IN the 1950s it was Batu Road, or Batu “Lut”, the colloquial term exchanged among traders and those who frequented there.
It was a two-way street, and possibly Kuala Lumpur city’s longest road with pre-war shops and buildings on both sides.
Shops like Globe Silk Store, GS Gill, and P. Lal made their names there — ask any senior citizen, he will tell you it was the place for shopping.
Years later, it was renamed Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman after the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong. With development the road transformed into a shopping district with more shops, restaurants and boutiques. It was the “grand dame” of KL shopping.
Today, it is a one-way thoroughfare that runs all the way from the northern end of Dataran Merdeka up to Chow Kit market and is the busiest in the city.
With its history and reputation, it is little wonder why many are flustered by the latest announcement of a closure — one kilometre from the Jalan Esfahan intersection to the Jalan Melayu intersection would be closed to private vehicles except buses.
There are two issues. One, will businesses along the road be affected, and two, will it alleviate the traffic problem? The latter is obviously the main poser.
The Kuala Lumpur mayor had stated it was to reduce the number of cars coming into the city centre.
On Saturdays, when Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman (or Masjid India), the street parallel to Jalan TAR, is closed for six hours to make room for a night market, the area is jam packed.
This closure should be a relief — for shoppers and motorists. After all, road closures have been done occasionally to ease traffic congestion.
Furthermore, the area is already well-serviced with a commendable public transport network — one can get to Jalan TAR quite easily, just hop on one of the light-rail transit trains and get off at LRT stations at Masjid Jamek, Sultan Ismail or the monorail station in Chow Kit.
There are also GoKL city buses that take commuters right to the road’s doorstep, so to speak. It makes sense why only buses are allowed, as there are no alternative roads in the area with a suitable turning radius for them to pass through.
What then, is the problem? Business owners are citing logistics inconvenience and a 50 per cent drop in business.
But “inconvenience” can be overcome — surely, owners could arrange with suppliers to use alternative routes, or carry-out pre-dawn loading and unloading.
Cool heads must prevail. Logic and rationale must rule the day.
Eventually, there may come a day when the authorities want to totally close off Jalan TAR to all vehicles, in short, “pedestrianise” it — transform the shopping thoroughfare into a traffic-free zone, a beautiful “green public transport-pedestrian shopping district”.
It can easily be achieved by demarcating the boundaries of the city centre — City Hall town planners must have surely considered this.
Other major cities have car-free and pedestrian shopping districts — The Rocks in Sydney’s city centre is one example of urban renewal — a walkable city with a vibrant pedestrian market; and London’s Portobello Road Market, the world’s largest antiques market is another. Malaysia could do well to learn from such examples.