Stories behind a street name

KUALA LUMPUR has many famous streets but not many of us know how those streets were named, and who or what they were named after.
For example, Jalan Pudu is named after a plant that grows in the swamp; Jalan Raja Muda Musa is named after a former Sultan of Selangor, and Jalan Tun Perak (previously Mountbatten Road after a British general) is in honour of one of the most prominent bendaharas or chief ministers of the Malaccan Sultanate.
Umapagan Ampikaipakan, a popular literary and movie critic on a local radio station as well as a pop-culture columnist, sets out to discover the stories behind eight famous street names in our capital city, and indirectly, to learn more about the city and our country.
His quest is documented in Every Street Tells a Story, which airs this Sept 11 at 10pm on History (Astro channel 555 and 575).
Umapagan, who also runs The Cooler Lumpur Festival – a yearly gathering of literary minds and thought leaders – said in a recent interview that he is merely the host of the documentary.
The idea for this came from the production company.
“It’s such a simple idea that I can’t believe no one has ever done it before,” he said.
“The production company pitched it to History and then approached me.
“There are so many other streets with so many stories to tell, but we [just] covered the heart of Kuala Lumpur city itself.”

Umapagan went to different streets and met the people who are associated with it or spend a lot of time working or living there.
“It is really about the people and their stories. It means very little if you don’t talk about the people and their stories,” he added.
Sadly, his personal favourite street, Jalan Beka in Damansara Heights, where he grew up and whose every nook and cranny is familiar to him, wasn’t featured in the show.
Umapagan said: “Every street has a different effect on me. The producers found a different angle that was interesting to highlight.”
But he added that the interesting stories are the ones he got from the people on the streets.
He said some of us may already know the history of the streets and their stories, such as Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman which was named after our first king.
But he pointed out that on that street is Coliseum Cafe, which was established in 1921, and there are people who have worked there for a long time.
“There is a man whose family had worked there for four generations,” said Umapagan.
“The stories about Jalan Raja Muda Musa [in Kampung Baru] were [equally] mind-blowing … such as how their families have been living in the same house for 100 years – this is kampung life in the middle of Kuala Lumpur near the Twin Towers.
“On Dataran Merdeka’s Jalan Raja, there is a street artist who has been painting the city for decades. That could make a series by itself.”
If there is a sequel, Umapagan feels they should focus on Penang’s street names. That would provide another treasure trove of anecdotes to share with the present generation.