Brickfields
Encyclopedia
Brickfields is a small to medium-sized town and residential neighbourhood (as well as an administrative zone) located just outside central Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia. It is known as Kuala Lumpur's Little India
due to the high percentage of Indian residents and businesses.
following a fire which engulfed it earlier. These successive problems destroyed the town's structures of wood and atap (thatching
). As a response, Frank Swettenham
, the British Resident of Selangor
, required that buildings be constructed of brick and tile. Hence, Kapitan Yap Ah Loy
bought a sprawling piece of real estate for the setting up of a brick industry which would spur the rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur
. This place is the eponymous Brickfields.
Later the area was developed by Yap Kwan Seng
, the fifth and last Kapitan Cina of Kuala Lumpur. As a businessman, he foresaw an increased demand for bricks in fast-growing Kuala Lumpur and established a kiln in the district. The area soon became the centre for brick-making in the early days because the whole area was a clay pit
and good quality bricks are made from clay
. Therefore Brickfields became synonymous with good quality bricks.
Brickfields also used to be the site of the main depot
for Keretapi Tanah Melayu
(KTM) (Malayan Railway) during the administration of the British. The British authorities brought in people from Sri Lanka
to work the railway and the depot. Many lived in quarters around Brickfields. Since then the Indian community have lived and remained here and became citizens of Malaysia. Some of the old quarters can still be found around Jalan Rozario. Today the depot has been transformed into KL Sentral.
Brickfields is one of the pioneer
settlement
s in Kuala Lumpur
. Indeed, the whole stretch of Jalan Tun Sambanthan
(formerly Jalan Brickfields) is interspersed with old colonial
structures.
Along Jalan Tun Sambanthan 4 is the century old Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA
), which has become an integral landmark
in Brickfields. Further down along Jalan Tun Sambanthan is the charming Vivekananda Ashram
that was built in the early 19th century. The 100 railway quarters in Jalan Rozario are still there although modern buildings have cropped up all around. Brickfields is popular for its Indian food delights especially the unique banana
leaf rice and dosai (Indian pancake made from fermented rice flour).
The Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB), located along Jalan Tebing, houses a number of blind people. Many blind people can be seen walking around Brickfields. Many have become familiar with the area that they rarely encounter much problem walking around here. Most parts of Brickfields are already equipped with tactile guided pathways designed to aid the blind in walking around the area.
The Temple of Fine Arts is located along Jalan Berhala. It is essentially a cultural organisation offering various courses relating to mainly Southern Indian music, dance, and arts. It was founded in 1981 and has currently similar centers in Johor Bahru
, Melaka, Penang
, as well as centers around the world including India
, Australia
and Singapore
. Besides offering courses, the organisation frequently organises Indian performances around Kuala Lumpur, and has produced many artists progressing to international standards.http://www.tfa-i.org/default.htm. They will be launching their state of art building soon which has been built upon the foundation of the old Temple of Fine Arts adjacent to the Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple. The new building will be symbolic icon to the progress of arts and culture in Brickfields.
Brickfields is also tagged as a "Divine Location" as many religious structures, some over 100 years old, are concentrated in the area, particularly Jalan Berhala. The aptly named road ("Berhala" means shrine) houses the Buddhist Maha Vihara Temple
, the Arulmigu Sree Veera Hanuman Temple, and the Sri Sakthi Karpaga Vinayagar Temple.
The Sri Kandaswamy Temple
is one of the most prominent Sri Lanka
n Tamil or Ceylonese Tamil temple located along Jalan Scott. It is huge and showcases rich Tamil architecture
and has become a popular tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur. This temple is 104 years old now. They provide religious services such as house warming ceremonies and child 31st day ceremony. The Kalamandapam hall which was officiated by the 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia holds wedding ceremonies and is also owned by this temple.
Both the Sri Kandaswamy Temple
and Buddhist Maha Vihara (Sinhalese) stand testament to the influence of Sri Lankan/Ceylonese influence on Brickfields.
A sprinkling of churches of different denominations can also be found here. Among the larger churches in the area are the Holy Rosary Church (est. 1903), Our Lady of Fatima
, and the Zion Lutheran Church. Most of which are located along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. There is also an Indian orthodox church
called the St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Cathedral in Jalan Tun Sambanthan Satu.
There is a Surau (small mosque
) located on Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad called Madrasatul Gouthiyyah. This mosque is mainly attended by Indian-Muslims, and the sermons are sometimes conducted in Tamil
. Finally, another major landmark in Brickfields is the 50 year old Three Teachings Chinese Temple
along Jalan Thambillay.
The Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA) headquarters can be found along Jalan Tun Sambanthan 3, which also contains a number of second tier audit
firms scattered around. There are also plenty of law firms all over Brickfields area.
Brickfields is also known as a centre of prostitution
. Jalan Thambipillay contains many brothels which operate round the clock with sex workers coming from around Southeast Asia and also local workers. Other popular businesses here is the printing
and paper distribution business which is concentrated along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad.
, Bukit Damansara
, Taman Tun Dr Ismail
, Taman Desa
, Jalan Klang Lama
, and Sri Petaling
.
Secondary schools:
Primary schools:
Private schools:
Colleges:
extension of downtown Kuala Lumpur
. The KL Sentral development project is one of Kuala Lumpur's largest development project encompassing an area of 290,000 square metres. It includes the KL Sentral transportation hub, two hotels, condominium
s, shopping complexes, a clubhouse, office buildings, as well as a convention and entertainment centre. Much of it is built on the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu
marshalling yard here in Brickfields. The overall project is expected to be completed in 2012.http://www.klsentral.com.my/
The rapid evolvement has left parts of Brickfields suspended in time. One can find small village
type housing amidst the high-rise modern living complexes being constructed. There has been efforts to clean up the area of Brickfields outside the KL Sentral development area. Recently Brickfields' image as a notorious area with a high incidence of crime is slowly disappearing. There is also a few rows of shophouses at Jalan Thambipillay where prostitutes ply their trade.
Brickfields can be accessed through many ways:
The combination of the commercial activity, schools and residential traffic and Brickfields' location as one of the major access points into and out the city frequently results in bad traffic congestion
in the mornings and evenings.
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia. It is known as Kuala Lumpur's Little India
Little India (location)
Little India is an ethnic enclave containing a large population of Indian people within a society where the majority of people are either not South Asians or where the majority in the enclave are indigenous to states in the country of India within a South Asian Society not identifying as Indian...
due to the high percentage of Indian residents and businesses.
History
In 1881, a flood swept through Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
following a fire which engulfed it earlier. These successive problems destroyed the town's structures of wood and atap (thatching
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
). As a response, Frank Swettenham
Frank Swettenham
Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham GCMG CH was the first Resident General of the Federated Malay States which was formed by combining a number of sultanates. He served from 1 July 1896 to 1901. He was also an amateur photographer...
, the British Resident of Selangor
Selangor
Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity") is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west...
, required that buildings be constructed of brick and tile. Hence, Kapitan Yap Ah Loy
Yap Ah Loy
Yap Ah Loy , also known as Yap Tet Loy and Yap Mao Lan. He is regarded as the founding father of modern Kuala Lumpur, he developed Kuala Lumpur as a commercial and mining centre during the mid-19th century...
bought a sprawling piece of real estate for the setting up of a brick industry which would spur the rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
. This place is the eponymous Brickfields.
Later the area was developed by Yap Kwan Seng
Yap Kwan Seng
Yap Kwan Seng was the last Chinese kapitan of Kuala Lumpur from 1889 to 1902. Kapitans were appointed chiefs or headmen of the various ethnic communities during the British colonial rule in what is present-day Malaysia. Kapitans played an important role in the history of the Chinese in Malaysia...
, the fifth and last Kapitan Cina of Kuala Lumpur. As a businessman, he foresaw an increased demand for bricks in fast-growing Kuala Lumpur and established a kiln in the district. The area soon became the centre for brick-making in the early days because the whole area was a clay pit
Clay pit
A clay pit is a quarry or mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement.The brickyard or brickworks is often located alongside the clay pit to reduce the transport costs of the raw material. These days pottery producers are often not...
and good quality bricks are made from clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
. Therefore Brickfields became synonymous with good quality bricks.
Brickfields also used to be the site of the main depot
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
for Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad or Malayan Railways Limited is the main rail operator in Peninsular Malaysia. The railway system dates back to the British colonial era, when it was first built to transport tin...
(KTM) (Malayan Railway) during the administration of the British. The British authorities brought in people from Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
to work the railway and the depot. Many lived in quarters around Brickfields. Since then the Indian community have lived and remained here and became citizens of Malaysia. Some of the old quarters can still be found around Jalan Rozario. Today the depot has been transformed into KL Sentral.
Brickfields is one of the pioneer
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
settlement
Colonisation
Colonization occurs whenever any one or more species populate an area. The term, which is derived from the Latin colere, "to inhabit, cultivate, frequent, practice, tend, guard, respect", originally related to humans. However, 19th century biogeographers dominated the term to describe the...
s in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
. Indeed, the whole stretch of Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Jalan Tun Sambanthan
Jalan Tun Sambanthan is a major road in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was erected in 1982 and named after Tun V.T...
(formerly Jalan Brickfields) is interspersed with old colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
structures.
Culture
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
), which has become an integral landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
in Brickfields. Further down along Jalan Tun Sambanthan is the charming Vivekananda Ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
that was built in the early 19th century. The 100 railway quarters in Jalan Rozario are still there although modern buildings have cropped up all around. Brickfields is popular for its Indian food delights especially the unique banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
leaf rice and dosai (Indian pancake made from fermented rice flour).
The Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB), located along Jalan Tebing, houses a number of blind people. Many blind people can be seen walking around Brickfields. Many have become familiar with the area that they rarely encounter much problem walking around here. Most parts of Brickfields are already equipped with tactile guided pathways designed to aid the blind in walking around the area.
The Temple of Fine Arts is located along Jalan Berhala. It is essentially a cultural organisation offering various courses relating to mainly Southern Indian music, dance, and arts. It was founded in 1981 and has currently similar centers in Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...
, Melaka, Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, as well as centers around the world including India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Besides offering courses, the organisation frequently organises Indian performances around Kuala Lumpur, and has produced many artists progressing to international standards.http://www.tfa-i.org/default.htm. They will be launching their state of art building soon which has been built upon the foundation of the old Temple of Fine Arts adjacent to the Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple. The new building will be symbolic icon to the progress of arts and culture in Brickfields.
Religion
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
, the Arulmigu Sree Veera Hanuman Temple, and the Sri Sakthi Karpaga Vinayagar Temple.
The Sri Kandaswamy Temple
Sri Kandaswamy Kovil, Brickfields
Sri Kandaswamy Kovil is a Hindu temple located along Jalan Scott, Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The temple is over a century old now.The temple is one of the most prominent Sri Lankan Tamil or Ceylonese Tamil temples in Malaysia. It is huge and showcases rich Sri Lankan Tamil architecture...
is one of the most prominent Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n Tamil or Ceylonese Tamil temple located along Jalan Scott. It is huge and showcases rich Tamil architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and has become a popular tourist attraction in Kuala Lumpur. This temple is 104 years old now. They provide religious services such as house warming ceremonies and child 31st day ceremony. The Kalamandapam hall which was officiated by the 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia holds wedding ceremonies and is also owned by this temple.
Both the Sri Kandaswamy Temple
Sri Kandaswamy Kovil, Brickfields
Sri Kandaswamy Kovil is a Hindu temple located along Jalan Scott, Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The temple is over a century old now.The temple is one of the most prominent Sri Lankan Tamil or Ceylonese Tamil temples in Malaysia. It is huge and showcases rich Sri Lankan Tamil architecture...
and Buddhist Maha Vihara (Sinhalese) stand testament to the influence of Sri Lankan/Ceylonese influence on Brickfields.
A sprinkling of churches of different denominations can also be found here. Among the larger churches in the area are the Holy Rosary Church (est. 1903), Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Fátima is a famous title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as she appeared in apparitions reported by three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. These occurred on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13...
, and the Zion Lutheran Church. Most of which are located along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad. There is also an Indian orthodox church
Indian Orthodox Church
The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, also known as the Indian Orthodox Church, is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church centred in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one of the churches of India's Saint Thomas Christian community, which traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas...
called the St. Mary's Orthodox Syrian Cathedral in Jalan Tun Sambanthan Satu.
There is a Surau (small mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
) located on Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad called Madrasatul Gouthiyyah. This mosque is mainly attended by Indian-Muslims, and the sermons are sometimes conducted in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
. Finally, another major landmark in Brickfields is the 50 year old Three Teachings Chinese Temple
Temple (Chinese)
A Chinese temple can refer to any temple which is used for the practice of Chinese folk religion, a conglomeration of China's three main religions: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism...
along Jalan Thambillay.
Trade
Being the Little India of Kuala Lumpur, it has numerous shops that are owned by Indian businessmen. There are spice shops, grocery outlets, sweet and snacks shops, textile shops, goldsmiths, hotels, restaurants, food stalls, printers and even flower stalls.The Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA) headquarters can be found along Jalan Tun Sambanthan 3, which also contains a number of second tier audit
Financial audit
A financial audit, or more accurately, an audit of financial statements, is the verification of the financial statements of a legal entity, with a view to express an audit opinion...
firms scattered around. There are also plenty of law firms all over Brickfields area.
Brickfields is also known as a centre of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. Jalan Thambipillay contains many brothels which operate round the clock with sex workers coming from around Southeast Asia and also local workers. Other popular businesses here is the printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
and paper distribution business which is concentrated along Jalan Sultan Abdul Samad.
Police Station
The Brickfields police station closed end of 2010 and was temporarily relocated to Sri Petaling. The Brickfields District Police is one of the four police district headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Its jurisdiction covers, among others, the area of BangsarBangsar
Bangsar, also Bungsar , is an affluent residential suburb on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, lying about south-west of the city centre. It is part of the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency...
, Bukit Damansara
Bukit Damansara
Bukit Damansara or Damansara Heights is a western suburb in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, located less than 5 kilometres from the city centre. It is a much sought-after residential and commercial address in the Klang Valley...
, Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail is an affluent major township in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Situated on the border of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, it is within the vicinity of Bandar Utama, Damansara Utama, Mutiara Damansara and other suburbs of Petaling Jaya. It is also neighbouring Bukit Kiara and Sri...
, Taman Desa
Taman Desa
Taman Desa is an area in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Located off the East-West Link Expressway and Jalan Klang Lama Taman Desa is under the Seputeh parliamentary constituency.-Location:...
, Jalan Klang Lama
Jalan Klang Lama
Jalan Klang Lama or Old Klang Road, Federal route is the oldest and the first major road in Klang Valley, Malaysia before the Federal Highway was built in 1965. The road was constructed by the British Federated Malay States government from 1905 to 1908.-List of Interchanges and Junctions:-See...
, and Sri Petaling
Sri Petaling
Sri Petaling is a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. It is located to the south of the city, near Happy Garden, and was formerly known as Bandar Baru Seri Petaling, Kuchai Lama and Bukit Jalil. This suburb was first developed in 1981; before this, there was a rubber plantation there...
.
Schools
For a small area like Brickfields the number of schools in it is unusually high.- SMK Vivekananda,Brickfields
- SMK La Salle School, Brickfields
Primary schools:
- SK La Salle Brickfields 1&2
- SK Brickfields 1&2
- SK. ST. THERESA (1) & (2)
- Methodist Girls School (MGS KL)1&2
- SRJK (T) Vivekananda.
- SRJK (C) St Theresa
- SRJK (C) La Salle
Private schools:
- Methodist College Kuala Lumpur (MCKL) http://www.methodistcollegekl.edu.my/
- Global Indian International School http://www.giismalaysia.org/
Colleges:
- Brickfields Asia College http://www.brickfieldscorp.com/
Cultural/Social Organizations
- YMCAYMCAThe Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
- Temple of Fine Arts http://www.tfa.org.my
- Malaysian Association of the Blind (MAB) http://www.mab.org.my
- Rukun Tetangga Sektor Brickfields - A government base social body for Brickfields residents.
Development
Brickfields is rapidly evolving from being a residential to a very commercialCommerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
extension of downtown Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
. The KL Sentral development project is one of Kuala Lumpur's largest development project encompassing an area of 290,000 square metres. It includes the KL Sentral transportation hub, two hotels, condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s, shopping complexes, a clubhouse, office buildings, as well as a convention and entertainment centre. Much of it is built on the former Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad or Malayan Railways Limited is the main rail operator in Peninsular Malaysia. The railway system dates back to the British colonial era, when it was first built to transport tin...
marshalling yard here in Brickfields. The overall project is expected to be completed in 2012.http://www.klsentral.com.my/
The rapid evolvement has left parts of Brickfields suspended in time. One can find small village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
type housing amidst the high-rise modern living complexes being constructed. There has been efforts to clean up the area of Brickfields outside the KL Sentral development area. Recently Brickfields' image as a notorious area with a high incidence of crime is slowly disappearing. There is also a few rows of shophouses at Jalan Thambipillay where prostitutes ply their trade.
Transport
- KL Monorail: Tun SambanthanTun Sambanthan Monorail stationTun Sambanthan Monorail station is a Malaysian elevated monorail station that forms a part of the Kuala Lumpur Monorail line located in Kuala Lumpur and opened alongside the rest of the line and other adjoining monorail stations on August 31, 2003....
and KL SentralKuala Lumpur SentralKuala Lumpur Sentral or Sentral Kuala Lumpur is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, despite its name it is actually even less central than the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, a colonial-era...
stations - Rapid KLRapid KLRapidKL, short for Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi Deras Sdn Bhd, is a government-owned company which was formed in 2004 as part of the restructuring of the public transport system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital....
's Kelana Jaya Line (LRT): KL SentralKuala Lumpur SentralKuala Lumpur Sentral or Sentral Kuala Lumpur is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, despite its name it is actually even less central than the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, a colonial-era...
station - KTM KomuterKTM KomuterKTM Komuter is a commuter train service in Malaysia operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu . It was introduced in 1995 to provide local rail services in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley suburban areas. It is popular with commuters into the city, who thus avoid being caught in road traffic...
: KL SentralKuala Lumpur SentralKuala Lumpur Sentral or Sentral Kuala Lumpur is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, despite its name it is actually even less central than the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, a colonial-era...
station - Express Rail LinkExpress Rail LinkThe Express Rail Link is a standard gauge and electrified airport rail link in Malaysia that connects the Kuala Lumpur International Airport with the Kuala Lumpur Sentral transportation hub, 57 kilometres apart...
: KL SentralKuala Lumpur SentralKuala Lumpur Sentral or Sentral Kuala Lumpur is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, despite its name it is actually even less central than the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, a colonial-era...
station - Rapid KL buses
The combination of the commercial activity, schools and residential traffic and Brickfields' location as one of the major access points into and out the city frequently results in bad traffic congestion
Traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...
in the mornings and evenings.
Prominent Personalities
- Ananda KrishnanAnanda KrishnanTatparanandam Ananda Krishnan is a Malaysian businessman and philanthropist of Tamil origin. Nicknamed A-K, he is estimated to have a net worth of US$9.6 billion according to Forbes' latest annual list of wealthiest people, making him the second wealthiest in Southeast Asia behind Robert Kuok,...
, one of Malaysia and South East Asia's richest men grew up in Brickfields and studied at the Vivekananda Tamil school.
- Bastianpillai Paul NicholasBastianpillai Paul NicholasBastianpillai Paul Nicholas or simply known as B.P. Nicholas was the founder of the Oriental Bank of Malaya and was the first Asian banker in the history of British colonial Malaya. He was also the only ethnic Ceylonese ever to acquire a banking license in Malaya.-Background:B.P...
, Malaysia's first Asian banker.
- Tan Sri Devaki KrishnanDevaki KrishnanTan Sri Dr Devaki Krishnan is a Malaysian politician. She became the first woman be elected to public office in Malaysia when she won a seat on the Municipal Council in Kuala Lumpur in 1952. She is currently a life member of the Malaysian Indian Congress .-Early life:Of Sri Lankan Tamil descent,...
, the first Malaysian Sri Lankan woman to stand for election.