prices are rising too.
So, will DBKL and the Madani government use some sense. When it was Covid or just after it, traders could do their sales almost anywhere they wished. It was laissiz-faire. Then the economy grew, things got better and now we have lost our humanity and common sense.
Reference:
Comment: Stop bullying humble hawkers, Andrew Sia, Malaysiakini, 9 August 2024
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