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History of Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur Insights
The
vibrant city of Kuala Lumpur as it is today began in 1857 as Chinese tin mining
settlement. Despite pestilence that killed a large number of them, more Chinese
miners arrived attracting merchants and businesses. The commercial area of tin
trading was located in the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers. This
ramshackle, thatched-roof village was named Kuala Lumpur (meaning "muddy
confluence or estuary," in Malay).
The greed and wealth for tin inspired fierce rivalries and claim disputes. The
Chinese miners soon organised themselves into clans and warring gangs called
"secret societies." Without a centralised authority, keeping peace and order in
the mining areas was nearly impossible.
 In
1868, needing a solution to the chaos, the headmen of the local clans elected a
man named Yap Ah Loy as "Kapitan China," or leader of the Chinese community.
Considered as the founding father of Kuala Lumpur, Yap Ah Loy with the support
of the local sultan, built prisons and quelched revolts, quickly establishing an
infamous reign over the entire Kuala Lumpur mining area. It was made capital of
Selangor in 1880 due to Kapitan Yap's success. Loy had barely established
control, however, when the Malay Civil War broke out with local sultans fighting
for the throne of Perak. KL being swept up in the conflict, was burnt to the
ground in 1881
The merchants of the Straits Settlements, concerned that the war would ruin
their prosperity, asked Britain to intervene. London sent in a new territorial
governor, Andrew Clarke, to apprise the situation. Clarke gathered the feuding
princes aboard his ship off the island of Pangkor, and convinced them to sign a
document known as the Pangkor Agreement. The Agreement ended the war,
established a new Sultan of Perak, and -- most significantly – called for the
presence of a British Resident "who must be asked and acted upon on all
questions other than those touching Malay religion and custom.
With
Kapitan Yap's able leadership, that Kuala Lumpur became Selangor's biggest city.
He rebuilt Kuala Lumpur, which was devastated by the Civil War and repopulated
it with Chinese miners
from elsewhere in
Selangor. He also encouraged Malay farmers to
settle near Kuala
Lumpur in order to have a steady and accessible source of food.
When the Federated Malay States were incorporated with Frank Swettenham in
charge in 1896, Kuala Lumpur was made the capital.
Most of central KL has grown without any central planning whatsoever, so the
streets in the older parts of town are extremely narrow, winding and congested.
The architecture in this section is a unique colonial type, a hybrid of European
and Chinese forms.
 Kuala
Lumpur was occupied by Japanese from January 11, 1942 to August 15, 1945. In a
period, called "3 years and 8 months", all English and Chinese schools were
ordered to close down and every morning in schools, Kimigayo (the Japanese
National Anthem) had to be sung to show loyalty to the Japanese Emperor. The
Japanese Military Yen or commonly known as Banana Notes were introduced. The
currency issued without reserves and over printing led to hyper-inflation and
food rationing became the norm of daily lives.
After the fall of Japanese, the British returned to Kuala Lumpur. In 1957,
exactly 100 years since the founding of the city, Kuala Lumpur gained historical
significance again when the first Malayan flag was raised on the grounds of the
cricket field, in Merdeka Square, to mark the country's independence from
British rule.
Kuala Lumpur came of age in 1974, when it was formally detached from its mother
state of Selangor and made into a unit of its own called the Federal Territory.
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