The Social, Culture & Its Heritage Underpinnings

 

 

I took this two photos while I'm on my way home from Kuala Lumpur on 15 November 2009, Sunday afternoon. I thought it was quite vibrant and perhaps hoping it may turn out to be a nice photo. While posting the photos here, I realise these days signages do use Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) rather often than some previous years. I guess these are efforts by either the present government or initiatives by financial banking. Nevertheless, a main medium of instruction can in some ways promote the community or the society into uniformity of communication.

Today, a walk down the city of Kuala Lumpur, one will see multi cultural people ranging from malays, chinese, indians, indigenous and others. There is no doubt that our society has diversified in various sectors regardless of it's race or religion. However, there are still Jalan Chow Kit, Petaling Street and Jalan Masjid India where each of these streets are catered by vendors who are predominantly malays, chinese and indians. Any foreigner looking for sarees, textiles or a money changer can have a look at Jalan Masjid India or what they call as 'Little India'. If you need to see the largest wet market in Kuala Lumpur, there is no other than Bazaar Baru Chow Kit with selection of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and crabs. For those of which who want some inexpensive dresses, sunglasses, shoes, fabrics and souvenirs, head on to the chinatown of Petaling Street.

In some ways despite having 3 different shopping havens, these streets were rather segregated from each other.  Sometimes, I'll go down to Petaling Street on a weekend but I find it rather small with half and hour walk, I'll probably finish seeing the whole area. I feel strongly that these 3 streets should be given a chance to be relocated to a central bazaar in Kuala Lumpur which is similar to some of the much well known markets like Chatuchak in Bangkok. This will surely be a major tourist attraction for foreighners and locals alike. In other words, a closer interaction among races will give a better chance for each of us to understand our culture and foster harmony. The government should in some ways lay the foundations and path underpinning the social, culture and heritage into a truly '1 Malaysia' rather than pure advertisements.

For the moment, here's some of the shots I took for our very own small Chinatown in Petaling Street.

 

 

 Finally, for those of us here who are participating BLOG4FT and also my readers, here's a wallpaper for your desktop. Cheers!